Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ASTANA280
2006-10-24 07:34:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Embassy Astana
Cable title:  

KAZAKHSTAN: FOREIGN MINISTER KEEPS COURSE FOR 2009

Tags:  OSCE PREL PHUM PGOV KZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO8076
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHTA #0280/01 2970734
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 240734Z OCT 06 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY ASTANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7411
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNOSC/OSCE POST COLLECTIVE
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1636
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 000280 

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/FO (A/S BOUCHER),SCA/CEN (SPRATLEN, O'MARA)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/23/2015
TAGS: OSCE PREL PHUM PGOV KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: FOREIGN MINISTER KEEPS COURSE FOR 2009
OSCE CIO


Classified By: DCM Kevin Milas; Reasons 1.5(b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 000280

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/FO (A/S BOUCHER),SCA/CEN (SPRATLEN, O'MARA)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/23/2015
TAGS: OSCE PREL PHUM PGOV KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: FOREIGN MINISTER KEEPS COURSE FOR 2009
OSCE CIO


Classified By: DCM Kevin Milas; Reasons 1.5(b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: On October 23, Foreign Minister Tokayev
told Ambassador Ordway that the GOK would not accept the OSCE
CiO compromise laid out in the October 4 USG "non paper." The
existence of "pre-conditions" to the Kazakhstani
chairmanship, he said, "would embarrass us." Tokayev
informed the Ambassador that he intended to address the
non-paper proposal in his October 27 speech to the OSCE
Permanent Council in Vienna. The GOK, Tokayev said, "would
continue to insist" on the 2009 chairmanship. However, he
added, if no consensus on the issue could be achieved during
the December OSCE Ministerial, the GOK would prefer that a
decision be postponed until 2007, when Kazakhstan's political
reforms could once again be evaluated. In explaining the GOK
resolve to press forward with its 2009 bid, Tokayev
emphasized that, of the OSCE countries, "only the U.S." had
proposed 2011 as an alternative. End Summary.

Non-Paper Approach "Embarrassing" to Kazakhstan
-------------- --


2. (C) Asked by Ambassador Ordway for the GOK's views on the
USG non-paper on Kazakhstan's OSCE CiO candidacy (delivered
to the Kazakhstani Embassy in Washington on October 4),
Tokayev told the Ambassador that the "memo was taken very
seriously, but to us it isn't a case of implementing
benchmarks." He termed the proposal that Kazakhstan would
delay its CiO bid until 2011, with OSCE member support
conditional upon GOK implementation of agreed-upon democratic
reforms, "unacceptable to Kazakhstan...preconditions would
embarrass us."


3. (C) Ambassador Ordway told Tokayev that his main concern
was not to debate Tokayev on the CiO issue, but rather to
understand and convey the GOK's position to Washington.
However, he emphasized, the non-paper proposals for
democratic reform had been taken from Deputy Foreign Minister
Aliyev's own remarks. Thus, the USG was not attempting to

impose benchmarks, but rather to react to, and even accept,
what the GOK itself had proposed.

Tokayev: "Only the U.S." Has Proposed 2011
--------------


4. (C) Several times during the conversation Tokayev
reiterated that Kazakhstan's bid had the support of a
"majority" of OSCE members, even an "overwhelming" majority.
"We have no right to reject the support of the countries that
have offered it," he said, and "we still believe Kazakhstan
deserves to be supported in 2009." The Executive Secretariat
of the CIS, he mentioned, would "make another appeal in
December" supporting Kazakhstan's candidacy. Tokayev also
emphasized that "only the U.S." had proposed 2011 as an
alternative to 2009. "No other OSCE country has done so," he
observed. Summing up the GOK position, Tokayev said that
"there is no reason for us to renounce our application (for
the 2009 CiO)."

Tokayev to Address Non-Paper in Vienna
--------------


5. (C) Tokayev informed the Ambassador "in a friendly way"
that he intended to "address" the non-paper proposal in his
October 27th address to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna.
(Note: Tokayev plans to depart Kazakhstan for Vienna on
October 26. End Note.)


December OSCE Ministerial: Better to Defer than Disagree?
-------------- --------------


6. (C) Tokayev acknowledged that, despite what he termed
"overwhelming" OSCE-member support for Kazakhstan's 2009 bid,
OSCE rules made it clear that "we need a consensus" to
resolve the issue. At the December OSCE Ministerial meeting,
he said, there would be "only two options -- 2009 and 2011."
While the GOK would "continue to insist" on 2009, he
explained, if no consensus could be reached, "the whole issue
can be postponed until 2007," at which time a final decision
could be made based on an evaluation of Kazakhstan's
intervening progress on political reform. In the case of
continued opposition to Kazakhstan's candidacy, he concluded,
"the best decision is no decision."

GOK Will Not Veto Another Country's Candidacy

ASTANA 00000280 002 OF 002


--------------


7. (C) Tokayev mentioned that the GOK "had heard of" Greece's
possible candidacy for the 2009 CiO. That proposal "wouldn't
be so good," Tokayev remarked, citing the fact that Greece
had not mounted a campaign for the CiO. However, although
the GOK had the right to block any country's candidacy, he
said, we "won't do it." On the CiO issue, Tokayev reported
to Ambassador Ordway, he had told Belgian Foreign Minister
Karel de Gucht that "we are not interested in creating fault
lines" within the OSCE.

Affirming the Need to Implement Political Reform
-------------- ---


8. (C) Tokayev affirmed that, notwithstanding the GOK
objection to preconditions to its CiO bid, "we strongly
believe we have to make progress in political reforms."
Toward that end, President Nazarbayev would make a "special
statement" on democratic reform, perhaps early in 2007. At
roughly the same time, the GOK would begin to undertake
reforms, to include "changing the role of Parliament," and
"changing the function of Deputies."
ORDWAY