Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08SOFIA403
2008-06-17 07:23:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Sofia
Cable title:  

MUSLIM LEADER REGAINS LEGITIMACY, REINFORCES

Tags:  PGOV KRIM PHUM BU 
pdf how-to read a cable
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DE RUEHSF #0403/01 1690723
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R 170723Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY SOFIA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 5165
C O N F I D E N T I A L SOFIA 000403 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/17/2028
TAGS: PGOV KRIM PHUM BU
SUBJECT: MUSLIM LEADER REGAINS LEGITIMACY, REINFORCES
IDEOLOGICAL MONOPOLY


Classified By: Jim Bigus for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SOFIA 000403

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/17/2028
TAGS: PGOV KRIM PHUM BU
SUBJECT: MUSLIM LEADER REGAINS LEGITIMACY, REINFORCES
IDEOLOGICAL MONOPOLY


Classified By: Jim Bigus for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (U) Summary. As expected, in a national conference
convened by more than 3,000 Bulgarian Muslims and sanctioned
by the court, Mustafa Alish Hadji won re-election as Chief
Mufti. Most of the Muslim community, weary of a decade-long
leadership struggle, welcomed Hadji's victory. Community
leaders say the ongoing dispute, instigated by former
(Communist-era) Chief Mufti Nedim Gendzhev, has distracted
them from serving and educating their followers and threatens
to weaken Bulgaria's tradition of a largely secular,
non-radicalized Muslim population. Decrying possible
radicalization from foreign influence, the Mufti's office --
heavily backed by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF)
political party -- continues to show little tolerance for
other Muslim groups that offer an alternative view of Islam.
End Summary.

--------------
BACKGROUND
--------------


2. (U) Bulgarian Muslims comprise the largest religious
minority in Bulgaria, approximately 13 percent of the
population of 7.6 million. Known for their moderate
tradition, the majority of Bulgaria's Muslims are Sunni, with
roughly 50,000 who identify as Shia. Islam is the
predominant religion among the ethnic Turks, who are
nominally represented in Bulgaria's coalition government,
through the MRF. The issues facing Bulgaria's Muslims are
most pressing in the Rhodope Mountains along the country's
southern border with Greece, which are home to many Muslims,
including ethnic Turks, Roma and "Pomaks" (ethnic Bulgarians
who practice Islam).


3. (SBU) The shiny minarets of newly built or recently
renovated mosques easily attract a visitor's attention in the
modest villages throughout the Rhodope Mountains. Local
clerics typically maintain these were built with support from
the community, but some admit to receiving foreign donations,
mostly from the Arab world, reportedly with no strings.


4. (SBU) The MRF's economic influence in the Rhodope
Mountains is clear as well. In private conversations
contacts (sometimes reluctantly) share examples of MRF's
successful tactics to keep the clergy beholden by securing
employment. Typically, for instance, a village mayor will

have served as the local imam before being elected on the MRF
ticket. The party is infamous for its corruption and
non-responsiveness to the social needs of poorer
constituents, but maintains strong influence and control in
the region by distributing jobs and wealth. The
political-religious nexus is not as obvious among Pomaks,
although MRF has lately made an effort to broaden its target
group beyond self-identified ethnic Turks.

--------------
LEADERSHIP DISPUTE
--------------


5. (U) The 3000-plus Muslim delegates from around the
country re-elected Mustafa Alish Hadji as Chief Mufti on
April 19. Hadji's victory came as no surprise. Many
Muslims, particularly in rural areas, have focused little on
the leadership dispute, but its outcome impacts key issues
like the appointment of local clerics and the financial
management of local religious institutions. Hadji received
congratulations from President Parvanov and other Bulgarian
officials, and was applauded by most of the largely secular
Muslim community. He is generally viewed as an educated and
moderate religious leader. An ethnic Bulgarian Muslim who
has been serving as Chief Mufti since May 2005, his image is
as a uniting figure for Muslims and an acceptable choice for
non-Muslims.


6. (U) The April conference followed a December, 2007
Supreme Court of Appeals' decision annulling a prior Hadji
win. That ruling had effectively reinstated Nedim Gendzhev,
who had contested Hadji's election. Gendzhev is a former
Chief Mufti from the Communist era with a decidedly dubious
record and limited support within the Muslim community. He
has consistently exploited legal loopholes in his quest to
regain control over the Muslim community and the property
that belongs to it. He has also been linked with the
Communist State Security Services and is known for his close
ties with Muslim leaders from the Arab world.


7. (U) Fearing Gendzhev's connections and resenting his
effective legal haggling, the Muslim community collected more
than 1,000 signatures demanding that the Sofia City Court
convene an April conference. Many worried that Gendzhev
would misuse or steal the community's properties. In the
past he had managed to either sell or rent some of them

(including a lucrative hotel in Ruse) to his relatives. Most
of the properties confiscated during Communist times have
been reclaimed, with one notable exception -- the Museum
building in Kurdjali. The Chief Mufti's office collects the
funds generated by these properties and distributes them to
regional muftis, Bulgaria's three Islamic schools and the
Islamic Higher Institute in Sofia. The lack of legitimate
leadership has hampered the office's administration.


