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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BISHKEK 001417 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/05/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KG
SUBJECT: AN IFTAR IN OSH:  A TRIP TO SOUTHERN KYRGYZSTAN 
 
BISHKEK 00001417  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
Classified By: Amb. Marie L. Yovanovitch, Reason 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  On September 28-29, the Ambassador 
traveled to Osh, Kyrgyzstan's second city, and met with 
government officials, NGO and political party 
representatives, and journalists.  The Ambassador toured the 
newly renovated Drug Control Agency regional headquarters, 
and she met with participants of a USAID-funded outreach 
program for at-risk youth.  The Ambassador hosted an Iftar 
dinner for leading Islamic clerics, academics, and community 
representatives.  People were concerned about the increased 
drug trafficking and use, and the criminality connected to 
it.  There was a divergence of views regarding the current 
threat posed by religious extremism, but almost everyone 
agreed that economic development was the key to combating 
extremism and other regional problems.  END SUMMARY. 
 
DCA's New Regional Headquarters:  Very Clean 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Col. Rassul Raimberdiev, head of the Southern Branch 
of the Drug Control Agency (DCA), led the Ambassador on a 
tour of the DCA's regional headquarters, which was recently 
renovated with U.S. assistance.  The facility was impressive, 
with secure storage areas for evidence, weapons, and 
equipment; a lock-up for detainees; a new laboratory; a 
training hall; and new furniture and computers.  The facility 
was also spotless, with hardly a paper on any desk.  The 
apparent inactivity was explained by the fact that agents 
were out in the field. 
 
¶3. (C) Raimberdiev said that the difficult terrain of 
Kyrgyz-Tajik border area compounded the problem of 
interdicting the increased flow of opium and heroin from 
Afghanistan.  While he claimed there had been increased 
seizures of hard drugs, he said it was hard for his limited 
mobile patrols to track smugglers who came through the 
mountains on horseback or by foot.  He said he needed horses, 
satellite phones, and more men to do the job.  When asked why 
the DCA had more staff in Bishkek if Osh appeared to be the 
bottleneck along the transit route, Raimberdiev replied that 
keeping staff in Bishkek was understandable, as the drugs 
would eventually pass through Bishkek anyway on their way to 
Kazakhstan and Russia.  Ramberdiev also said that the drug 
"mafia" had corrupted a number of local police officers, but 
he remained confident of his DCA officers because they had 
passed polygraph examinations. 
 
Youth Power Center:  Reaching Out to At-Risk Youth 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶4. (SBU) The Ambassador visited the USAID-funded "Youth Power 
Center," a program that provides alternative activities, such 
as English classes, a computer club, and sports, for youth at 
risk for drug use.  The Center also targets peer education 
and outreach efforts on HIV/AIDS to university students and 
other youth.  During a roundtable discussion with program 
directors and activists, several speakers presented a 
depressing assessment of increasing hard drug use in Osh. 
They said that youth in Osh were well aware of the 
connections between intravenous drug use, sex, and HIV/AIDS, 
but still drug use was increasing.  They attributed this, in 
part, to the easy and wide availability, with the price per 
dose having fallen to as little as USD 2.  When asked what 
the police were doing to stop this, participants laughed and 
said that the local police were involved in the trade. 
 
Iftar:  Bridges to the Muslim Community 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) The centerpiece of the trip was an Iftar dinner --the 
ceremonial breaking of the fast during the month of Ramadan 
-- that the Ambassador hosted for 30 leading representatives 
of the Muslim community, including the Kazy of Osh and other 
 
BISHKEK 00001417  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
clerics, the Governor and state officials, academics, and 
students.  The Ambassador stressed that through various 
exchange, speaker, and outreach programs, we were working to 
build stronger connections between the Americans, American 
Muslims and the Muslim community in Kyrgyzstan.  In his 
remarks, Osh Governor Jantoro Satybaldiyev noted that this 
Iftar dinner was important because it was the first major 
event of Ramadan this year in Osh, and because it showed that 
Americans were trying better to understand Islam.  The Kazy 
of Osh, Suyun Kalykov, echoed the Governor's thoughts, noting 
that the exchange programs and exchange of views built better 
understanding. 
 
Political/Civil Society Roundtable 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) During a frank discussion with NGO and political party 
representatives, the Ambassador heard differing views 
expressed about the government's crackdown on perceived 
extremists, and she witnessed first-hand the inter-ethnic 
tensions that are part of life in Osh.  Several speakers 
raised concerns about religious extremism in the south, 
complaining that "uneducated" Islamic missionaries were 
exploiting the low level of economic development in 
recruiting followers to their extreme views.  While some in 
the group thought that the government should take more action 
-- restricting such missionary activities, as well as meeting 
its obligations in education and economic development -- 
others cautioned that the security services often mistook 
normal religious activity for extremism.  (Note: 
Interestingly, the group referred only to the activities of 
Islamic missionaries and did not mention the activity of 
Christian missionaries.  End note.)  There was no consensus 
about where to draw the line between freedom of religion and 
"proper control" by the state.  They also felt that there was 
an ethnic element to this tension, as many of the perceived 
religious extremists were ethnic Uzbeks.  Expressing a 
strongly nationalistic Kyrgyz view, the representative of the 
Erkindik party called for greater state regulation over the 
media, religious groups, and society to control these outside 
influences.  Staring straight at an ethnic-Uzbek NGO leader, 
she said that the country needed only one language -- Kyrgyz. 
 The Ata Meken party representative suggested that 
Kyrgyzstan, after following the communist and then capitalist 
models, needed to find its own path for economic development. 
 
