VZCZCXYZ4305
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHCH #0248/01 0660756
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 060756Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY CHISINAU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6386
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L CHISINAU 000248 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/UMB, DRL/IRF, DRL/AE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2018 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KIRF MD
SUBJECT: RELIGIOUS LEADERS GATHER AT AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE 
 
REFS: A. Chisinau 0034, B. 07 Chisinau 1141, C. 07 Chisinau 0955, D. 
07 Chisinau 0089, E. 07 Chisinau 0052 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Michael D. Kirby, for reasons 1.4 (b) and 
(d). 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: At the second annual reception in honor of 
religious freedom on February 28, leaders of 11 religious groups 
networked on social and spiritual issues, described bureaucratic 
barriers to registration, and appreciated the venue (the Ambassador's 
residence), while regretting that ecumenical cooperation too seldom 
occurs anywhere else in Moldova.  End summary. 
 
Friendly Ecumenical Schmoozing at the CMR 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Leaders from Protestant, Jewish, Orthodox (majority 
Metropolitan Orthodox and Armenian), Latter-day Saint (Mormon), 
Baha'i, and Muslim organizations thanked the Ambassador for his 
remarks, which:  noted Orthodox-Protestant cooperation as a sign of 
growing tolerance in Moldova; applauded an increasing recognition of 
the horrors of the Holocaust in the country; and praised faith-based 
initiatives to support families and help prevent trafficking in 
persons.  Many of the leaders noted that they had first met each 
other at the 2007 reception at the Ambassador's residence (ref D), 
and were clearly more at ease schmoozing across denominational lines 
this year.  In fluid small groups, they discussed common 
problems-primarily worsening bureaucracy in the Government of Moldova 
(GOM), but also social problems and even infrastructure:  the head of 
the Armenian Orthodox Church briefed the Lutheran pastor on ways to 
hook up villages to piped water.  Only the two Muslim leaders, from 
different Tatar organizations, avoided each other.  Their groups are 
facing a GOM-instigated fight (see paras. 7 and 8 below) for the 
one-and-only Muslim slot on the list of registered religious 
organizations. 
 
The New Law:  Good News on Access to Public Places.. 
------------------------------- -------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU)  All in attendance, except for the Muslims, were from 
registered groups, including the Mormons, whose five-year battle for 
registration ended successfully in December 2006 (ref E).  (Note: 
Other unregistered groups, such as the Ukrainian Orthodox and Old 
Rite Russian Orthodox, were invited but did not attend.  End note.) 
In conversations with us last July after the passage of the new 
religion law (ref C), religious leaders had expressed their pleasure 
with provisions liberalizing the rules for public meetings (notify, 
don't ask), and especially with the provisions for easier 
registration of religious groups.  Those present stated that access 
to public places for religious purposes was now easier to obtain. 
(Note:  the Jehovah's Witnesses, who did not attend the reception, 
hosted a large outdoor convention last summer, and reported that the 
only police presence was a small cadre of traffic officers who helped 
with parking.  End note.) 
 
..But Steps Backwards on Promised Registration Improvements 
---------------------------- ----------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) All present at the reception noted that registration, or even 
modifications to registration, had become much more difficult.  They 
noted that the change from the Ministry of Interior to the Ministry 
of Justice (MOJ), as overseer of religious groups in Moldova, has 
been followed by lowered accessibility to GOM officials, loss of 
institutional memory and records, and rococo levels of bureaucratic 
entanglements.  The new official in charge of registration, Boris 
Galan, is hard to reach.  Galan did not respond to his invitation to 
the reception, and has rebuffed requests for working-level meeting 
with us by demanding a letter from the Ambassador requesting a 
meeting.  Galan's predecessor at the Ministry of Interior's State 
Services for Religious Affairs, Sergiu Iatco, attended last year's 
gathering; a Protestant pastor said that Iatco was accessible and 
honest.  Iatco, the pastor noted, also indirectly expressed his 
frustration at the GOM's intransigence on religious issues and its 
default position as advocate for the Moldovan Orthodox Church. 
Galan's office, which registers NGOs and associations, has no 
experience in religious matters, and apparently is playing a 
Procrustean role in forcing religious organization rules into 
Ministry of Justice paradigms. 
 
