VZCZCXRO0147
PP RUEHDBU
DE RUEHEK #1454/01 2891118
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 161118Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY BISHKEK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8316
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 1744
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE PRIORITY 1250
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC PRIORITY
RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 2154
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 1541
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO BRUSSELS BE PRIORITY
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BISHKEK 001454 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF PHUM KDEM KG
SUBJECT: KYRGYZ REFUGEE REGIME REMAINS ON EDGE 
 
REF: A. BISHKEK 1159 
     ¶B. BISHKEK 1226 
     ¶C. 05 TASHKENT 1369 
     ¶D. BISHKEK 1409 
 
BISHKEK 00001454  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Charge Lee Litzenberger, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY:  On October 12 and 13, visiting PRM Officer 
and Poloff met with Kyrgyz Government officials, 
international organization representatives, and NGOs in 
Bishkek and Osh to discuss the refugee situation in 
Kyrgyzstan.  Following recent extraditions and reported 
abductions (refs a and b), Embassy contacts have charged that 
Kyrgyzstan's once exemplary refugee regime is eroding. 
Although UNHCR has been able to work cooperatively with its 
Kyrgyz counterparts to resettle numerous Uzbek asylum seekers 
to third countries, the safety of those currently residing in 
Kyrgyzstan has not been assured.  And if in the future there 
is another flow of asylum seekers from Uzbekistan, 
governmental and nongovernmental actors alike do not believe 
that Kyrgyzstan is prepared to handle them effectively. 
Without policies in place to ensure the safety of the 
approximately eighty asylum seekers registered in Kyrgyzstan, 
or the will to grant refugee status to Uzbek nationals, the 
refugee situation in Kyrgyzstan, according to experts in the 
field, will continue to deteriorate.  END SUMMARY. 
 
TO BE OR NOT TO BE AN ASYLUM SEEKER 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) During two days of discussions with Kyrgyz Government 
(GOKG) officials, international organization representatives, 
and NGOs on October 12 and 13 in Bishkek and Osh, visiting 
PRM Officer and Poloff were told that UNHCR has been able to 
establish cooperative relations with GOKG authorities. 
Following the May 2005 Andijon uprising (ref c), UNHCR 
convinced the GOKG to grant asylum seeker status to the 500 
Uzbek nationals who crossed the border in Kyrgyzstan.  As 
UNHCR Country Representative Carlos Zaccagnini informed 
Poloff, the Kyrgyz have thus far refused to grant refugee 
status to Uzbek citizens for fear of political reprisal. 
Given Kyrgyzstan's reliance upon cheap Uzbek gas, said 
Zaccagnini, the GOKG has made the strategic decision to 
either extradite Uzbeks deemed to be wanted criminals or 
allow UNHCR to resettle them to other countries.  While 
resettlement has been mildly successful, some have claimed 
that this arrangement is only a temporary solution that does 
not address the long-term needs of those who choose to remain 
in Kyrgyzstan indefinitely. 
 
¶3. (C) Director of the Adilet Legal Clinic (which provides 
legal assistance to refugees and asylum seekers throughout 
the country) Cholpon Jakupova said that many have suffered 
due to UNHCR's inability to persuade the GOKG to grant 
refugee status to the dozens of Uzbek nationals who have 
crossed the border seeking refuge since the events in 
Andijon.  Because resettlement involves splitting families 
and communities, charged Jakupova, a number of those who have 
been resettled to third countries, including the United 
States, have chosen to return to certain repression in 
Uzbekistan.  Jakupova said that a decision to move back to 
Uzbekistan permanently would not have to be made if the 
resettled asylum seekers were able to remain in Kyrgyzstan, 
in close proximity to their families in Uzbekistan and near 
to the porous border. 
 
