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OO RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW
RUEHLA RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK
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DE RUEHTA #2092/01 2961049
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 221049Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASTANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3623
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE 0710
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNCLS/SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 2200
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0110
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0820
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0041
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC 0266
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC 0188
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHEFAAA/DIA WASHDC
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1994
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1943
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 2279
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 002092 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KISL KIRF KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN:  COMMON WORLD FORUM MINISTERIAL BRINGS 
TOGETHER THE MUSLIM WORLD AND THE WEST 
 
¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations 
Zalmay Khalilzad led the U.S. delegation to the October 17 
Common World Forum ministerial meeting in Astana.  Aimed at 
promoting understanding between the Muslim world and the 
West, the Forum brought together foreign ministers and 
high-level representatives from over 50 countries and several 
international organizations.  In his speech opening the 
event, President Nazarbayev said the idea for the Forum came 
from Kazakhstan's own experiences as a multi-ethnic state. 
The speeches of most of the participants were 
non-controversial.  Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, however, 
used his remarks to sharply criticize Georgia.  Iranian 
Foreign Minister Mottaki argued that the West's secularism 
and liberal democracy breeds extremism and called for 
alternatives to Western approaches.   Ambassador Khalilzad 
stressed the need for success in Iraq, Afghanistan, and 
Pakistan.  The Forum's final communique, the Astana 
Declaration, remained unsettled until the end, as delegations 
sought to amend the text while the ministerial was ongoing. 
The uncertainty was cut short by Foreign Minister Tazhin, who 
simply declared the Astana Declaration unanimously adopted. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
HIGH-LEVEL ATTENDANCE 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay 
Khalilzad led the U.S. delegation at the October 17 
ministerial meeting of the Common World Forum, an initiative 
of President Nazarbayev aimed at promoting understanding 
between the Muslim world and the West.  Over 50 countries 
were represented at the event, as well as several 
international organizations.  Notable attendees included 
Russia Foreign Minister Lavrov, Iranian Foreign Minister 
Mottaki, and Organization of Islamic States (OIC) Secretary 
General Ihsanoglu.  A number of Asian and Middle Eastern 
countries were represented by foreign ministers, in large 
part because on the preceding day, Astana hosted the 
ministerial meeting of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue. 
High-level foreign ministry representatives from such Western 
countries as Estonia, Norway, Hungary, Greece, Poland, and 
the Netherlands also attended.  A number of other Western 
countries, including Great Britain, Austria, Canada, Germany, 
and Italy, were represented by their ambassadors to 
Kazakhstan.  The overall impressive turnout was to an extent 
the result of a persistent lobbying campaign on the part of 
the Kazakhstani government. 
 
SPEECHES PAY TRIBUTE TO DIVERSITY 
 
¶4.  (SBU) President Nazarbayev delivered opening remarks at 
the event.  He told the participants that the idea for the 
Common World Forum came from Kazakhstan's own experience as a 
multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state.  Highlighting that 
Kazakhstan is home to over 130 ethnic groups and over 40 
religious denominations, he said that the "desire to 
strengthen global dialogues is driven by Kazakhstan's 
domestic reality."  "We've developed our own successful model 
of tolerance." he said.  He reminded the participants about 
Kazakhstan's other achievements in promoting dialogue among 
different "civilizations," including through the Conference 
on Interaction and Confidence-Building in Asia (CICA) and the 
Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.  He 
also made reference to Kazakhstan's "Way to Europe" program 
aimed at increasing cooperation with Europe across a number 
of spheres. 
 
 
ASTANA 00002092  002 OF 003 
 
 
RUSSIA BRINGS IN UNIPOLARITY, GEORGIA 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Most of the ministerial was taken up by three 
sessions, ostensibly on the topics of deepening ties between 
the Muslim World and the West, dealing with global hotbeds of 
instability, and addressing Islamophobia and Westernophobia. 
With a number of speakers scheduled for each session, there 
was little time remaining for discussion.  The majority of 
the speakers delivered remarks that were non-controversial, 
with most welcoming Kazakhstan's initiative and highlighting 
the work of their own countries in increasing inter-religious 
and inter-cultural understanding. 
 