Stopping Progress with Entangling Rules:  Protestants 
-------------------------------- -------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Pentecostal Bishop Petru Bors complained that one of his 
branch churches had been refused registration despite its declared 
affiliation with the denomination, and noted that his 300 branch 
churches nationwide are all considered independent associations by 
the GOM, and therefore he has been blocked from forming any sort of 
centralized fiscal system.  Local pastors, he said, are required to 
travel to Chisinau individually to pay their taxes.  Lutheran Pastor 
Valentin Dragan, whose denomination once owned one of the largest 
church buildings in Chisinau (it was destroyed in the early 1960s by 
the Soviets), said that his efforts to get some form of 
restitution-even a small plot of land on which to build a church-had 
been refused by every Chisinau municipal council, including the 
present Liberal Party administration. 
 
More Restrictive Rules:  the Jehovah's Witnesses 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶6. (C) Jehovah's Witnesses did not attend the reception, but have 
complained to us recently that the MOJ is threatening to cancel the 
work and residence permits of 12 foreign missionaries unless the 
church issues work contracts.  Since the missionaries work for free, 
this is not possible, because work contracts require that a salary be 
listed.  Even though the new law says that religious organizations 
may provide work contracts, the MOJ is interpreting the clause as a 
requirement. 
 
The Muslims:  A Detailed but Ambiguous Refusal 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶7. (C) Talgat Masaev, who heads the Spiritual Gathering of Muslims, 
spoke about the GOM's December 25, 2007, refusal of his latest 
request to register.  (Note:  Masaev told us that his organization 
attracts over 100 worshippers on special holy days, including some 
Arab university students, and that he is therefore regarded with 
greater suspicion by Moldovan security organizations, and has been 
called in for questioning 15 times.  End note.)  The registration 
refusal, Masaev said, consisted mostly of declarations that 
provisions of the law had been violated in the application, without 
any explanation of why or how a violation occurred, or any 
clarification of what the GOM meant by "deviations and 
inexactitudes." 
 
The Muslims:  The GOM Imposes Religious IPR Standards 
----------------------------- ----------------------- 
 
¶8. (C) Worse than the refusal, according to Masaev, was the fact that 
the GOM would impose a restrictive requirement on the use of the term 
Muslim, and would register only one religious organization with the 
word "Muslim" in its title.  The first organization to be so 
registered would in effect have a copyright on the word, and all 
other Muslim organizations would then have to register under its 
aegis.  Rustan Ahsanov, leader of the Tuhan Teli Tatar Organization, 
confirmed that he had heard the same rumor.  Under the conditions of 
the zero-sum game that the GOM would impose on the Muslim community, 
it is no surprise that Masaev and Ahsanov studiously avoided each 
other at the reception.  (Note:  The GOM is exploiting an ambiguity 
in the law.  In all cases but one, the "name" of the religious 
organization is qualified as "the exact and complete name."  However, 
in the clause determining that the name cannot be used by third 
parties, the word "name" occurs without any adjectives.  End note.) 
 
¶9. (C) Comment:  Religion matters in Moldova.  Refs B and C describe 
the difficulties encountered by a contact in the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs and European Integration who has attempted to push the GOM 
into the mildest sort of ecumenical statements or cooperation.  Ref A 
notes that the GOM is willing even to fight the Chisinau city 
government over the name and siting of the holiday Christmas tree. 
We have seen some trans-denominational work in the consortium of 
Moldovan Orthodox, Bessarabian Orthodox, Baptist, and Lutheran 
churches which trains its clergy to prevent trafficking in persons 
and protect victims.  However, the only venue for across-the-board 
meetings of religious groups remains the Ambassador's residence. 
While some improvements in public access have occurred, the full 
participation of all religions in Moldova's daily life, and the 
freedom of all minority religions from bureaucratic harassment, have 
a long way to go.  The Ambassador will request a meeting with the 
Minister of Justice soon to help move ecumenism out of his living 
room and into the public square.  End comment. 
 
Kirby