Advancing Religious Freedom: Ambassador's Meeting with Uzbek

C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 000951

SIPDIS
DEPT FOR DRL/IRF
SCA/CEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/06/10
TAGS: PHUM PREL KIRF UZ
SUBJECT: Advancing Religious Freedom: Ambassador's Meeting with Uzbek
Deputy FM

REF: 09 STATE 58954

CLASSIFIED BY: Nicholas Berliner, Pol-Econ Chief; REASON: 1.4(B),(D)


1. (C) The Ambassador met on June 10 with First Deputy
Foreign Minister Hamidulla Karamatov to discuss reftel points and
ways forward on the religious freedom issue. Karamatov said that he
understood the importance of the issue and the need to work
together to find mutually acceptable language as the basis upon
which to address the problem of Uzbekistan's CPC designation. He
agreed with the Ambassador's assessment that the current climate of
improving bilateral relations made discussions of these issues
easier and said that the Foreign Ministry would work on drafting
language, drawing from the two letters that were proposed by
Hanford last December. Referring to the President's Cairo speech,
Karamatov also suggested that language from the speech could serve
as points of agreement on religious freedom. Karamatov also invited
the close cooperation of the Embassy in the process.




2. (C) Comment: We believe we have a real opportunity to move
forward on this issue. However, we also need to set our sights on
what is achievable in the context of Uzbekistan and should not
expect that the Uzbeks will agree to early binding commitments that
will result in fundamental changes in how the government here
interacts with the country's various religious communities.
Religious freedom is inseparable from the larger set of human
rights problems in Uzbekistan. Our objective now should be the
initiation of a serious dialogue that allows us to comply with the
requirements of the International Religious Freedom Act with a view
to managing this issue as part of our overall dialogue with the GOU
on human rights.
NORLAND