AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE HANFORD MEETS WITH

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 �A;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