Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07TASHKENT1301
2007-07-16 14:09:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tashkent
Cable title:  

AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE HANFORD MEETS WITH

Tags:  PGOV KIRF UZ TX TI 
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VZCZCXRO6647
PP RUEHDBU
DE RUEHNT #1301/01 1971409
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 161409Z JUL 07 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY TASHKENT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8137
INFO RUEHAH/AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT 3139
RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA 9282
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 1181
RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK 3752
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 3614
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0885
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 7119
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0329
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0783
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 2019
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 TASHKENT 001301 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2017
TAGS: PGOV KIRF UZ TX TI
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE HANFORD MEETS WITH
UZBEKISTAN'S RELIGIOUS LEADERS

REF: TASHKENT 1197

TASHKENT 00001301 001.2 OF 004


Classified By: CDA BRAD HANSON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 TASHKENT 001301

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2017
TAGS: PGOV KIRF UZ TX TI
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE HANFORD MEETS WITH
UZBEKISTAN'S RELIGIOUS LEADERS

REF: TASHKENT 1197

TASHKENT 00001301 001.2 OF 004


Classified By: CDA BRAD HANSON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D).


1. (C) Summary: During a five-day visit to Uzbekistan from
June 25 to June 30, Ambassador-at-large for International
Religious Freedom John Hanford met several of Uzbekistan's
religious leaders, including the Mufti and the head Imam of
Tashkent, the Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church,
the Roman Catholic Bishop, a leader of Tashkent's Jewish
community, several protestant pastors and the former Mufti of
Uzbekistan and Central Asia, Muhammad Sodiq Muhammad Yusuf.
During a one-day visit to Bukhara, Hanford visited the
Naqshbandi shrine complex, a synagogue, a Shiite mosque, and
a Sunni madrassah. The meetings were cordial, but perhaps
aware of ever-present MFA minders, virtually all participants
stressed the high degree of inter-religious harmony.
Nevertheless, the meetings yielded some useful information,
including about the country's system of religious education,
and some participants supported amending the 1998 religious
law to allow for more religious education and to permit
organizations with fewer than one hundred members to
register. Former Mufti Muhammad Sodiq Muhammad Yusuf
advocated dropping many restrictions on private religious
education, which he said had been a response to a terrorist
threat that is no longer so urgent. End Summary.


2. (C) From June 25-30, Ambassador-at-large for International
Religious Freedom John Hanford visited Uzbekistan to meet
with government and religious leaders. The visit aimed to
open a dialogue to improve religious freedom following the
USG's designation of Uzbekistan in November 2006 as a Country
of Particular Concern (CPC) for religious freedom. Officials
of the Foreign Ministry and Committee on Religious Affairs
left a narrow opening for the possibility of change in the
country's law on religion (septel),while a series of
meetings with representatives of several religious
communities focused on issues particular to those groups.
The visit included a one-day excursion to Bukhara.


Meeting with the Mufti and Tashkent Head Imam
--------------


3. (SBU) On June 26, Ambassador Hanford met with Mufti Usmon
qori Alemov, the leader of Uzbekistan's Muslim community, and
Tashkent's Head Imam Anvar qori Tursunov at the
newly-constructed Headquarters of the Muslim Spiritual Board.
They explained the Muslim Board's role as overseer for all
mosques and institutions of Islamic learning in the country,
including eight maddrassahs, the religious Tashkent Islamic
Institute and the secular Tashkent Islamic University. After
the meeting, Hanford was given a tour of the new
Government-funded Hazrati Imam Mosque, which opened on June 5
after four months of construction and can hold 3,500
congregants, as well as a new library complex holding
reportedly the world's oldest authenticated Qu'ran.


4. (C) Imam Tursunov, echoing the script followed by almost
every official who met with Ambassador Hanford, expressed
disbelief at Uzbekistan's CPC designation and reminded
Hanford that the International Islamic Educational,
Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) had designated
Tashkent as one of the world's Islamic Cultural Capitals for

2007. Mufti Alemov and Imam Tursunov denied that the
Government restricts the rights of Muslims in Uzbekistan and
said that all Muslims in prison are criminals or terrorists.
Tursunov told of meeting inmates who claimed to be religious
prisoners but actually knew almost nothing about Islam.
Alemov said that Uzbekistan already has enough religious
institutions and that each family is responsible for teaching
their children about Islam. He also said that barriers for
opening new mosques do not exist where demand is great
enough. Commenting on registration restrictions in the 1998
religion law, Mufti Alemov said the law reflects a Hanafi
Sunni tradition that congregations should have more than one
hundred members before building a mosque (Note: The vast
majority of Muslims in Uzbekistan are Hanafi Sunni. End
Note.) On June 27, Hanford also met with Rector Shuhrat
Yovkochev at the Tashkent Islamic University.

