Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06DUSHANBE304
2006-02-15 05:54:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Dushanbe
Cable title:  

BBC IN DUSHANBE: "DON'T DIS A SMALL COUNTRY AND YOU CAN GET

Tags:  PGOV PREL KDEM KPAO UK TI 
pdf how-to read a cable
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FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
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RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 7811
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DUSHANBE 000304 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, SCA/PPD, EUR/PPD, DRL, R, S/P
STATE ALSO FOR EUR DAS BRYZA
NSC FOR MILLARD, MERKEL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2/15/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM KPAO UK TI
SUBJECT: BBC IN DUSHANBE: "DON'T DIS A SMALL COUNTRY AND YOU CAN GET
YOUR FREQUENCY BACK"

REF: DUSHANBE 0072

CLASSIFIED BY: Richard E. Hoagland, Ambassador, EXEC, Embassy
Dushanbe.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)



C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DUSHANBE 000304

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, SCA/PPD, EUR/PPD, DRL, R, S/P
STATE ALSO FOR EUR DAS BRYZA
NSC FOR MILLARD, MERKEL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2/15/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM KPAO UK TI
SUBJECT: BBC IN DUSHANBE: "DON'T DIS A SMALL COUNTRY AND YOU CAN GET
YOUR FREQUENCY BACK"

REF: DUSHANBE 0072

CLASSIFIED BY: Richard E. Hoagland, Ambassador, EXEC, Embassy
Dushanbe.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) In a surprisingly tough meeting February 14, the
Ambassador joined his European and OSCE colleagues for what was
supposed to have been a joint Western demarche about the BBC
Tajik Service having lost its permission January 10 to broadcast
on FM-106 in Dushanbe (reftel). French Ambassador Pierre
Andrieu, UK DCM Margaret Beloff, and OSCE Deputy Head of Mission
Andrey Shugurov also participated. Foreign Minister Talbak
Nazarov headed the Tajik phalanx along with Communications
Minister Said Zubaidov, Chairman of Radio and Television
Broadcasting Asadullo Rahmonov, and Head of the Foreign
Ministry's Legal Department Sherali Jononov who took notes but
said nothing.


2. (C) UK Ambassador Graeme Loten had requested the joint
meeting about ten days earlier, but the MFA sprang the meeting
on the Western side with three hours notice, possibly because EU
regional Ambassador Adriaan van der Meer had raised the issue
with President Rahmonov February 12. Loten was out of town on
other business, and Beloff was not well-prepared for the
meeting. Ambassador Andrieu took the lead, playing the role of
honest broker exceptionally well. Even the often-strange
Shugurov tried to be helpful.


3. (C) Because Foreign Minister Nazarov had previously told the
U.S. and French Ambassadors and German Charge individually that
he had the highest respect for BBC, which had "never once done
anything to harm Tajikistan," we were taken aback by his
uncharacteristically sarcastic opening salvo: "So here we sit
today without the main guilty person (UK Ambassador Loten) in
the dock."

THE TAJIK VERSION


4. (C) Without going into the mostly untranslated and painful
minutiae of the 75 minutes of rapid-fire accusations,
counter-accusations, and circular logic, the Tajik position

follows. As early as April 2005, the Committee for Radio and
Television Broadcasting (CRTB) had notified the Ministry of
Communications, with whom BBC had its previous agreements, that
BBC would need to re-register when the new legislation on
broadcasting pending in the parliament would become law.
MinComm and CRTB conducted a voluminous exchange of letters and
memos between themselves, flashed at us from bulging folders,
and the MinComm eventually informed BBC, at least orally. The
MinComm had the lead because BBC had signed its 1999 and 2003
broadcast agreements with that ministry in accordance with the
relevant law at that time.


5. (C) A BBC delegation from London came to Dushanbe in June
2005, but left without a clear idea of what would be required to
re-register, because the new law had not yet been passed and the
implementing regulations not promulgated. BBC continued, then,
to rely on its local Tajik representative, whom FM Nazarov
repeatedly and disdainfully dismissed as an "unreliable
low-life."


