VZCZCXYZ0038
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #0393/01 0331512
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 021512Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6843

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000393 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA/ELA 
NSC - EABRAMS/MSINGH 
TREASURY FOR GLASER/LEBENSON 
EB/ESC/TFS FOR SALOOM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD EINV SY
SUBJECT: NEW KFC IN SYRIA WITNESSES ITS FIRST ANTI-AMERICAN 
PROTEST 
 
 
NOT FOR INTERNET OR WEBGRAM DISTRIBUTION 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Having opened only recently with generous 
media coverage, demonstrators associated with the Committee to 
Boycott U.S. Products staged a protest against the new KFC 
restaurant in Damascus this week.  The organizers of the protest 
are not affiliated with the Central Boycott Office, but have 
conducted similar protests on various occasions since 2003. 
Though press reports have suggested that KFC has received only a 
lukewarm reception in Syria, the local agent for KFC told us he 
has received timely support from the Syrian government to open 
the new KFC restaurant and though he expects to experience 
similar future protests, he still plans to open additional 
American fast-food chains throughout Syria.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Local, regional, and international media reported widely 
on the opening of Syria's first KFC the first week of January. 
Most news stories report that KFC has received only a lukewarm 
reception by Syrians.  According these reports, while some 
Syrians are willing to purchase American brands such as KFC, many 
are concerned about the timing of the opening of the KFC 
restaurant, especially given the tense political relationship 
between the U.S. and Syria.  Syrians have also been quoted as 
expressing concern that the restaurant's opening as a further 
step toward U.S. cultural imperialism.  KFC, the first U.S. fast- 
food franchise in the country, is owned and operated by Kuwait 
Food Company (Americana).  The restaurant follows other U.S. 
brands that have recently entered the Syrian market, such as Coca- 
Cola and Pepsi. 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) On January 28, fifty to sixty youthful protesters 
affiliated with the Committee to Boycott U.S. products gathered 
outside KFC to demand closure of the restaurant because of its 
affiliation with the U.S.  The Syrian and Palestinian protesters 
told Al Hayat newspaper that the "U.S. continues to threaten and 
target Syria and does not stop in its attempt to make Syria 
kneel...why would we reward it and finance its wars against Iraq 
and Palestine by promoting its companies such as KFC, Coca-Cola, 
and Pepsi?"  While no violence ensued during the protest, Embassy 
sources are uncertain whether the restaurant will witness 
additional demonstrations. 
 
¶4. (SBU) According to Embassy contacts, the Committee to Boycott 
U.S. Products, a private entity headed by Ahmad Abdul Karim, 
former Minister of Rural and Civil Affairs (now Ministry of Local 
Administration) and retired Major General in the Syrian military, 
has been in existence since the beginning of the war in Iraq. 
The Committee routinely organized low-profile protests targeting 
U.S. products until about two months ago.  Its activities 
included distributing pamphlets encouraging Syrians to boycott 
listed U.S. companies and products, as well as burning empty 
Marlboro cigarette cartons as a protest against U.S. foreign 
policy.  Syrian sources indicate that the group is not affiliated 
with the Central Boycott Office (Arab League) or the Syrian 
Israel Boycott Office (Syrian Ministry of Defense).  However, 
sources state that the Committee to Boycott U.S. Products likely 
has the approval and blessing of the Syrian government. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Mohamad Raeef Al-Kouwatli, the Syrian agent for KFC, 
told us that he felt unthreatened by the protesters who he viewed 
as simply misguided youths upset over U.S. policy in Iraq and 
Lebanon with no connection to the SARG.  Kouwatli commented that 
he gave his security guards strict instructions not to use 
physical force with the protesters even if they started to break 
things.  He further stated that he faced no opposition from the 
Syrian government when establishing and opening his KFC 
restaurant, and in fact felt that he has the full support of  the 
Ministry of Tourism.  Koulwatli expects future similar protests 
but is still optimistic that his KFC restaurant in Damascus 
represents the beginning of American fast-food in Syria and hopes 
to open additional Americana food chains (e.g. KFC, Hardees, 
Pizza Hut, and Baskin Robbins) throughout all of the country's 
governorates. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Comment:  Though both Coca-Cola and Pepsi were 
introduced legally into the Syrian market in 2005 (both had been 
illegally smuggled into Syria previously) and experienced no 
negative reaction, the opening of the KFC restaurant provides 
Syrians who harbor a dislike of the U.S. and its policies a 
physical location at which their opposition can be aired.  Still, 
Koulwatli is undeterred and seems more concerned about the affect 
avian flu will have on his business than the threat of any future 
protests.  Though Koulwatli readily points out that his 
restaurant is the clearest and most accessible symbol of America 
in the capital of a country with increasingly problematic 
relations with the U.S., he is equally dismissive of politics 
 
adversely affecting his business, in spite of the fact that a 
similar venture run by the then Vice President's son, Jamal 
Khaddam, failed some five or six years ago. 
 
SECHE