Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05YEREVAN1722
2005-09-26 12:03:00
SECRET
Embassy Yerevan
Cable title:  

ARMENIA: NOT MUCH EXTREMISM HERE

Tags:  PREL KDEM KPAO EAID PHUM KMPI AM 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 001722 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR R, P AND EUR/CACEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/26/2015
TAGS: PREL KDEM KPAO EAID PHUM KMPI AM
SUBJECT: ARMENIA: NOT MUCH EXTREMISM HERE

REF: STATE 159129 04 YEREVAN 2151

Classified By: CDA A.F. Godfrey for reasons 1.4(b,d)

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SUMMARY
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S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 001722

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR R, P AND EUR/CACEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/26/2015
TAGS: PREL KDEM KPAO EAID PHUM KMPI AM
SUBJECT: ARMENIA: NOT MUCH EXTREMISM HERE

REF: STATE 159129 04 YEREVAN 2151

Classified By: CDA A.F. Godfrey for reasons 1.4(b,d)

--------------
SUMMARY
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1. (S) With 98 percent of the population ethnically Armenian
and at least nominally Christian, extremism, and particularly
Islamic extremism, is not perceived to be a serious problem
in Armenia. The vast majority of Armenians belong to the
Apostolic Church, an Eastern Christian denomination which has
formal legal status as Armenia's national church. There is
only one operating mosque located in Yerevan, where the
majority of Armenia's 1,000 to 2,000 resident Muslims --
including Iranians, Syrians, and Kurds -- are tolerated, but
not embraced. Armenian attitudes toward the Yezidis, a
Kurdish cultural group of 40,000 people whose religion
includes elements of Islam, Zorostrianism and animism, are
similarly ambivalent. Without evidence of extremist
tendencies in the few Muslim institutions in Armenia, the
GOAM and its security forces have taken little action beyond
close monitoring (ref B). USG programs in Armenia target
civil society, economic development, and political stability.
End Summary.

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LITTLE ROOM FOR MUSLIMS IN CHRISTIAN ARMENIA
--------------


2. (S) Islamic extremism is not perceived to be a great
problem in Armenia, where approximately 98 percent of the
population is ethnic Armenian and most Armenians identify
Christianity as their ethnic trait. About 90 percent of
Armenian citizens nominally belong to the Armenian Apostolic
Church, an Eastern Christian denomination which has formal
legal status as Armenia's national church. Most of the
nation's few Muslims left Armenia for Azerbaijan during the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, increasing the country's Christian
religious and Armenian ethnic homogeneity.

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SOCIETAL PREJUDICES KEEP MUSLIM COMMUNITY IN CHECK
-------------- --------------


3. (S/NF) Muslims in Armenia generally choose to maintain a
low profile. As a result, public hate speech, overt

fundraising, and open terrorist rhetoric either against the
United States or ethnic and religious minorities is rare.
Some Kurdish activists (ref B) assert they are affiliated
with Kongra Gel, the successor organization to KADEK and PKK,
though, they too, avoid provocative activities. Without
evidence of extremist tendencies in Armenia's few Muslim
institutions, the GOAM and its security forces have taken
little action beyond close monitoring.

-- According to the GOAM's Department of National Minorities
and Religion Head Hranoush Khataryan, the Yerevan-based
Armenian-Kurdish Friendship Society conducts activities in
the Kurdish-Yezidi populated regions of Armenia to support
Kurdish national self-identification, religious traditions,
and cultural heritage. In Spring 2004, the organization
became the Kurdish-Yezidi National Cultural Center
"Kurdistan," headed by Haidar Ali, a self-proclaimed "Kongra
Gel Representative in the South Caucasus." Ali, who is no
longer in Armenia, granted infrequent press interviews, but
did not espouse terrorist rhetoric, and did not appear to
have engaged in overt fundraising for any specific causes.

-- The NGO "Kurdistan Committee" has ties to Kongra Gel. The
committee advocates on behalf of the Kurdish-Armenian
community to resolve social, military, and criminal issues.
The committee has offices in Yerevan, Armavir, and Alagaz.

-- Yezidi community leader Aziz Tamoyan, the self-proclaimed
Chairman of the National Union of Yezidis and President of
the World Union of Yezidis (some Yezidis in Tamoyan's own
village say they've never heard of either Union),threatened
to protest in front of U.S. Embassy Yerevan. He told us that
his fellow villagers, who are frustrated by hollow responses
from local government authorities to requests for municipal
improvements, would only abandon the demonstration if
"embassy staff meet with the villagers" to discuss their
numerous complaints against the Armenian Government. Tamoyan
claimed municipal development projects discriminated against
Yezidis in favor of his Armenian neighbors. The protest did
not materialize. On September 29, Embassy Yerevan will
dedicate a new community center, funded through a USG
Community Self-Help Grant, in Tamoyan's predominantly Yezidi
village of Zovuni.

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USG ASSISTANCE IN ARMENIA INDIRECTLY COMBATS EXTREMISM
-------------- --------------


4. (SBU) The USG has contributed over USD 1.6 billion in
assistance to Armenia since its independence in 1992 (about
USD 85 million in FY2005). USG assistance programs focus on
helping Armenia achieve three goals, which indirectly address
extremism: 1) an open and pluralistic civil society; 2) a
functioning market economy; and, 3) a stable and secure
political environment in the region.

-- To determine USG funding priorities, avoid duplication of
efforts, and coordinate USG assistance to meet Armenia's
development goals, the Ambassador chairs the Assistance
Coordination Group (ACG),a bi-weekly meeting of key officers
from each of the USG's funding agencies -- Embassy Yerevan
DCM, Pol/Econ Chief, Public Affairs Officer, and Consul,
USAID Mission Director, the DOD Office of Defense
Cooperation, the Director of the USDA-sponsored Center for
Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD),Embassy Yerevan
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Assistance
Program Regional Coordinator, Peace Corps Country Director,
and the Resident Advisor for US Treasury Office of Technical
Assistance. Embassy Yerevan has also designated one
political officer as Embassy Assistance Coordinator.

-- The US Government has spent more than USD 30 million on
educational and professional exchange programs in Armenia.
Embassy Yerevan's Public Affairs Section, in cooperation with
local and international partners, develops and implements
academic, professional, and cultural exchange programs,
English language programs, speakers programs, and the
International Visitor Program. In 2005, the U.S. Government
has sent 186 Armenian citizens to the United States on
academic and professional exchange programs. Since 1993, the
USG has funded study programs in the U.S. for more than 4,500
Armenian citizens. None of the participants were Muslim.

-- The Public Affairs Section (PAS) also maintains Embassy
Yerevan's Information Resource Center (IRC),a long-term
project that provides Armenian citizens access to reference
materials and services on U.S. foreign policy issues, U.S.
societal values, economic development issues, and Armenian
media reviews. Annually, about 2,000 Armenian citizens visit
the IRC. PAS also opened two American Corners in 2005, one
in Yerevan, and one in Gyumri, Armenia's second largest city.
Located in public libraries, the American Corners provide
direct access to materials on the U.S. and to the Internet
for local citizens. They also provide venues for the Post
Outreach Program, which among other things includes monthly
appearances by Emboffs speaking to audiences of interested
English-speaking Armenians. The Yerevan American Corner has
seen upwards of 400 visitors a month.

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COMMENT: INDIRECT ASSISTANCE LIKELY TO CONTINUE
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5. (C) For the foreseeable future, Muslim outreach and
tolerance programs for the small, quiet Muslim community in
Christian Armenia will likely remain an indirect activity
resulting from USG efforts to enhance civil society,
democracy, and economic development.
GODFREY