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DE RUEHSF #0403/01 1690723
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 170723Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY SOFIA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 5165

C O N F I D E N T I A L SOFIA 000403 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/17/2028 
TAGS: PGOV KRIM PHUM BU
SUBJECT: MUSLIM LEADER REGAINS LEGITIMACY, REINFORCES 
IDEOLOGICAL MONOPOLY 
 
 
Classified By: Jim Bigus for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary.  As expected, in a national conference 
convened by more than 3,000 Bulgarian Muslims and sanctioned 
by the court, Mustafa Alish Hadji won re-election as Chief 
Mufti.  Most of the Muslim community, weary of a decade-long 
leadership struggle, welcomed Hadji's victory.  Community 
leaders say the ongoing dispute, instigated by former 
(Communist-era) Chief Mufti Nedim Gendzhev, has distracted 
them from serving and educating their followers and threatens 
to weaken Bulgaria's tradition of a largely secular, 
non-radicalized Muslim population.  Decrying possible 
radicalization from foreign influence, the Mufti's office -- 
heavily backed by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) 
political party -- continues to show little tolerance for 
other Muslim groups that offer an alternative view of Islam. 
End Summary. 
 
---------- 
BACKGROUND 
---------- 
 
¶2.  (U) Bulgarian Muslims comprise the largest religious 
minority in Bulgaria, approximately 13 percent of the 
population of 7.6 million.  Known for their moderate 
tradition, the majority of Bulgaria's Muslims are Sunni, with 
roughly 50,000 who identify as Shia.  Islam is the 
predominant religion among the ethnic Turks, who are 
nominally represented in Bulgaria's coalition government, 
through the MRF.  The issues facing Bulgaria's Muslims are 
most pressing in the Rhodope Mountains along the country's 
southern border with Greece, which are home to many Muslims, 
including ethnic Turks, Roma and "Pomaks" (ethnic Bulgarians 
who practice Islam). 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The shiny minarets of newly built or recently 
renovated mosques easily attract a visitor's attention in the 
modest villages throughout the Rhodope Mountains.  Local 
clerics typically maintain these were built with support from 
the community, but some admit to receiving foreign donations, 
mostly from the Arab world, reportedly with no strings. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The MRF's economic influence in the Rhodope 
Mountains is clear as well.  In private conversations 
contacts (sometimes reluctantly) share examples of MRF's 
successful tactics to keep the clergy beholden by securing 
employment.  Typically, for instance, a village mayor will 
have served as the local imam before being elected on the MRF 
ticket.  The party is infamous for its corruption and 
non-responsiveness to the social needs of poorer 
constituents, but maintains strong influence and control in 
the region by distributing jobs and wealth.  The 
political-religious nexus is not as obvious among Pomaks, 
although MRF has lately made an effort to broaden its target 
group beyond self-identified ethnic Turks. 
 
------------------ 
LEADERSHIP DISPUTE 
------------------ 
 
¶5.  (U) The 3000-plus Muslim delegates from around the 
country re-elected Mustafa Alish Hadji as Chief Mufti on 
April 19.  Hadji's victory came as no surprise.  Many 
Muslims, particularly in rural areas, have focused little on 
the leadership dispute, but its outcome impacts key issues 
like the appointment of local clerics and the financial 
management of local religious institutions.  Hadji received 
congratulations from President Parvanov and other Bulgarian 
officials, and was applauded by most of the largely secular 
Muslim community.  He is generally viewed as an educated and 
moderate religious leader.  An ethnic Bulgarian Muslim who 
has been serving as Chief Mufti since May 2005, his image is 
as a uniting figure for Muslims and an acceptable choice for 
non-Muslims. 
 
¶6.  (U) The April conference followed a December, 2007 
Supreme Court of Appeals' decision annulling a prior Hadji 
win.  That ruling had effectively reinstated Nedim Gendzhev, 
who had contested Hadji's election.  Gendzhev is a former 
Chief Mufti from the Communist era with a decidedly dubious 
record and limited support within the Muslim community.  He 
has consistently exploited legal loopholes in his quest to 
regain control over the Muslim community and the property 
that belongs to it.  He has also been linked with the 
Communist State Security Services and is known for his close 
ties with Muslim leaders from the Arab world. 
 