 
Governor:  Things under Control for Now 
--------------------------------------- 
¶7. (C) Jantoro Satybaldiyev, Osh Oblast Governor and the 
President's Representative in the South, told the Ambassador 
that the local political situation was complicated by land 
and religious issues.  There wasn't enough land to meet the 
needs of farmers, and the post-Soviet division of the 
Ferghana Valley among three countries blocked natural 
economic integration.  Contrasting the religious situation in 
the Ferghana Valley to that in Bishkek, Satybaldiev said that 
fundamentalism -- expressed through groups such as Hizb 
ut-Tahrir -- was a serious threat to stability.  He thought 
that the situation was under control at present, but much 
would depend on continued economic development.  This year's 
harvest had been very good for fruits, but the cotton crop 
had been poor.  The Governor said greater investment and 
trade was needed, but he was wary of Chinese investment: 
while Chinese traders brought in goods at lower prices, an 
influx of Chinese workers had displaced some Kyrgyz labor. 
Satybaldiev also cited the growing drug trade as a threat, 
and he did not believe that the DCA or the Border Guards had 
sufficient resources to combat the narco-traffickers. 
Reducing the supply in Afghanistan, he added, would be the 
most important step forward. 
 
SARA:  Closer to the Action 
 
BISHKEK 00001417  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
--------------------------- 
 
¶8. (C) The Director of the State Agency for Religious Affairs 
(SARA), Jolbors Jorobekov, told the Ambassador that the 
recent move from Bishkek to Osh had put SARA closer to the 
center of religious activity in the country.  While his 
agency was charged with administrative functions, such as the 
registration of religious organizations, he was also 
concerned that the (government-appointed) muftiate were 
losing the debate with extremist groups.  While he personally 
felt that educated people could make up their own minds about 
religion, he worried that average people did not understand 
much about religion and often were manipulated by 
missionaries.  Kyrgyzstan's law on religious organization was 
very liberal, but a proposed law on proselytizing would add 
some restrictions -- not as in Uzbekistan, but more like 
Russia's law. 
 
From the Uzbek Community:  A Calmer View 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (C) The Ambassador also met with Khaliljan Khudayberdiev, 
the Director of Osh TV, an independent television station 
that broadcasts largely (though not exclusively) to the 
ethnic Uzbek community.  Khudayberdiev said that after 
religion had been pressed down for 70 years under the 
Soviets, it was now experiencing a resurgence, but he 
dismissed reports that there was a problem with extremism. 
Different groups, such as Hizb ut-Tahrir had sprung up, but 
their roots were in other countries, and he did not feel that 
they had a wide following in the south.  "Our general 
religion," he said, was more moderate than that of these 
groups, and people who understood religion were not radical. 
He blamed journalists "sitting in their offices in Bishkek" 
for reporting rumors without knowing the facts. 
Khudayberdiev also felt that President Bakiyev was taking a 
pragmatic approach to governing, and that he remained popular 
in the south. 
 
Mayor:  Ethnic Relations are Good 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (C) Jumadyl Isakov, the Mayor of Osh, said that relations 
with Uzbekistan, and relations between ethnic Uzbeks and 
Kyrgyz, were good.  He thought that a proposed visa-free 
travel regime between the two countries would benefit trade 
and development, and he had worked to promote cultural 
exchanges with Andijon, just across the border.  In Osh 
itself, there was no problem with ethnic relations, he said; 
the deputy mayor was an ethnic Uzbek, and there were ethnic 
Uzbek MPs.  He recognized economic development as his major 
challenge, and he hoped to introduce certain tax breaks to 
attract local and foreign investors. 
 
Meeting the Press:  How is the U.S. Helping? 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶11. (U) The Ambassador also held an on-the-record roundtable 
discussion with over a dozen journalists.  Among other 
questions, the journalists asked about the effectiveness of 
Kyrgyzstan's efforts against terrorism and narco-traffickers. 
 The Ambassador explained that the U.S. had provided over 
$6.5 million in support to the DCA and had also provided 
considerable material support to the Border Guards and the 
Ministry of Defense, including four An-2 planes the previous 
week, to bolster these efforts.  While we were pleased that 
drugs seizures were up, still more needed to be done to roll 
up the trafficking networks. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶12. (C) We consider that the Iftar dinner was a major 
success, as several guests, some of whom had been to the U.S. 
 
BISHKEK 00001417  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
on exchange programs, commented that they appreciated the 
outreach efforts and valued the connections to the U.S.  On 
the situation in the south, people generally agreed that 
economic development, religious extremism, and drug 
trafficking were the major issues confronting the south. 
There was a divergence, however, on how much of a threat was 
presented by extremists and extremist groups.  Some felt 
there needed to be stronger state action, while others 
cautioned that too strong a crackdown could be 
counterproductive.  Indeed, the OSCE rep in Osh, while 
acknowledging the current security concerns, commented that 
the security crackdown had led to clearly unfair trials for 
perceived extremists.  If there was one message that emerged 
from the trip, it was that continued economic development 
would be key to addressing the region's range of problems. 
END COMMENT. 
YOVANOVITCH