Keep Us Strong WikiLeaks logo

Currently released so far... 97115 / 251,287

Articles

Browse latest releases

Browse by creation date

Browse by origin

A B C D F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Browse by tag

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ETRD EAGR ETTC EAID ECON EFIN ECIN EINV ELAB EAIR ENRG EPET EWWT ECPS EIND EMIN ELTN EC ETMIN EUC EZ ET ELECTIONS ENVR EU EUN EG EINT ER ECONOMICS ES EMS ENIV EEB EN ECE ECOSOC EK ENVIRONMENT EFIS EI EWT ENGRD ECPSN EXIM EIAD ERIN ECPC EDEV ENGY ECTRD EPA ESTH ECCT EINVECON ENGR ERTD EUR EAP EWWC ELTD EL EXIMOPIC EXTERNAL ETRDEC ESCAP ECO EGAD ELNT ECONOMIC ENV ETRN EIAR EUMEM ENRGPARMOTRASENVKGHGPGOVECONTSPLEAID EREL ECOM ECONETRDEAGRJA ETCC ETRG ECONOMY EMED ETR ENERG EITC EFINOECD EURM EENG ERA EXPORT ENRD ECONEINVETRDEFINELABETRDKTDBPGOVOPIC EGEN EBRD EVIN ETRAD ECOWAS EFTA ECONETRDBESPAR EGOVSY EPIN EID ECONENRG EDRC ESENV ETT EB ENER ELTNSNAR ECHEVARRIA ETRC EPIT EDUC ESA EFI ENRGY ESCI EE EAIDXMXAXBXFFR EETC ECIP EIAID EIVN EBEXP ESTN EING EGOV ETRA EPETEIND ELAN ETRDGK EAIDRW ETRDEINVECINPGOVCS EPEC ENVI ELN EAG EPCS EPRT EPTED ETRB EUM EAIDS EFIC EFINECONEAIDUNGAGM EAIDAR ESF EIDN ELAM EDU EV EAIDAF ECN EDA EXBS EINTECPS ENRGTRGYETRDBEXPBTIOSZ EPREL EAC EINVEFIN ETA EAGER EINDIR ECA ECLAC ELAP EITI EUCOM ECONEFINETRDPGOVEAGRPTERKTFNKCRMEAID EARG ELDIN EINVKSCA ENNP EFINECONCS EFINTS ECCP ETC EAIRASECCASCID EINN ETRP EAIDNI EFQ ECOQKPKO EGPHUM EBUD ECONEINVEFINPGOVIZ ENERGY ELB EINDETRD EMI ECONEFIN EIB EURN ETRDEINVTINTCS EIN EFIM ETIO ELAINE EMN EATO EWTR EIPR EINVETC ETTD ETDR EIQ ECONCS EPPD ENRGIZ EISL ESPINOSA ELEC EAIG ESLCO EUREM ENTG ERD EINVECONSENVCSJA EEPET EUNCH ECINECONCS ETRO ETRDECONWTOCS ECUN EFND EPECO EAIRECONRP ERGR ETRDPGOV ECPN ENRGMO EPWR EET EAIS EAGRE EDUARDO EAGRRP EAIDPHUMPRELUG EICN ECONQH EVN EGHG ELBR EINF EAIDHO EENV ETEX ERNG ED
KMDR KPAO KPKO KJUS KCRM KGHG KFRD KWMN KDEM KTFN KHIV KGIC KIDE KSCA KNNP KHUM KIPR KSUM KISL KIRF KCOR KRCM KPAL KWBG KN KS KOMC KSEP KFLU KPWR KTIA KSEO KMPI KHLS KICC KSTH KMCA KVPR KPRM KE KU KZ KFLO KSAF KTIP KTEX KBCT KOCI KOLY KOR KAWC KACT KUNR KTDB KSTC KLIG KSKN KNN KCFE KCIP KGHA KHDP KPOW KUNC KDRL KV KPREL KCRS KPOL KRVC KRIM KGIT KWIR KT KIRC KOMO KRFD KUWAIT KG KFIN KSCI KTFIN KFTN KGOV KPRV KSAC KGIV KCRIM KPIR KSOC KBIO KW KGLB KMWN KPO KFSC KSEAO KSTCPL KSI KPRP KREC KFPC KUNH KCSA KMRS KNDP KR KICCPUR KPPAO KCSY KTBT KCIS KNEP KFRDCVISCMGTCASCKOCIASECPHUMSMIGEG KNNB KGCC KINR KPOP KMFO KENV KNAR KVIR KDRG KDMR KFCE KNAO KDEN KGCN KICA KIMMITT KMCC KLFU