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RR RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHSQ #0898/01 2681253
ZNY EEEEE ZZH
R 251253Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY SKOPJE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5188
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUESEN/SKOPJE BETA
RUEHSQ/USDAO SKOPJE MK
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL

UNCLAS E F T O SECTION 01 OF 02 SKOPJE 000898 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SCE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/20/2016 
TAGS: PHUM PINR PGOV MK
SUBJECT: MACEDONIA: POLITICS TRUMPS FAITH -- ELECTION OF 
NEW ISLAMIC COMMUNITY REIS 
 
REF: SKOPJE 97 
 
Classified By: P/E CHIEF SHUBLER, REASONS 1.4(B) & (D). 
 
SUMMARY 
 
¶1. (SBU) Self-proclaimed moderate Islamic cleric Sulejman 
Rexhepi was elected Reis-ul-Ulema (head) of the Islamic 
Community of Macedonia (ICM) on September 20.  The election 
itself was uneventful, but the electoral process was marred 
by the political intervention of ethnic Albanian governing 
coalition party DPA, which backed Rexhepi, claiming it was 
doing so to prevent Islamic fundamentalists from dominating 
the ICM.  Ethnic Albanian opposition party DUI, which had 
backed Deputy Reis Bahri Aliu during his election earlier 
this year, did not actively support Aliu in his bid to become 
Reis.  Continued political interference in ICM affairs is 
likely to keep that institution weak and unstable. End 
Summary. 
 
NEW ISLAMIC COMMUNITY REIS ELECTED BY LANDSLIDE 
 
¶2. (U) The Assembly of the Islamic Community of Macedonia 
(ICM) held elections for the ICM's Reis on September 20 in 
the Skopje suburb of Kondovo, seat of the Islamic Theological 
Faculty in Macedonia.  Sulejman Rexhepi, a former Reis and 
self-proclaimed moderate Muslim cleric, was elected by a vote 
of 58-7 in balloting that ICM contacts tell us was uneventful 
and calm.  There were, however, reports the night before that 
shots had been fired at ICM HQs in Skopje.  Rival candidate 
Muhamed Iseni, the relatively unknown head of a local Islamic 
NGO, did not contest the results.  The ICM had been without a 
Reis since July 2005, when the former Reis resigned after an 
armed group, allegedly linked to DPA activists in Kondovo, 
interrupted a meeting of the ICM Assembly and physically 
assaulted him. 
 
POLITICAL PARTY LINKS TO ICM 
 
¶3. (SBU) The election was called with less than a week's 
notice, following reports of pressure being applied by ethnic 
Albanian governing coalition party DPA on Macedonia's 13 
muftis to accelerate the process. The election results came 
as no surprise, since Rexhepi was the DPA-backed candidate; 
there were credible field reports from ICM contacts and from 
OSCE observers in the days preceding the election that DPA 
pressured the muftis, using threats of violence, to support 
early elections and Rexhepi as their candidate.  Immediately 
following the election, Rexhepi was photographed exiting the 
Theological Faculty with Agim Krasniqi, a DPA member and 
known criminal kingpin in Kondovo. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Deputy Reis Bahri Aliu, who had served as acting 
Reis since the former ICM leader's resignation in 2005, had 
hoped to compete for the Reis position but apparently was 
unable to muster support for his candidacy in the face of DPA 
pressure on the muftis and on other ICM members.  During a 
September 12 meeting, he told P/E Chief that DPA was putting 
pressure on the ICM to accelerate the election process, which 
he had hoped to delay until early 2007, after Ramadan and the 
annual hajj. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Admitting that ethnic Albanian opposition party DUI 
had provided his "logistical base" during a controversial 
election for the Deputy Reis position earlier this year, Aliu 
complained that DPA was sowing fear and uncertainty in the 
Islamic community to advance Rexhepi's candidacy.  Aliu said 
DPA was claiming their candidate would fight Islamic 
fundamentalism and radicalism in the ICM, and that the USG 
supported Rexhepi. 
 
¶6. (SBU/NF) In a follow-up conversation with DPA Vice 
President Menduh Thaci on September 12, P/E Chief said the 
Embassy was neutral with regard to the Reis candidates, that 
the ICM election process should take place in accordance with 
the ICM's standard procedures, and that the elections should 
be free of intimidation, pressure, or violence.  Thaci 
replied that DPA could not stand idly by tensions mounted 
within the ICM between Islamic moderates and "wahhabists." 
He accused Deputy Reis Aliu of "financial manipulations" in 
the ICM, including misuse of ICM property, and called for a 
 
SKOPJE 00000898  002 OF 002 
 
 
police investigation into the Community's finances. 
 
RESTITUTION TWIST? 
 
¶7. (SBU) According to some observers from the Tetovo area, 
DPA's sudden move to force early elections was strongly 
backed by Ljupco Georgievski, a former Prime Minister and de 
facto head of the ethnic Macedonian nationalist VMRO-NP, an 
opposition party.  Georgievski's wife reportedly purchased 
from 1998-2000 several pieces of real estate in eastern 
Macedonia, that the ICM claims were confiscated from them 
during the Yugoslav era.  Georgievski allegedly agreed to 
back DPA's ICM strategy in exchange for Rexhepi's pledge not 
to pursue ICM restitution proceedings against Georgievski's 
wife. 
 
COFFER STUFFING? 
 
¶8. (SBU) During the September 12 meeting with P/E Chief, 
Deputy Reis Aliu added to the speculation about DPA's 
motives, alleging that Thaci and his party were more 
interested in tapping the income that would flow into the 
ICM's coffers from the "zakat" (charitable contributions) 
Macedonia's Muslim faithful would make during Ramadan, and 
from the administrative fees pilgrims would pay hajj 
organizers.  Thaci leveled the same accusations against Aliu, 
claiming that the Deputy Reis wanted to delay the elections 
until after the hajj, "when the ICM had stuffed its pockets 
with zakat contributions and hajj fees." 
 
COMMENT 
 
¶9. (SBU/NF) DPA's hand in the election -- it appears the 
party was able to muster support in the ICM to squash Aliu's 
candidacy while putting forward Iseni as a straw man to 
"oppose" Rexhepi -- continues the trend we have observed over 
the past year or more of direct political intervention by 
both DUI and DPA in the affairs of the Islamic community 
(reftel).  Although Rexhepi may indeed prove to be a 
religious moderate who will work to counter Islamic 
fundamentalism in the ICM, the ongoing political tension 
between DUI and DPA suggests the ICM will remain weak and 
unstable unless one of the parties gains absolute dominance 
over the institution, or both decide to leave matters of the 
faith to the faithful. 
MILOVANOVIC