AMBASSADOR RECEIVES WARM WELCOME IN CHILLY BUKHARA

C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 000080 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/22/2018 TAGS: PGOV ECON ELAB KIRF PHUM PINR SOCI UZ SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR RECEIVES WARM WELCOME IN CHILLY BUKHARA REF: 07 TASHKENT 1744 Classified By: POLOFF R. FITZMAURICE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D) ¶1. (C) Summary: Despite frigid temperatures outside, the Ambassador was warmly received by the hokim (governor) of Bukhara province during a trip to the province on January 10 and 11. The Ambassador also visited the Naqshbandi Sufi Shrine and met with Bukharan Jewish community leaders at a local synagogue. In addition, he visited a shelter for victims of domestic violence which recently opened with support from an Embassy Democracy Commission grant and had breakfast with human rights defenders (septels). The warm welcome for the Ambassador contrasts starkly with the reception received by poloff and cultural affairs officer during two previous trips to Bukhara this past fall (reftel) - an example of the gradual change in U.S.-Uzbek atmospherics over the past few months. End summary. UZBEKISTAN'S LONGEST-SERVING PROVINCIAL HOKIM -------------- ¶2. (C) On January 10, the Ambassador met with Samoidin Khusenov, the hokim of Bukhara province. Khusenov, who has served as hokim since 1996, is by far the longest-serving provincial hokim in Uzbekistan and is viewed as a survivor who has weathered several purges of other provincial hokims. According to the Embassy's political FSN, Khusenov is an ethnic Iranian (though he is officially registered as an Uzbek in his passport) whose rise to the governorship was facilitated by Ismail Jurabekov, another ethnic Iranian from Bukhara (Note: "Ethnic Iranian" here refers to Iranians who settled in Bukhara and Samarkand several hundred years ago. End note.) Jurabekov, who allegedly headed Uzbekistan's powerful Samarkand-Bukhara clan and facilitated President Karimov's own political ascent, fell from grace in 2004 after being dismissed as a Presidential adviser and enduring criminal charges, which were eventually dropped. Since that time, Khusenov has managed to establish close business ties with the President's eldest daughter, Gulnora Karimova, including supporting her entry into Bukhara's hotel industry. An independent website reported unconfirmed rumors this past summer that Khusenov's office was audited by the Presidential Apparat and he was temporarily placed under house arrest. Whether the rumor was true or not, it now appears that Khusenov is in full control again. ¶3. (C) Although Khusenov is perceived as no less corrupt than other regional hokims, he has earned some admiration for supporting the renovation of Bukhara's cultural sites and supporting the development of its tourism industry. For example, during a visit to Bukhara's Ark Museum, its director Robert Almeev told the Ambassador that his museum regularly receives funding from the Hokimiyat for restoration projects. Khusenov is also well-traveled and has visited the United States on several occasions, including having studied for one month at Harvard University. During his meeting with the Ambassador, Khusenov revealed that he has been named a member of the Uzbek Senate. BUKHARA'S WEALTH OF RESOURCES -------------- ¶4. (C) Khusenov explained to the Ambassador that his province was rich in agricultural resources, producing approximately 19 percent of Uzbekistan's annual cotton crop. The cotton produced in Bukhara province is a long-fiber variety which is especially amenable to export. (Note: Bukhara is one of two provinces to introduce modern cotton seed delinting methods, and this has resulted in phenomenal increases in yields. End note.) Bukhara province is also home to significant oil and gas reserves. Khusenov explained that Bukhara province used to import gasoline, but it has since become a net exporter of gasoline. Bukhara province opened its own oil refinery in 1997, becoming one of only three provinces with such a facility. Khusenov said that a new gas production facility was set to open soon, but did not provide further details. INVESTMENTS IN EDUCATION -------------- ¶5. (C) In order to take greater advantage of its natural resource wealth, Khusenov said that the province was investing heavily in education. Bukhara province already has opened agricultural colleges in all of its districts, and in recent years, the province has opened new vocational colleges dedicated to computer training and the natural gas and oil sector. Since independence, Bukhara province has opened 50 new colleges and 58 new primary and secondary schools and renovated more than 80 percent of its existing schools. However, Khusenov said that his province needed more highly skilled experts for its oil and gas industry and expressed an interest in working with the United States to provide greater training. BUKHARA IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS -------------- ¶6. (C) Khusenov stressed that Bukhara was interested in increasing foreign investment, including from the United States. He noted that U.S. firms had already invested in hotels (the Ambassador stayed in a hotel owned by the Malika group, an Overseas Private Investment Corporation- financed American-Uzbek joint venture with hotels in several of Uzbekistan's