¶4. (C) Echoing Jakupova's sentiments, Mulusew Mamo, Head of 
UNHCR's Field Office in Osh, said that Uzbek asylum seekers 
living in and around Osh have successfully taken advantage of 
the large Uzbek community in southern Kyrgyzstan to find 
jobs, housing, and a strong support network.  Those living 
abroad, including those who felt compelled to move farther 
away from the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border to avoid the possibility of 
being abducted by the Uzbek security services, have not only 
found it difficult to cope but have also decided to return to 
their "mahallah," or communities, in Uzbekistan.  Both 
Jakupova and Mamo agreed separately that a policy needed to 
 
BISHKEK 00001454  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
be in place to enable Uzbek asylum seekers to obtain refugee 
status in Kyrgyzstan.  In addition, security assurances must 
be provided, said Jakupova, Mamo, and Tursenbek Akun, 
Chairman of the President's Human Rights Commission, to those 
asylum seekers currently living in Kyrgyzstan.  Zlatko Zigic, 
International Organization for Migration's (IOM) Chief of 
Mission, warned separately that without those assurances, the 
possibility that other Uzbek nationals could be abducted from 
their Kyrgyz homes remains ever-present. 
 
¶5. (C) Under the agreement UNHCR-brokered with the GOKG's 
State Committee for Migration and Employment (State 
Committee), family reunifications with resettled asylum 
seekers have increased steadily.  As with the case of 
Yogdoroy Yuldasheva (ref d), other Uzbek asylum seekers have 
sought UNHCR's assistance to reunite family members who have 
managed to cross the border into Kyrgyzstan with their 
resettled kin outside of Kyrgyzstan.  (Note:  During the 
meeting with Mulusew Mamo, Poloff was informed that 
Yuldasheva's daughter, Gulmira Maksudova, has moved 
temporarily to Bishkek, with her infant daughter, to be 
reunited with Maksudova's husband in Dusseldorf as soon as 
her German visa is issued.  Mamo also confirmed that 
Yuldasheva will, indeed, be moving back to Andijon once the 
Uzbek Embassy in Washington grants entry status to Yuldasheva 
and more than fifty other resettled Uzbeks currently living 
in Boise, Idaho.  Separately, Carlos Zaccagnini speculated 
that a three-way deal was struck between the Uzbek and Kyrgyz 
governments and Yuldasheva, enabling Gulmira Maksudova to be 
released by the Kyrgyz once Yuldasheva promised to return to 
Uzbekistan and convince the rest of Boise group to do the 
same.  End note.) 
 
¶6. (C) According to UNHCR and IOM, other family 
reunifications have occurred recently, prompting more 
resettled Uzbeks throughout the world to seek guidance and 
assistance from UNHCR as they attempt to reunite with their 
Uzbek relatives in third countries.  Under UNHCR's deal with 
the GOKG, the Kyrgyz have allowed such reunifications to take 
place unhindered, thus far.  UNHCR, IOM, and Adilet were not 
certain that the GOKG's cooperation could be sustained, 
however, if the number of Uzbek asylum seekers seeking 
reunification with resettled family members increases.  To 
date, according to Zaccagnini, the Kyrgyz have essentially 
"looked the other way," but may not be willing or able to 
continue doing so if there is a massive influx of Uzbeks or 
if such reunifications damage their warming relations with 
Uzbekistan.  This has created further anxieties for UNHCR and 
the State Committee, said Mulusew Mamo. 
 
COMMENT: THE BREAKING POINT 
--------------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) UNHCR and the State Committee have, thus far, worked 
cooperatively to ensure that Uzbek nationals seeking refuge 
in third countries obtain the assistance needed to see their 
cases through.  The current arrangement may not be 
sustainable, however, if additional asylum seekers cross the 
border in search of resettlement to third countries, 
reunification with resettled family members, or permanent 
refugee status in Kyrgyzstan.  In addition, given that 
Kyrgyzstan has not granted refugee status to a single Uzbek 
national in at least the past year, it may be difficult for 
UNHCR to convince the GOKG to do otherwise.  Moreover, as 
Kyrgyzstan's relations with Uzbekistan continue to warm, it 
may be equally as difficult to obtain security assurances 
from the GOKG for those asylum seekers currently living in 
Kyrgyzstan that are wanted by the Uzbek Government on 
criminal charges. 
 
LITZENBERGER