Coaching the Turks

Scientologists and Islamic fundamentalists in Germany have been secretly working together for years. The mesalliance is shattering on differences in worldview.

Berlin, Germany

approx October 15, 1997 Der Spiegel, 45/1997

The rally in front of the Berlin Memorial Church looked like a combination of a communist peace demo and an American election campaign. Thousands of cheerful, smiling Scientologists released colored balloons into the air and carried banners which read, "End the Intolerance in Germany" and "Freedom makes Friends."

The sect had had its adherents fly in from all over the world to protest against their alleged persecution in Germany. Loud applause sounded as Sabine Weber, the Scientologist press speaker, welcomed a sympathetic group which, at first glance, would hardly have anything in common with a psycho-association from the USA: Moslems residing in the Federal Republic of Germany. These were, announced Weber, "people who feel as we do."

The unexpectedly cordial welcome had a very real-life feature: for years, German Scientologists have been forging close ties to Islamic fundamentalists - not, however, because of the mutual expression of pious souls, but because of strong self-interest.

In the early 1990s, Scientologists activated their front-line organization "Peace Movement Europe." Operating under this association, Scientology functionary Rosy Mundl established contact to the Milli Goerues, the German branch of the Turkish fundamentalist Refah party. Milli Goerues are categorized by Constitutional Security as "extremist." The leader of the Milli Goerues advocates an Islamic divine state.

Mundl was soon a regular visitor at the headquarters of the Islamists on Merheimer Street in Cologne-Nippes. She expressed that she was "very concerned" about the "suppression of the Moslems" in Germany, and enlisted the Milli Goerues in an alliance for battle against the Federal Republic. Password: "We are sitting in the same boat."

The feeling that they were persecuted by government, journalists and other powers of evil, and the predisposition for strict organizational discipline quickly brought the groups, who are not exactly related by worldview, closer together. They discovered that the main ground they had in common lay in the form of real estate: the Islamists were much interested in learning about the Scientologists' experiences in the real estate business.

Cologne Scientologist Beate Toepfer, whose husband works in the construction area, organized a seminar in the Milli Goerues center for fundamentalist, first-time entrepreneurs. "She instructed business people in issues of business," said former Milli Goerues General Secretary Hasan Oezdogan. The Islamists handled the Scientology contact as a "relationship on the internal level" (Oezdogan), which was kept secret from the outside world.

In 1994, both sides went in together on a joint venture. Oezdogan, along with Toepfer, founded the BAVG ["Beratungen, Anlagen, Verwaltungs- und Grundstücksverwertungs GmbH"] / Real Estate Consulting, Layout, Management and Appraisal, Inc.

The BAVG acquired the "Zum Forellenwirt" Hotel and Restaurant in Overath-Klef near Cologne. The inn (105 beds) was to be renovated into a common-use conference center. In January 1995, Toepfer and Oezdogan sent out invitations for the opening party in the idyll surrounded by farms and forest.

The investment project, however, turned into a fiasco: banks did not find that the BAVG merited credit. The installment payments which had been agreed upon stopped after a few months, and the original owner got his hotel back after a legal dispute.

Neither did the ideological approach work as Scientology had expected.

At Mundl's request, Oezdogan accompanied a delegation from "Peace Movement Europe" into the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. While Scientologists let themselves be welcomed into the poor mountain country as "humanitarian aids," Oezdogan saw himself listed on the agenda as an "interpreter."

The high point of the mesalliance was a trip together by Scientologists and Islamists to the Revolution Celebration in Libya in September 1994.

The "friends of peace" had to stand on the platform in the capitol city of Tripoli for hours while a parade of battle tanks rolled by.

"These tanks," recalls Oezdogan, "stank horribly."

The military parade was followed with a reception by Khadafi outside of Tripoli, in the presence of several thousand Bedouins. The visitors from Germany were limited in their educational political lesson: the Libyans had forgotten to translate their Chief of State's speech for them.

The Scientology contact to the Libyan regime did not last long. The revolutionary leader, who is known for his frequently vacillating political exchanges with eccentrics and extremists from all over the world, soon lost interest in the sectarians.

And even the Islamists - on instructions from on high - took their leave. Milli Goerues General Secretary Mehmet Erbakan, nephew of the Turkish ex-Minister President, let his managing colleagues know last year that he was "little enthused" by the Scientology connection.

Pragmatic Erbakan, tending to a moderate image for his association, came to the conclusion, "The whole thing was pointless, nothing came of it."

The formerly dogmatic Oezdogan finally found a philosophical excuse to break off contact with the sect, "They have nothing to do with religion and are purely worldly motivated." The worldview of Scientology which regards itself as a church, said Oezdogan in front of his association friends, was incompatible with Islam, which preached a "just order," rejected interest on loans, and demanded good works for the poor. Scientology in contrast, recognized the Islamist, advocated "only an American money-maker ideology."

German Scientology News

From: hkhenson@cogeco.ca (Keith Henson)
Subject: Re: Scientology and Islamic Extemists secretly working together ( 1997)
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 01:33:20 GMT
Organization: Temple of At'L'An
Message-ID: <3d8bd7b2.176236342@news2.lightlink.com>

On 17 Sep 2002 10:12:28 -0700, jimdbb@aol.com (jim Beebe) wrote:

>Coaching the Turks

snip

>The formerly dogmatic Oezdogan finally found a philosophical excuse to
>break off contact with the sect, "They have nothing to do with
>religion and are purely worldly motivated." The worldview of
>Scientology which regards itself as a church, said Oezdogan in front
>of his association friends, was incompatible with Islam, which
>preached a "just order," rejected interest on loans, and demanded good
>works for the poor. Scientology in contrast, recognized the Islamist,
>advocated "only an American money-maker ideology."

I.e., they got a clue.

Keith Henson

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