Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ASTANA1935
2009-10-28 00:49:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Astana
Cable title:  

KAZAKHSTAN: SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE PANDITH SPEAKS TO

Tags:  PREL PHUM PGOV KISM KIRF OSCE KZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 001935 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, S/SRMC, DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV KISM KIRF OSCE KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE PANDITH SPEAKS TO
STUDENTS, MEDIA

REF: (A) ASTANA 1912
(B) ASTANA 1618

ASTANA 00001935 001.2 OF 002


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 001935

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, S/SRMC, DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV KISM KIRF OSCE KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE PANDITH SPEAKS TO
STUDENTS, MEDIA

REF: (A) ASTANA 1912
(B) ASTANA 1618

ASTANA 00001935 001.2 OF 002



1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.


2. (SBU) SUMMARY: During her October 13 visit to Almaty, Special
Representative to Muslim Communities (SRMC) Farah Pandith broke new
ground by visiting Kazakhstan's only Islamic University and engaging
the students in a lively discussion on Muslims in the United States.
Muskie and Flex alumni told SRMC Pandith that Islam is the new
"fashion" among Kazakh youth even though most only attend mosques on
high holidays. Kazakh academics welcomed President Obama's new
engagement with Muslim communities and highlighted the importance of
education in the combat with extremism. Kazakhstan's new Islamic TV
channel and Kazakh-language print media positively covered SRMC
Pandith's visit. END SUMMARY.

WARM WELCOME AT ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY


3. (SBU) As part of her visit to Kazakhstan October 12-13 (ref A),
Special Representative to Muslim Communities (SRMC) Farah Pandith
received a warm welcome at the Nur-Mubarakh University in Almaty,
Kazakhstan's only Islamic University. Meeting the first
high-ranking U.S. government visitor to the university on its front
steps, the director, Dr. Mahmoud Hegazi, and several professors
whisked SRMC Pandith into the director's office where a full tea
service awaited. As two students served sweets, Dr. Hegazi told
SRMC Pandith that Nur Mubarakh University, a bilateral
Kazakhstani-Egyptian university established in 2001, offers
undergraduate degrees in several social sciences and graduate
degrees in Arabic studies. Women are underrepresented, Dr. Hegazi
asserted, at only a quarter of the university's 400 students. With
a curriculum taught in English, Russian, Kazakh, and Arabic, many of
the university's graduates utilize their language skills to pursue
careers in business, public relations, and the media.


4. (SBU) Dr. Hegazi claimed that interest in Islam and Islamic
studies is growing, because many young Kazakhs are striving to
"rediscover their roots." He praised the Kazakhstani government for
supporting educational institutions like his -- "You have to give

people the information they seek, or someone else will." He advised
SRMC Pandith to "be cautious about generalizations. Kazakhstan is
Muslim, but different -- it does not mix religion and politics," he
said. (NOTE: SRMC Pandith heard similar views from Muslim civil
society leaders in Astana (ref A). END NOTE.) Dr. Hegazi expressed
an interest in closer cooperation with the Embassy and asked
specifically for a training program for the university's six English
professors. (NOTE: Post's Regional English Language Officer will
pursue this welcome opportunity and inquire about the placement of
an English-language fellow. END NOTE.)

STUDENTS ASK ABOUT MUSLIMS IN THE UNITED STATES


5. (SBU) After the meeting with Dr. Hegazi, SRMC Pandith spoke with
a group of approximately 40 university students and several faculty
members. Equal numbers of female and male students sat on separate
sides of the room, exchanging jokes and laughter across the aisle.
They exemplified the difference between younger post-independence
Kazakhstanis and the older Soviet-educated generation, with all
female students wearing head coverings while the older faculty
members refrained. During the lively thirty-minute exchange,
students peppered SRMC Pandith with questions in nearly-perfect
English about Muslims in the United States. "Why are you visiting
Kazakhstan?" "What kinds of Muslims live in the United States?"
"Are there Muslim women's rights groups in the United States?"
"What are your thoughts on girls wearing hijabs to school?" The
students, clearly eager to learn more about the United States,
continued to launch questions as Dr. Hegazi brought the meeting to a
close.

ALUMNI SPEAK ON THE "FASHION" OF ISLAM


6. (SBU) Several alumni of Flex and Muskie programs called Islam
the "new fashion" among educated Kazakh youth, with most only

ASTANA 00001935 002.2 OF 002


attending mosques for high holidays, "like Christmas for
Christians." One participant asserted that the government's secret
services (i.e. the Committee for National Security, KNB) remain
"largely ignorant" of different teachings within Islam and tend to
treat all "non-traditional" Muslims as extremist threats. All
agreed about the rarity of religious extremist ideology in
Kazakhstan. They ventured, however, that the growing divide between
urban and rural income levels, and falling standards of education,
could make the rural, primarily Kazakh, youth more susceptible to
extremist views.

ACADEMICS WELCOME CAIRO SPEECH


7. (SBU) At a round-table with leading Kazakh academics and
journalists from Kazakh-language newspapers, SRMC Pandith
highlighted her office's mission to implement President Obama's
vision articulated in his Cairo speech. Marat Tokashbeyev, the
Editor-in-Chief of "President Zhane Khalyk" (The President and the
People) Kazakh-language newspaper told SRMC Pandith, "We Muslims
rejoiced at the Cairo speech." He asserted that the existing
"friction" between the West and the Muslim world stems from the
"West's unabashed support for Israel" and asked whether President
Obama planned to change that policy. SRMC Pandith objected to his
thesis, responding that the true root issue is "the use of religion
for political purposes." Political scientist Murtaza Bulatay
agreed, adding that all Muslim countries must adopt "the universal
principles of Enlightenment." Mukhametzhan Tazabekov, director of
the new Islamic television channel Assyl Arna, stressed that
education, "like the one my channel is providing," is a key tool in
the fight against extremism.

MEDIA OUTREACH


8. (SBU) SRMC Pandith held a short on-the-record
question-and-answer session with journalists at the round-table.
Much like the students at Islamic University, the journalists posed
numerous questions about Muslims in the United States, the role of
the government in regulating religion, and SRMC Pandith's strategy
for implementation of President Obama's vision. SRMC Pandith also
gave an exclusive television interview to the Assyl Arna channel.
The subsequent, largely positive, press coverage included several
newspapers' highlighting the warming relations between the United
States and Muslim world and quotations from SRMC Pandith on
extremism, Muslim life in the United States, and the purpose of her
office.


9. (SBU) COMMENT: President Obama's Cairo speech clearly
reverberated widely among the Kazakhstani Muslims. We held several
well-attended events on the occasion, and Muslim community leaders
and Kazakh-language press positively responded to the Ambassador's
Iftaar dinner (ref B). SRMC Pandith's outreach to students and
community leaders built on this momentum, furthered our connection
with Kazakhstan's growing population of young, observant,
Kazakh-speaking Muslims, and started to respond to their intense
curiosity about life in the United States. END COMMENT.

HOAGLAND