KMSG KSEC KUM KCUL KMNP KSMT KCOM KOMCSG KSPR KPMI KRAD KIND KCRP KAUST KWAWC KTER KCHG KRDP KPAS KITA KTSC KPAOPREL KWGB KIRP KJUST KMIG KLAB KTFR KSEI KSTT KAPO KSTS KLSO KWNN KPOA KHSA KNPP KPAONZ KBTS KWWW KY KJRE KPAOKMDRKE KCRCM KSCS KWMNCI KESO KWUN KPLS KIIP KEDEM KPAOY KRIF KGICKS KREF KTRD KFRDSOCIRO KTAO KJU KWMNPHUMPRELKPAOZW KEN KO KNEI KEMR KKIV KEAI KWAC KRCIM KWCI KFIU KWIC KCORR KOMS KNNO KPAI KBWG KTTB KTBD KTIALG KILS KFEM KTDM KESS KNUC KPA KOMCCO KCEM KRCS KWBGSY KNPPIS KNNPMNUC KWN KERG KLTN KALM KCCP KSUMPHUM KREL KGH KLIP KTLA KAWK KWMM KVRP KVRC KAID KSLG KDEMK KX KIF KNPR KCFC KFTFN KTFM KPDD KCERS KMOC KDEMAF KMEPI KEMS KDRM KEPREL KBTR KEDU KNP KIRL KNNR KMPT KISLPINR KTPN KA KJUSTH KPIN KDEV KTDD KAKA KFRP KWNM KTSD KINL KJUSKUNR KWWMN KECF KWBC KPRO KVBL KOM KFRDKIRFCVISCMGTKOCIASECPHUMSMIGEG KEDM KFLD KLPM KRGY KNNF KICR KIFR KM KWMNCS KAWS KLAP KPAK KDDG KCGC KID KNSD KMPF KPFO KDP KCMR KRMS KNPT KNNNP KTIAPARM KDTB KNUP KPGOV KNAP KNNC KUK KSRE KREISLER KIVP KQ KTIAEUN KPALAOIS KRM KISLAO KWM KFLOA
PHUM PINR PTER PGOV PREL PREF PL PM PHSA PE PARM PINS PK PUNE PO PALESTINIAN PU PBTS PROP PTBS POL POLI PA PGOVZI POLMIL POLITICAL PARTIES POLM PD POLITICS POLICY PAS PMIL PINT PNAT PV PKO PPOL PERSONS PING PBIO PH PETR PARMS PRES PCON PETERS PRELBR PT PLAB PP PAK PDEM PKPA PSOCI PF PLO PTERM PJUS PSOE PELOSI PROPERTY PGOVPREL PARP PRL PNIR PHUMKPAL PG PREZ PGIC PBOV PAO PKK PROV PHSAK PHUMPREL PROTECTION PGOVBL PSI PRELPK PGOVENRG PUM PRELKPKO PATTY PSOC PRIVATIZATION PRELSP PGOVEAIDUKNOSWGMHUCANLLHFRSPITNZ PMIG PREC PAIGH PROG PSHA PARK PETER POG PHUS PPREL PS PTERPREL PRELPGOV POV PKPO PGOVECON POUS PGOVPRELPHUMPREFSMIGELABEAIDKCRMKWMN PWBG PMAR PREM PAR PNR PRELPGOVEAIDECONEINVBEXPSCULOIIPBTIO PARMIR PGOVGM PHUH PARTM PN PRE PTE PY POLUN PPEL PDOV PGOVSOCI PIRF PGOVPM PBST PRELEVU PGOR PBTSRU PRM PRELKPAOIZ PGVO PERL PGOC PAGR PMIN PHUMR PVIP PPD PGV PRAM PINL PKPAL PTERE PGOF PINO PHAS PODC PRHUM PHUMA PREO PPA PEPFAR PGO PRGOV PAC PRESL PORG PKFK PEPR PRELP PREFA PNG PGOVPHUMKPAO PRELECON PINOCHET PFOR PGOVLO PHUMBA PRELC PREK PHUME PHJM POLINT PGOVPZ PGOVKCRM PGOVE PHALANAGE PARTY PECON PEACE PROCESS PLN PRELSW PAHO PEDRO PRELA PASS PPAO PGPV PNUM PCUL PGGV PSA PGOVSMIGKCRMKWMNPHUMCVISKFRDCA PGIV PRFE POGOV PEL PBT PAMQ PINF PSEPC POSTS PHUMPGOV PVOV PHSAPREL PROLIFERATION PENA PRELTBIOBA PIN PRELL PGOVPTER PHAM PHYTRP PTEL PTERPGOV PHARM PROTESTS PRELAF PKBL PRELKPAO PKNP PARMP PHUML PFOV PERM PUOS PRELGOV PHUMPTER PARAGRAPH PERURENA PBTSEWWT PCI PETROL PINSO PINSCE PQL PEREZ PBS