¶7.  (U) Fearing Gendzhev's connections and resenting his 
effective legal haggling, the Muslim community collected more 
than 1,000 signatures demanding that the Sofia City Court 
convene an April conference.  Many worried that Gendzhev 
would misuse or steal the community's properties.  In the 
past he had managed to either sell or rent some of them 
 
(including a lucrative hotel in Ruse) to his relatives.  Most 
of the properties confiscated during Communist times have 
been reclaimed, with one notable exception -- the Museum 
building in Kurdjali.  The Chief Mufti's office collects the 
funds generated by these properties and distributes them to 
regional muftis, Bulgaria's three Islamic schools and the 
Islamic Higher Institute in Sofia.  The lack of legitimate 
leadership has hampered the office's administration. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Gendzhev, for his part, has alleged that Hadji is a 
pawn of the predominantly ethnic-Turkish political party and 
junior coalition partner MRF, which he says politicizes 
religion to help secure control over its electorate. 
Gendzhev reiterated this claim immediately after the 
conference, also asserting that a key court official was 
bribed BGN 300,000 to schedule it.  While Gendzhev's latest 
attempt to challenge the leadership has been rejected, the 
common belief is that he won't give in.  Both community 
members and academics comment that he is more a businessman 
than a cleric.  They dismiss his accusations that the Chief 
Mufti's office has failed to prevent invasion of radical 
elements, particularly in the rural mountain villages, and 
that such elements have started illegal Muslim schools. 
 
------------------------------------- 
MUFTI'S RELATIONSHIP WITH MUSLIM NGOS 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Muslim leaders close to Hadji insist this 
long-running dispute has distracted them from serving and 
educating their followers, which many believe is critical for 
ensuring a continued non-radicalized Muslim population here. 
Sporadic press reports about the distribution of Islamic 
extremist propaganda heighten concerns.  The Mufti's office 
has suppressed non-profit organizations and alternative 
Muslim groups, believing that disparate views of Islam will 
confuse the population and give rise to radicalism. 
Academics note that Muslims returning from studying overseas 
are often more observant, bringing new worship practices and 
clashing with a community that is both secular-leaning and 
strongly suspicious of foreign influences. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) The Union of Muslims, a mainly Pomak organization 
that aims to present an alternative voice to the MRF, has a 
fragile partnership with the Chief Mufti's office.  Under 
Bulgarian law, NGOs operating within a certain religious 
community must be formally recognized by that religious 
group's leadership.  Union of Muslims Chief Secretary Salih 
Arshinski told us the group has been under suspicion ever 
since one of its leaders, a former Regional Mufti of Sofia, 
was arrested in 2006 for allegedly publishing extreme views 
on a web site.  Even though charges were ultimately dropped, 
the arrest effectively discredited the organization, which is 
still maintaining a low profile. 
 
¶11.  (C) Arshinski criticized the government's purported 
efforts to fight radicalization, noting the government's 
vulnerability to corruption, which could allow a radical 
group to pay for acceptance.  He carefully distanced his 
organization from another Muslim NGO, the Union for Islamic 
Development and Culture, which had its court registration 
recently revoked on charges of engaging in religious 
activity.  The group, headed by a graduate of religious 
university in Jordan, was suspected of ties with radical Arab 
foundations. 
 
-------------------------- 
AHMADIYYA MUSLIM COMMUNITY 
-------------------------- 
 
¶12.  (SBU) The Chief Mufti's office has twice (in 2005 and 
again in 2007) blocked the registration of the Ahmadiyya 
Muslim Community -- the Ahmadis -- as a state-recognized 
religious group by advising the Religious Directorate such 
registration would promote a non-traditional interpretation 
of Islam in Bulgaria.  Although the Ahmadis claim to be 
Muslims, the Chief Mufti's office refuses to recognize them 
as Muslim because they claim their founder, Hadhart Mirza 
Ghulam Ahmad, is a Promised Messiah and Madhi.  Founded in 
Punjab, India at the end of the 19th century, the Ahmadis 
have grown to claim "tens of thousands" of members in 189 
countries worldwide, including some 1,000 believers in 
Bulgaria.  The Ahmadis here describe the Chief Mufti's office 
as their greatest enemy.  They say it has misrepresented the 
Ahmadis' religious practices and falsely claimed that Ahmadis 
do not go on hajj or pray toward Mecca. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) After the rejection of their registration as a 
religious group, the Ahmadis operated as an NGO, which 
further fueled Bulgarian authorities' suspicions.  Ahmadis 
report that they pray in their homes and help young children 
and the needy.  They recently donated 3,000 leva each to two 
orphanages, with funds reportedly received from their 
 
headquarters office in London.  In early 2008, officials in 
the city of Blagoevgrad cancelled the Ahmadis' NGO 
registration, charging that the group practiced religion in 
public places.  The Ahmadis say they want their rights 
enforced via the law and not through violence, and are 
considering taking their case to the European Court of Human 
Rights. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶14.  (C) The April conference appears to have resolved a long 
and administratively exhausting legal dispute over the 
leadership of Bulgaria's Muslim community.  The Mufti,s 
office, lead by a widely recognized moderate religious 
educator with strong ties to Turkey, is now able to focus on 
the community's concerns, including fears of foreign 
influences.  With close ties to the MRF, the Mufti's office 
remains open to criticism that by squelching the activity of 
alternative groups it is protecting the MRF's dominant 
position and cultivating advantages for the party's 
traditional patrons, clients and followers. 
Karagiannis