KYRGYZ OFFICIALS RELUCTANT TO TALK ABOUT MANAS --

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BISHKEK 000129

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/11/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR MARR KPAO KG
SUBJECT: KYRGYZ OFFICIALS RELUCTANT TO TALK ABOUT MANAS --
OR ANYTHING ELSE

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Classified By: Ambassador Tatiana C. Gfoeller, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Kyrgyz government officials awkwardly
avoided contact with EmbOff at a February 6 dinner marking
Kyrgyzstan's second annual International Santa Claus
Festival. Kyrgyz tourism officials purposefully introduced
EmbOff to the new Vice Prime Minister, the new Deputy Foreign
Minister, and members of Parliament, all but one of whom
refused even polite conversation. A lower-level contact
confided that government officials had received instructions
not to discuss Manas Air Base. A Chinese representative at
the dinner expressed approval for Bakiyev's announcement of
plans to close the Base, saying the Base was "a headache" for
the Chinese leadership. END SUMMARY

KYRGYZSTAN: FRIENDS WITH EVERYONE
--------------


2. (U) Kyrgyzstan has based its tourism strategy on a Swedish
logistics company's report showing Santa Claus should be
based here to most efficiently reach the world's children.
The Director of the State Agency on Tourism, Turusbek
Mamashov, claims that promoting Kyrgyzstan as the home of
Santa Claus and inviting foreign countries to send their
Santa-like figures for an annual festival will show that
Kyrgyzstan is a friendly country, open to all. Last year,
President Bakiyev met with the six Santas who came from
around the world for the first festival. This year, Santas
from 16 countries, including from the United States, came to
the festival, though both Bakiyev and Prime Minister Chudinov
were too busy to meet with them. Instead, Vice Prime
Minister Uktomkhan Abdullayeva opened the festival and hosted
a private dinner February 6 for participants, diplomats, and
government officials.

AN AWKWARD DINNER
--------------


3. (C) Mamashov and the working-level organizer of the
festival, a recent alumnus of the UGRAD exchange program,
purposefully seated EmbOff at the head table next to
Abdullayeva and Deputy Foreign Minister Baktygul Kalambekova
at the dinner, even though tables with foreign Ambassadors
and wealthy Kyrgyz businessmen were nearby. The alumnus,
conspicuously adorned in a Department of State Bureau of
Educational and Cultural Affairs lanyard, explained that
Mamashov was frustrated by Bakiyev's announcement on the Base
closure and hoped to give EmbOff a chance to talk to the
ranking Kyrgyz officials at the dinner.


4. (C) Abdullayeva and Kalambekova did their best to avoid
verbal or eye contact with EmbOff, even when loudly
introduced by Mamashov, instead staring at their plates for
most of dinner. Abdullayeva slowly warmed to conversation
about Kyrgyzstan's cuisine, but excused herself when asked if
she had ever visited America. Mamashov also attempted to
introduce Vice Speaker of Parliament Isabekov and two other
Deputies, but the three refused to acknowledge EmbOff and
walked away. The alumnus claimed that government officials
have been told not to talk about the Base because the issue
is not resolved, and they are reluctant to try to defend
Bakiyev's decision, because "everyone understands the Russian
deal is simply cash for Bakiyev's re-election campaign."

THE CHINESE ANGLE
--------------


5. (C) China was represented at the dinner by Ge Zhi Li, the
chairman of the Beijing Asia-Europe Continent Information
Consulting Co Ltd (www.aeci.com.cn),which he claimed
provides diplomatic services for the Chinese government. He
said he has headed Soviet-Chinese, Russian-Chinese, and even
Kyrgyz-Chinese friendship societies on behalf of the Chinese

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government. Ge Zhi Li told EmbOff he was sent from Beijing
to attend the festival, but mostly to build relations with
new Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Sarbayev, whom he knows well from
Sarbayev's time as Ambassador in Beijing. He added that the
Chinese government interprets Sarbayev's recent appointment
as a re-orientation in Kyrgyzstan's foreign policy.


6. (C) Ge Zhi Li claimed the Chinese leadership considered
the Manas Base a "headache" which allowed the Americans to
push the Kyrgyz and others in Central Asia too quickly
towards democracy, creating instability in the region. He
said the Chinese government therefore supported the removal
of the Base, though its voice was much weaker than the
Russians'. He believed that the Russians were eager to "get
revenge against AMERICA for South Ossetia" and had pushed
very hard on the issue against a weak Kyrgyz government.

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


7. (C) Manas Air Base remains the issue of the day, even when
officials will not talk about it -- or anything else. This
scene from a cultural dinner shows that some members of the
Kyrgyz government are reluctant to interact with Embassy
officers in the current environment, and some disagree with
Bakiyev's decision to close the Base.
GFOELLER