Browse by classification

Community resources

courage is contagious

Viewing cable 04ADANA149, RELIGIOUS FREEDOM STILL MIXED IN SE TURKEY

If you are new to these pages, please read an introduction on the structure of a cable as well as how to discuss them with others. See also the FAQs

Understanding cables
Every cable message consists of three parts:
  • The top box shows each cables unique reference number, when and by whom it originally was sent, and what its initial classification was.
  • The middle box contains the header information that is associated with the cable. It includes information about the receiver(s) as well as a general subject.
  • The bottom box presents the body of the cable. The opening can contain a more specific subject, references to other cables (browse by origin to find them) or additional comment. This is followed by the main contents of the cable: a summary, a collection of specific topics and a comment section.
To understand the justification used for the classification of each cable, please use this WikiSource article as reference.

Discussing cables
If you find meaningful or important information in a cable, please link directly to its unique reference number. Linking to a specific paragraph in the body of a cable is also possible by copying the appropriate link (to be found at theparagraph symbol). Please mark messages for social networking services like Twitter with the hash tags #cablegate and a hash containing the reference ID e.g. #04ADANA149.
Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
04ADANA149 2004-11-29 11:16 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Consulate Adana
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000149 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM STILL MIXED IN SE TURKEY 
 
REF: A. A) RSO ANKARA/DSERRC NOTE NOV 3 
     B. A)REF: RSO ANKARA/DSERRC NOTE NOV. 3 
     C. A) RSO ANKARA  DSERRC NOTE NOV 3 B) ADANA 000128 
     D. ADANA 000128 
 
 
1.(SBU)  Summary: The situation for the Christian community in 
southeast Turkey remains mixed.  Christian contacts in 
Diyarbakir, Hatay, Mersin and Adana report a generally positive 
to neutral atmosphere in relations with local officials, but a 
continuing atmosphere of official suspicion and occasional acts 
of violence perpetrated by individual police members.  Recent 
events in Gaziantep (refnotice and septel) indicate continuing 
harassment of Christians in that city.  End Summary. 
 
Improving zoning for Diyarbakir Church ? 
 
2.(SBU) During a late October visit with PO, Pastor Ahmet 
Guvener of the protestant-affiliated Diyarbakir Church  said 
that he expected that the church would soon have its zoning 
obstacles lifted.  He said that he had heard this news from 
"authoritative Turkish ministry sources in Ankara in the last 
few days," but still lacked any documents to substantiate the 
promise.  He was encouraged by the news, as was an American 
religious worker who assists him. As of November 22, Guvener 
remained optimistic about a permanet onig hane based on 
both verbal assuranes andinermedate zoning decisions offered 
by lower level government review committees in early November, 
but said that "really permanent changes now would not be final 
until January 2005." 
 
3.(SBU)  Should the zoning ordinance obstacles be lifted, they 
anticipated remodeling their sanctuary's interior to reflect a 
more traditional worship area by removing artificially placed 
partitions earlier built to comply with Diyarbakir city zoning 
board direction. They also hoped to buy a small lot nearby the 
church to build a children's park for community children.  They 
said that doing so would entail being allowed to receive foreign 
donations to fund the purchase.  They said that city municipal 
leaders, in contrast to earlier national government resistance, 
had offered them support-in-kind for the park's construction 
once the church could acquire the property. 
 
Adana Christians still surviving, but not thriving 
 
4.(SBU)  The Adana-based Cukurova Christan Council's leader, who 
represents a collection of several hundred evangelical 
protestant Christians, said that the region's "new Christian" 
community generally was prospering, but still encountered 
official suspicion and formal questioning short of outright 
harassment and occasional individual police violence.  He noted 
that there is no actual church building in the Cukurova area, 
but that gatherings of Christians in homes in number up to 30-40 
each were known to authorities and had not experienced any 
systematic resistance or zoning challenges in Adana or Tarsus. 
Efforts to build a church in Mersin have been blocked thus far 
by zoning challenges, he said, but the effort to gain official 
zoning approval was ongoing.  He noted that the community just 
started a FM radio Christian broadcast reaching Adana, Mersin 
and Tarsus and that Adana police had summoned him last week to 
their offices to question him about its funding and the "role of 
foreigners in supporting it.  He said that he told that it was 
partly dependent on foreign funding, had material from Hope 
Broadcasting and a Republic of Korea programming source and had 
both Turkish and foreign funding.  He said that he did not feel 
harassed and that the police did not threaten him or the radio 
broadcast. 
 
