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Viewing cable 08DUSSELDORF41, OUTGOING MUSLIM LEADER COMMENTS ON HIS TENURE AS KRM

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08DUSSELDORF41 2008-10-08 04:10 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Consulate Dusseldorf
VZCZCXRO0856
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDF #0041/01 2820410
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 080410Z OCT 08
FM AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0173
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE
RUEHDF/AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF 0189
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSSELDORF 000041 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KISL GM
SUBJECT: OUTGOING MUSLIM LEADER COMMENTS ON HIS TENURE AS KRM 
SPOKESMAN 
 
DUSSELDORF 00000041  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary: Outgoing Muslim Coordination Council (KRM) 
Spokesman Ali Kizilkaya on September 22 gave us a critical view 
of progress in relations between Germany's Muslims and the 
German state.  Reviewing his six month tenure, which ended 
September 29, he asserted that the KRM had made progress as a 
coordinating body.  He highlighted areas in which Muslims still 
face discrimination, commenting as well on a continuing 
reluctance by senior German government officials to host Iftars 
and contrasting this with the very positive American practice. 
He declined to be drawn out into an in-depth discussion of the 
Federal Interior Ministry's "Islam Conference," observing only 
that the German government clearly preferred more 
liberal/secular interlocutors.  Kizlkaya himself is 
controversial because his home organization, the Islam Council, 
is dominated by the Milli Goerues movement, which is under 
observation by German authorities in several states.  End 
Summary. 
 
2.  (SBU) In a September 22 meeting at the Islam Council 
(Islamrat) office in Cologne with Mission POL MC, Duesseldorf CG 
and P/E Specialist, Kizilkaya expressed great satisfaction that 
a broad alliance of political and social groups in Cologne 
actively opposed the September 19-20 "Anti-Islamization 
Congress," organized by the extreme right group "Pro Koeln." 
Calling the demonstrations against the congress "the largest 
public protests in solidarity with the Muslim community in 
German history," he commented that similar or even larger 
demonstrations during the 1990s were directed against xenophobia 
in German society in general and were not specifically focused 
on the concerns of the Muslim minority.  (Note: Cologne police 
decided September 19 to ban the "Anti-Islamization Congress," a 
controversial move, because it was based not on the threat of 
violence from extreme-right organizers, but from some far-left 
"autonomous" groups."  End Note.) 
 
Developments in the KRM 
--------------------------- 
 
3.  (SBU) The KRM was developing well, Kizilkaya asserted, 
although it had only been in existence for 18 months. 
Cooperation between the four member organizations had improved, 
as the leaders had become better acquainted and developed a more 
trusting and harmonious work relationship.  During his six 
months as KRM spokesman, KRM leaders only disagreed on one 
issue, the introduction of naturalization tests for immigrants 
who wanted to become German citizens.  The Central Council of 
Muslims (ZMD) welcomed this, but the other three KRM members 
rejected it.  Kizilkaya admitted that no progress had been 
achieved in establishing KRM structures at the state level, a 
priority when he took over in early April.  He attributed this 
primarily to internal problems at DITIB, the religious 
organization affiliated with the Turkish government, which was 
in the midst of a restructuring and a comprehensive reform of 
its statutes.  Once DITIB's problems were resolved, KRM would 
resume efforts to establish structures at the state level.  He 
claimed not to know who from the Association of Islamic Cultural 
Centers (VIKZ) would succeed him as KRM spokesman, as this was 
an internal VIKZ decision and not discussed at the KRM level. 
(Note: The VIKZ on September 29 announced the appointment of 
Erol Puerlue, a ConGen contact, for the next term.) 
 
Discrimination 
-------------- 
 
4.  (SBU) Kizilkaya did not mince words in deploring the 
"continuing pervasive discrimination of Muslims in Germany."  He 
listed four areas where this discrimination was evident, 
conceding that progress had been made in one less important 
area. 
 
-- Islamic religious instruction at public schools.  Calling 
this the most important and burning issue for the KRM, Kizilkaya 
pointed to the Protestant and Catholic religious instruction 
model available and well established at German schools. 
Asserting that 800,000 Muslim pupils are denied their 
constitutional rights to receive such instruction, he lamented 
that tens of thousands of Muslims leave school every year 
without having had the opportunity to learn about their faith. 
He dismissed the various pilot projects in place in several 
German states as "purely cosmetic" and far short of what was 
needed.  He insisted that absolutely no progress has been made 
in this area, despite the fact that the Interior Ministry's 
German Islam Conference had given priority to this issue.  In 
response to a question from CG, he acknowledged that there had 
been movement in Lower Saxony, but alleged that this did not 
alter the larger picture.  Kizlkaya presented a maximalist view 
of the KRM's requirements and did not outline any room for 
compromise or flexibility. 
 