8. (SBU) Gendzhev, for his part, has alleged that Hadji is a
pawn of the predominantly ethnic-Turkish political party and
junior coalition partner MRF, which he says politicizes
religion to help secure control over its electorate.
Gendzhev reiterated this claim immediately after the
conference, also asserting that a key court official was
bribed BGN 300,000 to schedule it. While Gendzhev's latest
attempt to challenge the leadership has been rejected, the
common belief is that he won't give in. Both community
members and academics comment that he is more a businessman
than a cleric. They dismiss his accusations that the Chief
Mufti's office has failed to prevent invasion of radical
elements, particularly in the rural mountain villages, and
that such elements have started illegal Muslim schools.

--------------
MUFTI'S RELATIONSHIP WITH MUSLIM NGOS
--------------


9. (SBU) Muslim leaders close to Hadji insist this
long-running dispute has distracted them from serving and
educating their followers, which many believe is critical for
ensuring a continued non-radicalized Muslim population here.
Sporadic press reports about the distribution of Islamic
extremist propaganda heighten concerns. The Mufti's office
has suppressed non-profit organizations and alternative
Muslim groups, believing that disparate views of Islam will
confuse the population and give rise to radicalism.
Academics note that Muslims returning from studying overseas
are often more observant, bringing new worship practices and
clashing with a community that is both secular-leaning and
strongly suspicious of foreign influences.


10. (SBU) The Union of Muslims, a mainly Pomak organization
that aims to present an alternative voice to the MRF, has a
fragile partnership with the Chief Mufti's office. Under
Bulgarian law, NGOs operating within a certain religious
community must be formally recognized by that religious
group's leadership. Union of Muslims Chief Secretary Salih
Arshinski told us the group has been under suspicion ever
since one of its leaders, a former Regional Mufti of Sofia,
was arrested in 2006 for allegedly publishing extreme views
on a web site. Even though charges were ultimately dropped,
the arrest effectively discredited the organization, which is
still maintaining a low profile.


11. (C) Arshinski criticized the government's purported
efforts to fight radicalization, noting the government's
vulnerability to corruption, which could allow a radical
group to pay for acceptance. He carefully distanced his
organization from another Muslim NGO, the Union for Islamic
Development and Culture, which had its court registration
recently revoked on charges of engaging in religious
activity. The group, headed by a graduate of religious
university in Jordan, was suspected of ties with radical Arab
foundations.

--------------
AHMADIYYA MUSLIM COMMUNITY
--------------


12. (SBU) The Chief Mufti's office has twice (in 2005 and
again in 2007) blocked the registration of the Ahmadiyya
Muslim Community -- the Ahmadis -- as a state-recognized
religious group by advising the Religious Directorate such
registration would promote a non-traditional interpretation
of Islam in Bulgaria. Although the Ahmadis claim to be
Muslims, the Chief Mufti's office refuses to recognize them
as Muslim because they claim their founder, Hadhart Mirza
Ghulam Ahmad, is a Promised Messiah and Madhi. Founded in
Punjab, India at the end of the 19th century, the Ahmadis
have grown to claim "tens of thousands" of members in 189
countries worldwide, including some 1,000 believers in
Bulgaria. The Ahmadis here describe the Chief Mufti's office
as their greatest enemy. They say it has misrepresented the
Ahmadis' religious practices and falsely claimed that Ahmadis
do not go on hajj or pray toward Mecca.


13. (SBU) After the rejection of their registration as a
religious group, the Ahmadis operated as an NGO, which
further fueled Bulgarian authorities' suspicions. Ahmadis
report that they pray in their homes and help young children
and the needy. They recently donated 3,000 leva each to two
orphanages, with funds reportedly received from their

headquarters office in London. In early 2008, officials in
the city of Blagoevgrad cancelled the Ahmadis' NGO
registration, charging that the group practiced religion in
public places. The Ahmadis say they want their rights
enforced via the law and not through violence, and are
considering taking their case to the European Court of Human
Rights.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


14. (C) The April conference appears to have resolved a long
and administratively exhausting legal dispute over the
leadership of Bulgaria's Muslim community. The Mufti,s
office, lead by a widely recognized moderate religious
educator with strong ties to Turkey, is now able to focus on
the community's concerns, including fears of foreign
influences. With close ties to the MRF, the Mufti's office
remains open to criticism that by squelching the activity of
alternative groups it is protecting the MRF's dominant
position and cultivating advantages for the party's
traditional patrons, clients and followers.
Karagiannis