5.(SBU)  He also reported that "recently" an Adana policeman 
allegedly had broken the nose of a parishioner selling copies of 
the New Testament on an Adana street, at a small council-linked 
kiosk.  He said that the parishioner had gone to a state 
hospital for treatment and received appropriate medical 
attention, but been denied when he asked for a medical report to 
document his wounds.  (Comment: Without more details, which the 
contact declined to offer, we cannot confirm this report.  End 
Comment.)  Overall, he characterized the atmosphere in the 
Cukurova region (Adana, Tarsus and Mersin) as "free of 
harassment and generally improving over the last year." 
Nevertheless he said that most officials that occasionally 
question him or parishioners are suspicious of: 1) why Muslims 
would convert to Christianity; 2) whether their work has foreign 
ties, which he explained was perceived as explicitly negative; 
and 3) from whence their funding stemmed. 
 
6. (SBU)  A leading Adana protestant church was informed by 
local Turkish National Police (TNP) on November 21  that 
unspecified threats against the Christian community in Adana had 
been received  by authorities.  The TNP urged church leaders to 
be cautious during the upcoming Christian holiday period. 
Christian community leaders expressed reassurance that the TNP 
constructively had reached out to them and reflected positively 
that TNP had offered additional protection for their church's 
neighborhood during December 2003. 
 
Hatay - continuing good story 
 
7. (SBU)   In recent PO meetings with Catholic and Eastern 
Orthodox leaders in the ethnically mixed Hatay province, no 
major religious freedom issues arose.  Catholic and Eastern 
Orthodox leaders, as well as even Arab ethnic Alawi 
representatives, offered positive comments about their 
relationship to the local government, including praising a 
regular governor-led interfaith council which met several times 
annually.  Both the Hatay governor and the Catholic priest in 
Antakya (modern site of ancient Antioch and seat of the province 
government) talked of a Vatican-supported project to develop a 
new museum for the city's world-famous mosaic collection which 
also could house a pilgrimage hostel for Christian visitors to 
the nearby St. Peter's Grotto.  Eastern  Orthodox leaders in 
nearby Iskenderun reflected to the PO that they enjoyed a 
positive relationship with government authorities, although they 
had concerns about "surprisingly liberal zoning decisions" which 
recently allowed a  non-historic multi-floor parking garage to 
be erected next door to their main church in the region. 
Nevertheless, they said that literature, funding and training 
travel for their clergy (who generally study in Lebanon) was not 
an issue.  They, like Jewish community leaders elsewhere in 
southeast Turkey, lamented that their community's chief 
challenge was economic because of high local unemployment and 
the flight of their youth to Istanbul, western Europe and the 
U.S. 
 
Mersin - zoning barriers, encroachment, but stable community 
 
8.(SBU)  Contacts with Mersin Catholic leaders reflect no 
significant changes since ref. B reporting.  The protestant 
evangelical community there continues to face zoning challenges 
to its effort to establish a church, which were it allowed, 
would be situated in the historical quarter of the city nearby 
existing Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.  Many Christian 
community leaders reflect that considerable stress has been 
placed on the historically Christian religious district of the 
city by its location in what has become the upscale center of 
the city, leading to encroachment on lands caused by first 
unregulated urbanization and later very conservative zoning 
backlashes which affect the wider district in an effort to 
regulate sprawling growth in the area.  For now, the protestant 
evangelical community continues to meet in personal homes and is 
several hundred strong, although dispersed among several 
different districts of the city.  Overall the Christian 
community in Mersin is quite wealthy and well-placed in 
influential city circles.  It is stable in size, although there 
does seem to be a trend of conversion from the Eastern Orthodox 
to the Catholic church.  Security authorities, when confirmed by 
baptismal records, have allowed identity cards' reference to 
religion to state "Christian." 
 
9.(SBU)  Comment:  The situation for the Christian community in 
southeast Turkey is mixed.  Recently two different Christian 
contacts independently interpreted regional events by noting 
that Turkish officials reluctantly are tolerating Christian 
activities "where foreigners are shining a light, but that 
nothing has changed in the government framework to allow 
isolated breakthroughs in tolerance to be applied elsewhere." 
Historic Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian communities, 
especially in Mersin and Hatay, have struck modus vivendi and 
seem under little or no pressure, but that pattern has yet to 
emerge for protestant evangelical communities, which seem to 
encounter varying levels of official and communal suspicion and 
resistance.  End Comment. 
 
 
REID