TASHKENT 00001301 002.2 OF 004



Orthodox Metropolitan: Let's Fight Extremism Together
-------------- --------------


5. (SBU) On June 27, Ambassador Hanford met with Metropolitan
Vladimir at the Russian Orthodox Cathedral. Metropolitan
Vladimir said that his diocese includes all of Central Asia,
except for Kazakhstan, and that within Uzbekistan, 35
congregations are registered and one is awaiting
registration. The Metropolitan told Hanford that he was not
interested in registering congregations with less than one
hundred people because it would be financially difficult to
support them.


6. (C) In general, Metropolitan Vladimir took a more
combative tone than the other religious leaders. He sharply
criticized Protestant groups in Uzbekistan, including
Baptists and Pentecostals, as well as Jehovah,s Witnesses
for aggressively proselytizing to Muslims and members of his
church. He was also critical of religious "fanatics" within
the United States. Instead of agreeing to support greater
religious freedom in Uzbekistan, the Metropolitan offered
cooperation in fighting protestant religious "extremism" in
Uzbekistan and the United States. (Note: In an odd sidebar,
the Metropolitan accused U.S. warplanes at the Manas Air
Force Base in Kyrgyzstan of dumping kerosene while in the
air, which he says has polluted the land and caused cancer in
animals. He said that Kyrgyz President Bakiev has requested
financial compensation from U.S. government officials, but
was rebuffed. End note.)

Meetings with Tashkent Jewish Leader and Catholic Bishop
-------------- --------------


7. (SBU) On June 27, Ambassador Hanford also met at the
Embassy with Boris Shimonov of Tashkent's Jewish Community
and the Roman Catholic Bishop Jerzi Matsulevich. Shimonov
said that eight synagogues were registered in Uzbekistan, and
that Jews did not face any type of harassment or
discrimination. Matsulevich, a Polish citizen, said that the
Catholic Church has approximately 650 members throughout
Uzbekistan. He said that the Church does not have problems
with the Government in Tashkent, but sometimes has problems
at the local level, such as in Urgench. Matsulevich said
that the Catholic and Lutheran Churches in Uzbekistan agree
the 1998 Religion Law should be amended so that religious
organizations already registered at the federal level could
open branch congregations in the regions without
registration.

Persecution of Protestants and Jehovah's Witnesses
-------------- --------------


8. (C) On June 29, Ambassador Hanford met with three
representatives of "nontraditional" religious groups:
Vifaniya (Bethany) Baptist Church Pastor Nikolai Shevchenko,
Jehovah's Witnesses representative Sergei Artyushkov and
Andijon Pentecostal Pastor Bakhtiyor Tuychiev. (Strictly
protect.) Pastor Shevchenko said that his Vifaniya Baptist
Church has two branches and a total of 230 members in
Tashkent. After the Urgench branch of the Baptist Church
lost its registration, the Church also lost its national
registration, as nationally registered religious
organizations require at least eight provincially registered
branches. Shevchenko added that no Baptist Church has been
granted registration in Uzbekistan since 1999. Artyushkov
told Ambassador Hanford about the cases of Irfan Hamidov and
Dilafruz Arziyeva, two members of the unregistered Jehovah's
Witnesses congregation in Samarkand who were recently
convicted of illegally teaching religion on the basis of
falsified testimony (reftel).


9. (C) Andijon Pentecostal Pastor Bakhtiyor Tuychiev's
Church, which opened in 1996, used to have approximately one
hundred members, but has ceased activities due to pressure
from authorities and local residents. Tuychiev himself
recently sold his house and is now renting an apartment in
Tashkent. Although Tuychiev was warned by Uzbek authorities
not to flee Uzbekistan, he plans to leave the country.

TASHKENT 00001301 003.2 OF 004


Before he left, Tuychiev was the last of four active
Protestant pastors in Andijan (Note: Another Andijon
Pentecostal Pastor, Dmitry Shestakov, was sentenced to four
years in a labor camp on March 9 for alleged "extremist"
activities. End Note.) Tuychiev said that National Security
Service (NSS) agents have attempted to infiltrate his church,
often by asking to borrow money and then claiming that they
were paid to convert to Christianity.

Meeting with former Mufti
--------------


10. (C) On June 29, Former Mufti Muhammad Sodiq Muhammad
Yusuf received Ambassador Hanford at his Tashkent home. He
noted his close and continuing ties with the Embassy and
praised the USG's attention to religious freedom, notably in
speaking out for Muslim Uighurs in China. He said that he
was a particularly close reader of the USG's annual
International Religious Freedom Report. He said the report's
authors should pay close attention to accurate reporting,
especially when the report might result in Uzbekistan's
inclusion in a "black list" and possible sanctions against
the country. (Note: He did not, however, note any particular
inaccuracies in the report. End note.)