6. (C) In fact, the pending broadcast licensing bill was not
signed into law until September 1, 2005, and the implementing

DUSHANBE 00000304 002 OF 003


regulations were not published until mid-November. The new
registration form listing the required supporting documents was
not available until mid- to late December. "It's all on the
Internet," FM Nazarov commented caustically. "Don't you people
use the Internet?"


7. (C) Apparently BBC London, unused to Tajikistan's sometimes
ridiculously short deadlines for legal affairs, decided to move
with "all deliberate speed," meaning they did nothing, and thus
were booted from the FM-106 frequency January 10.


8. (C) FM Nazarov excoriated the local BBC "lowlife"
representative for calling a press conference on January 11 to
protest Tajikistan's "political oppression," and laid into
Shugurov for OSCE's "typical knee-jerk reaction to make us look
like thugs." The academic-at-heart Nazarov ridiculed the Tajik
BBC representative as akin to "a bad student from a rich family
who ignores all honest advice with impunity."


9. (C) Nazarov archly concluded, "Fill out the form, Dear Lady
Diplomat, attach your supporting documents, and you'll be back
on the air the next day. But I don't care if you take a day, a
week, or ten years - you must meet our law. We will not
tolerate an arrogant foreign conglomerate [sic] abusing a small
country."

A MODEST PROPOSAL - REJECTED


10. (C) The U.S. Ambassador suggested that since the matter
appeared to be purely legal-technical and not political, the
Government of Tajikistan might want to consider an exception for
an interim license to get BBC back on the air locally until it
can submit its documents. This would mitigate the currently
negative perceptions in Western capitals. French Ambassador
Andrieu and OSCE Deputy Head of Mission Shugurov
enthusiastically supported this suggestion. Nazarov thundered,
"No! Never! We are a nation of law, and you must follow our
law, just as we follow the law in your countries."


11. (SBU) DCM Beloff undertook to report the requirements to
BBC London and get the paperwork done as quickly as possible.

ANOTHER VIEW


12. (C) Embassy Dushanbe's PAS FSN Media Assistant attended the
meeting. Afterward, he opined the issue is indeed political,
not technical-legal. The local Tajik BBC staff are known to
identify strongly with the Tajik political opposition. Even if
BBC submits all the required documents to the CRTB with all the
required notarial stamps, BBC will still face the formidable
task of then registering with the Ministry of Justice. He
suggested President Rahmonov's circle simply will not tolerate
an independent source of news and information readily available
to Dushanbe during the presidential election year. This is not
unprecedented. The U.S.-funded NGO,Internews, has also had
problems getting its community radio stations registered and
licensed. There are also rumors that if BBC adds a Kulobi
staffer or two to its Dushanbe office, friends of the President,
all will proceed smoothly.


13. (C) COMMENT: Although Embassy Dushanbe not infrequently
has "frank discussions" with Tajik Government officials, we have
never before seen FM Nazarov in such high dudgeon. Because of
the surprisingly raw emotions in this meeting, we tend to
suspect neither side disclosed the full story. It's also

DUSHANBE 00000304 003 OF 003


possible that Nazarov felt he'd unfairly been called on the
carpet by President Rahmonov over this issue. We want to judge
that the BBC issue is mostly legal-technical, but we cannot
wholly discount our FSN's political analysis. While Minister of
Communications Zubaidov is an apolitical technocrat and looked
decidedly uncomfortable in the meeting, CRTB Chairman Rahmonov
is a recent Kulobi-clan political appointee and appeared
self-satisfied. Once BBC submits the required documents for
re-licensing, we will see which way the political wind blows.
Whatever eventually happens - and we will work quietly to help
this end well - BBC is not at all in good political favor these
days in a few halls of the Tajik Government. END COMMENT.
HOAGLAND