-- Academic training of Muslim religion teachers.  Kizilkaya 
called it "encouraging" that NRW Science Minister Pinkwart 
 
DUSSELDORF 00000041  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
announced the establishment of a second chair for Islamic 
Studies at Muenster University and that Pinkwart would seek 
support from Muslim organizations for the appointment of the new 
professor.  (Muslim organizations had protested heavily after 
the occupier of the first chair at the university expressed 
views that some considered to border on apostasy.)  This was the 
first time that a German government official had made such 
assurances, Kizilkaya stated.  He was waiting to judge whether 
Pinkwart proved his words by his actions. 
 
-- Legal status of their organizations and mosque communities in 
Germany.  Unlike Christian churches and Jewish communities, they 
had thus far not received the status of corporations under 
public law, which resulted in serious disadvantages for Muslim 
groups, including for example that Muslim groups have no 
representation in the advisory councils of public broadcasting 
institutions.  Muslim groups and mosque communities have "the 
same status as bowling clubs" (registered associations or 
"eingetragene Vereine"), in Kizlkaya's formulation, which he 
called an untenable situation. 
 
-- Difficulties in obtaining construction permits for new 
mosques.  Describing difficulties in drastic terms, Kizilkaya 
contended that it might be easier to obtain an operating license 
for a nuclear power plant than to overcome the hurdles presented 
by German zoning and construction laws, which he said were often 
made artificially high for Muslims. 
 
-- The only area where Kizilkaya saw progress concerned the 
recognition of Islamic holidays by school authorities, which 
gave Muslim students the right not to attend school on one or 
two Islamic holidays, depending on the state. 
 
The Importance of Hosting Iftars 
--------------------------------- 
 
5. (SBU) Kizilkaya dodged the question of who was his most 
important Federal government interlocutor, stressing instead the 
importance of state governments because of their lead role in 
such vital issues as religious instruction.  He would "never" 
turn to Maria Boehmer, Federal Integration Commissioner and 
Minister of State in the Chancellor's Office, calling her "the 
wrong person" for that position.  Because many Muslims in 
Germany were citizens, it was incorrect to consider them an 
"integration" challenge, he said.  Calling Interior Minister 
Schaeuble the most important KRM interlocutor, Kizilkaya was 
pleased that Schaeuble had tried to attend this year's KRM Iftar 
dinner in Cologne but was disappointed that he had to regret. 
Praising the Embassy's and Consulate's role in attending and 
hosting Iftar dinners, Kizilkaya expressed the hope that German 
government officials would follow that example.  Muslim leaders 
received official greetings for Ramadan, but were still awaiting 
an invitation to an Iftar dinner hosted by a German Minister, at 
the federal or state level.  He acknowledged that NRW 
Integration Commissioner Kufen has been inviting to Iftars in 
recent years, but asked why NRW Integration Minister Laschet had 
not done so. 
 
Comment 
---------- 
 
6. (SBU) Kizilkaya has opened up considerably as a contact over 
time, becoming more communicative during his term as KRM 
spokesman.  He was not as strident in his criticism of German 
attitudes towards Islam, in government and society in general, 
as in previous meetings, but he was also not particularly 
positive either.  Kizilkaya repeatedly stressed his desire for 
full integration of Muslims in German society, but was fuzzy 
about what steps both sides should take to make this happen from 
the bottom up; he focused almost exclusively on expectations for 
German government action.  He declined to comment on the state 
of affairs in the German Islam Conference, observing only that 
he was not particularly pleased with it, in part because the 
German government evidently had reservations against him as a 
person, while at the same time favoring other, more liberal or 
secular, Muslim representatives.  Kizilkaya demonstrated 
sensitivity to the perceived lack of engagement by senior German 
federal and state officials on Muslim issues, but also did not 
lay out an entrepreneurial vision for how Muslim leaders can 
move into a more prominent role. 
 
7.  (U) This message has been cleared with Embassy Berlin. 
BOYSE