¶6. (U) Russian Foreign Lavrov, however, departed from the 
generally collegial mood of the Forum to emphatically push 
points on unipolarity and Georgia.  The first to speak after 
all the opening remarks, Lavrov warned the participants of 
the dangers a "unipolar world" brings to stability and 
diversity.  "The world is divided into civilizations, where 
one civilization dominates the others," he asserted.  He 
pointed to "recent ideological rhetoric" that was creating 
"discord rather than dialogue" and forcing countries into 
"opposing blocs of so-called 'liberal democracies' and 
'authoritarian capitalism.'"  Lavrov went on to sharply 
criticize Georgia, arguing that during the South Ossetia 
conflict, Georgia not only killed innocent civilians, but 
destroyed numerous cultural sites, including numerous UNESCO 
world heritage structures, erasing a part of the region's 
multicultural history.  He asserted that Georgia's threat to 
multiculturalism was one of the reasons behind Russia's 
recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia:  Russia had to 
protect both to assure that the "multicultural nature of the 
Caucasus is not destroyed."  He closed by saying that Russia 
"will continue to strive to protect human rights and fight 
against unipolarity." 
 
MOTTAKI CALLS FOR ALTERNATIVE TO WESTERN "UNILATERALISM" 
 
¶7. (U)  In remarks that appeared somewhat disjointed, perhaps 
because of poor simultaneous interpretation, Iranian Foreign 
Minister Mottaki was less sharp than Lavrov, but nevertheless 
criticized the West for pushing a particular "unilateral" 
ideology onto the rest of the world.  "Dialogue is the very 
spirit of our culture," he asserted, "and the Universal 
Declaration on Human Rights leaves no room for 
unilateralism."  The roots of Islamaphobia lie in the 
artificial polarity created by "Western liberal democracy and 
secularism," he maintained, and "the West and its liberal 
democratic model are a certain threat to the rest of the 
world."  "Why should humanity be subject to a split between 
material and spiritual needs?" he asked.  Liberal democracies 
do not understand Islam, Mottaki asserted, but some are 
continuing to negotiate with extremists in the Middle East. 
"We need to review our methods, need to understand the 
underlying pathologies in order to better deal with 
Islamophobia," he went on. "Western thought is not the only 
way to resolve issues," asserted Mottaki in closing, rather 
"we need new national and international laws to combat racism 
and protect religion." 
 
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD STRESSES U.S. SUPPORT FOR MUSLIMS 
 
¶8. (U) In his remarks, Ambassador Khalilzad stressed the 
importance of fighting Al-Qaeda, which lost ground in Iraq, 
but still has global reach.  He emphasized the need for 
success in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.  Ambassador 
Khalilzad pointed out the sacrifices Americans have made in 
both "lives and treasure" to support and protect Muslims in 
 
ASTANA 00002092  003 OF 003 
 
 
other countries, such as Bosnia, Kosovo, and Kuwait.   From 
his perspective as an American Muslim, he underscored that 
U.S. society is not anti-Muslim:  while there are some 
elements of anti-Islamic prejudice, there is equality before 
the law and a commitment to equal opportunity. 
 
TAZHIN DECLARES UNANIMOUS ADOPTION OF ASTANA DECLARATION 
 
¶9. (SBU)  The final text of the Astana Declaration, the 
non-binding final communique of the Forum, remained uncertain 
up until the last minute.   The MFA organized an 
eleventh-hour meeting the night before the ministerial to 
"consolidate and finalize" proposed amendments to the text. 
Discussions, however, continued on the sidelines during the 
ministerial itself, with the EU dissatisfied with the 
Declaration's language on freedom of expression (the text 
called for "responsible use of the freedom of expression") 
and the Dutch, standing on their own, opposed to a reference 
to Saudi King Adbullah's interfaith conference (on the 
grounds that it brought together only Muslims, Christians, 
and Jews, not all religions).  At the end of the Forum, 
Foreign Minister Tazhin, to the surprise of a number of 
delegations given the outstanding issues, simply announced 
that the Astana Declaration had been adopted by consensus. 
(NOTE:  The final text, to which the United States had no 
objections, has been emailed to the Depart 
ment.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶10. (U) Ambassador Khalilzad did not/not clear this cable. 
HOAGLAND