cities),construction materials, and light industry. The province's agricultural sector also employs American tractors and combines. HOKIM DENIES THAT CHILD LABOR AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING ARE PROBLEMS -------------- -------------- ¶7. (C) When asked by the Ambassador, Khusenov denied that child labor was used for Bukhara's cotton harvest and blamed "one-sided" reports by human rights groups and the international media for sullying Uzbekistan's reputation. Khusenov claimed that child labor was used in the Soviet era, but was no longer needed due to increases in the level of mechanization in the province's agricultural sector (Comment: All credible accounts that we have seen point to the level of mechanization in Uzbekistan having decreased, not increased, since independence. End comment.) ¶8. (C) Khusenov firmly denied that his administration was involved in rounding up children for the cotton harvest. However, he noted that farms in the province have largely been privatized since independence and suggested that families may have their children contribute to the harvest. He further explained that Uzbek families expected their children to work and considered it an important component of their education. ¶9. (C) The Ambassador observed that Bukhara province is home to one of only two shelters for trafficking victims in Uzbekistan, as well as a separate shelter for domestic violence victims (also visited by the Ambassador, see septel). In reply, Khusenov admitted that a few cases of human trafficking have occurred in Bukhara province, but he denied that it existed as an organized phenomenon. He believed that human trafficking occurred less frequently in Uzbekistan than in other countries due to the family-oriented nature of Uzbek society. (Comment: In fact, Bukhara is by most accounts a central source of Uzbekistan's trafficking victims. While Tashkent officials are willing to discuss combating human trafficking, obviously some hokims are reticent, at least with foreigners. End comment.) AMBASSADOR VISITS NAQSHBANDI SHRINE AND SYNAGOGUE -------------- -------------- ¶10. (U) The Ambassador was given a tour of the Naqshbandi Sufi Shrine, the burial site of the founder of one of Islam's most prominent Sufi orders, the Naqshbandiyya, and one of Central Asia's most significant spiritual centers, by Abdugafur Razzoqov, the Head Imam of Bukhara Province. Razzoqov explained that the number of visitors has been increasing significantly each year. In 2007, about one and half million visitors, mostly pilgrims, visited the Shrine, and Razzoqov expected that number to climb to approximately 2 million in 2008. ¶11. (C) At the Chabad Lubavitch Synagogue, the Ambassador met with three prominent leaders of the Bukharan Jewish community: 76-year-old Rabbi Aron Siyanov, Chairman of the Sephardic Cultural Center Abram Iskhakov, and Chairman of the local Jewish community Yusuf Ustaev. The Jewish community in Bukhara, historically a culturally significant force, has dwindled from approximately 80,000 members in 1990 to less than 600 today, with most emigrating to the United States or Israel for economic reasons. Iskhakov further estimated that approximately 15,000 Bukharan Jews (defined as Jews with origins in Central Asia) remained in Central Asia as a whole. He also estimated that there were about 60,000 Bukharan Jews in the United States and another 150,000 in Israel. ¶12. (C) The three Jewish community leaders reported good relations with local authorities, noting that they have provided assistance in repairing the community's cemetery and opening a second synagogue in Bukhara. They also reported excellent relations with the local Muslim community, explaining that they treat each other as brothers and freely invite each other to weddings and funerals. The leaders were well-informed on international affairs and queried the Ambassador about U.S. policy on Israeli-Palestinian relations and the potential threat posed by a nuclear-armed Iran. POLICE ESCORT FOR RETURN TRIP TO TASKHENT -------------- ¶13. (C) Upon the conclusion of the last meeting on January 11, the Ambassador's motorcade was escorted by police cars from Bukhara all the way back to Tashkent, with the escort changing at the border of each province along the way. In a highly unusual move, the Ambassador's car was escorted from the boundary of Tashkent city to his residence by a car from presidential security. COMMENT -------------- ¶14. (C) The warm welcome for the Ambassador in Bukhara province contrasts sharply with the chilly reception given to poloff and cultural affairs officer during previous trips to the province this past September (reftel). The provision of an escort from presidential security was also taken by FSNs as a clear sign that the Uzbeks are interested in improving the tone of the bilateral relationship. ¶15. (C) The Ambassador's short tour of Bukhara also provided an insightful glimpse into modern Uzbekistan and its regional elite. On one hand, Khusenov is a corrupt governor who presides over a province with enormous socio-economic problems, which he is unwilling to discuss openly with foreign guests. On the other hand, under Khusenov, Bukhara province is playing a key role in the modernization of Uzbekistan's cotton industry, successfully preserving its historical treasures, and dramatically expanding its tourism revenue. NORLAND