KOSOVO RECOGNITION - NO TAJIK POSITION

C O N F I D E N T I A L DUSHANBE 000185 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: DECL: 2/13/2019 TAGS: PREL AORC ICJ KV TI SUBJECT: KOSOVO RECOGNITION - NO TAJIK POSITION REF: STATE 11928 CLASSIFIED BY: Necia Quast, DCM, EXEC, DOS. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) Classified by DCM Necia Quast, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Pol/Econ Officer discussed reftel demarche with Jamaluddin Ubaidulloev, Second Secretary of the Department of European and North American Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Higher ranking officials were unavailable because they were traveling with President Rahmon to Europe. Ubaidulloev commented that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not offer an official position on Kosovo recognition because it had received no decision on the matter from the government. The MFA had referred our past demarches on Kosovo to the government (i.e. the Presidential Administration) for guidance, and had received no reply. In past conversations, head of the European and North American Affairs Khusrav Nosiri commented that Tajikistan wished to avoid the question of Kosovo recognition, because of perceived parallels with the question of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. ¶2. (C) Comment: The Tajiks wish to steer clear of Kosovo, and of the separatist territories in Georgia. While demarches to Tajikistan urging recognition of Kosovo probably do no harm, we see little prospect that they could have any impact on Tajikistan's policy of avoiding the issue altogether. End Comment. JACOBSON