11. (C) Muhammad Sodiq asked that the United States use its
influence to assist the former Mufti of Turkmenistan,
Nasrulla Ibodullayev, who was sentenced to 22 years'
imprisonment on allegedly false charges after a trial lasting
only one day. Muhammad Sodiq said he was in regular contact
with the Nasrulla family, and there was some hope for
improvement. Turkmenistan government representatives told
them that they could travel and they would organize a meeting
for Nasrulla with his mother. According to Muhammad Sodiq,
the late President Niyazov gave his spiritual book, Rukhnama,
to Nasrulla to present in Mecca; his refusal to do so was his
downfall.


12. (C) Muhammad Sodiq also commented on the situation of
religious freedom in Tajikistan, which he said had seriously
worsened in recent months. Restrictions now included harsh
limitations on the length and frequency of imams' sermons, as
well as religious ceremonies such as weddings.


13. (C) Muhammad Sodiq commented on Uzbekistan's religion
law, saying that its ban on private religious education was a
specific response to the increased threat of terrorism
several years ago. Now that the terrorist threat has
diminished somewhat, he said, some of the restrictions on
education should be dropped. He noted that both he and his
daughter teach religion in their home without direct
permission from authorities. These teachings have helped to
bring more worshipers to the mosques. Based on the questions
he received via his website, Muhammad Sodiq thought the level
of religious understanding was improving. He did acknowledge
that innocent people were sometimes accused of extremism, but
said that in the majority of cases that he personally had
examined, the prisoners were in fact guilty of a crime.

Trip to Bukhara
--------------


14. (SBU) During a one-day visit to Bukhara on June 28,
Ambassador Hanford toured the Naqshbandi shrine complex, one
of the most important Sufi shrines in Central Asia, with Imam
Qotib Abdugofur Razzoq, the Head Imam of Bukhara Province.
Hanford met also with Rabbi Aron Siyanov, Chairman of the
local Jewish Community Yusuf Ustaev and Chairman of the
Jewish Cultural Center Abram Iskhakov. Rabbi Siyanov said
that the Jewish community in Bukhara has dwindled from 80,000
in 1990 to only 600 today, with most emigrating to the United
States or Israel. However, Siyanov noted that while Bukhara
only had one synagogue in 1990, thanks to Government support,
a second synagogue has recently opened. He vehemently
testified to the complete religious freedom that the
government grants to the Jewish community, as well as
financial support which the community receives from local
businesses.


TASHKENT 00001301 004.2 OF 004



15. (SBU) Ambassador Hanford was greeted by Imam Ibrohim
Habibov at the Hoji Mir-Ali Shia Mosque. Habibov stressed
that Bukhara's Shia minority lived in harmony with its Sunni
majority. Imam Habibov said that between 150,000 and 200,000
Shia live in the Bukhara region. Many of Uzbekistan's Shia
are traders and small merchants, traveling frequently to
other Central Asian countries, Iran and the Gulf. Habivov
mentioned there is much intermarriage between Shia and Sunni
in Uzbekistan. In addition to the Hoji Mir-Ali Mosque,
another Shia mosque is located in the rural region of Kogon
near Bukhara. Habibov's mosque has been undergoing
renovations since 1998, which have been supported by both
private donations and the Bukhara city government. Habibov
said that there are no Shia Maddrassahs in Uzbekistan, and
that he was trained at the reknown Mir-i Arab Sunni
Maddrassah in Bukhara.


16. (SBU) During an impromptu visit to the historic Mir-i
Arab Madrassah, Ambassador Hanford conversed with its
director, Mujhiddin Nugmanov. Mir-i Arab was the only
officially operating madrassah in the entire Soviet Union,
and therefore has among its alumni some of the most important
Islamic leaders in the region today, including the current
muftis of Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and
Kyrgyzstan. Today, the Mir-i Arab Madrassah has one hundred
male students and offers a mixed curriculum of religious and
secular subjects. When asked by Hanford, Nugmanov said that
Uzbekistan has two madrassahs for females, including the
Juibori Kalon Madrassah in Bukhara and another one in
Tashkent.

Comment
--------------


17. (C) The meetings between Ambassador Hanford and the
religious leaders were cordial, but perhaps aware of
ever-present MFA minders, most of the participants were
reluctant to criticize the Government and stressed the high
degree of inter-religious harmony in Uzbekistan. The
Protestant representatives were the most openly critical of
the Government's policies towards religious freedom, most
likely because they endure the full brunt of the Government's
religious persecution and their meeting was the only one
without MFA minders present. Nevertheless, useful
information was gleaned from the visits, including about the
country's system of religious education. Some of the
religious leaders, including the Catholic Bishop and the
former Mufti Muhammad Sodiq Muhammad Yusuf, also expressed
support for amending Uzbekistan's restrictive 1998 religious
law. In particular, former Mufti Muhammad Sodiq Muhammad
Yusuf advocated dropping many restrictions on private
religious education, which he said had been a response to a
terrorist threat that is no longer so urgent.
HANSON