TAJIKISTAN: DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON DEFENDING THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L DUSHANBE 000240 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/15/2013 TAGS: PGOV PREL TI SUBJECT: TAJIKISTAN: DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON DEFENDING THE U.S. KOSOVO POSITION IN THE OSCE REF: STATE 14284 Classified By: Tom Hushek, DCM; reasons 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (SBU) POLOFF delivered the demarche on defending the U.S. Kosovo position in the OSCE to Muzafar Huseinov, the acting Head of Department for International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and to his deputy, Jamshed Khamidov. Huseinov said that Tajikistan was aware of Serbia,s intention to invoke the Berlin Mechanism after Kosovo declares independence, and he will inform his superiors of our position. ¶2. (SBU) Neither Huseinov nor Khamidov was prepared to give an indication of what Tajikistan,s position might be, either on recognizing Kosovo,s independence or on their reaction to invoking the Berlin Mechanism. ¶3. (C) We anticipate that Tajikistan will side with the Russian Federation on Kosovo issues. ¶4. (U) Dushanbe point of contact for follow-up information is Greg Naarden, naardengl2@state.sgov.gov. JACOBSON