VZCZCXRO3856
OO RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHTH #0286/01 0681039
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 091039Z MAR 09 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY ATHENS
TO RUHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3336
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 0109

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ATHENS 000286 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PASS TO EUR/SE, EUR/OHI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/04/2019 
TAGS: PREL PGO PHUM GR KIRF
SUBJECT: GREECE/OSCE: BAKOYIANNIS MEETING WITH OSCE 
PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR COMBATTING ANTI-SEMITISM 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Daniel V. Speckhard for 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  Rabbi Andrew Baker, the OSCE Personal 
Representative for Combating Anti-Semitism (and International 
Jewish Affairs Director for the American Jewish Committee) 
told Polofs that the OSCE Chairmanship was focused on 
security issues, and had not developed an agenda or active 
plan for his portfolio.  Baker metwith Bakoyiannis and her 
OSCE task force in Athens on March 3, his second meeting with 
her since he was appointed in January.  Bakoyiannis told 
Baker that she was currently focused on the more 
"contentious" issues of the OSCE presence in Georgia and on 
Russia's security proposals, and hoped to have progress on 
those topics first before addressing the missions of the 
three Personal Representatives on promoting tolerance and 
non-discrimination.  According to Baker, Bakoyiannis hoped 
that Russian FM Lavrov and Secretary Clinton could "work 
something out" during their March 6 meeting in Geneva.  Baker 
also elicited Bakoyiannis' take on issues of concern to the 
Jewish community in Greece.  END SUMMARY. 
 
.  (C) Given the absence of clear direction from the Greek 
CiO on anti-Semitism issues, Baker proposed his own agenda to 
Bakoyiannis and elicited her reaction.  Baker's proposals 
included: 
 
-- Organizing an OSCE/ODIHR roundtable on anti-Semitism with 
representatives of Jewish organizations.  Baker said that 
this meeting would be especially important given the wave of 
anti-Semitic sentiment in Europe following Israeli military 
action in Gaza.  Bakoyiannis had no strong reaction to this 
proposal, according to Baker; he plans to move forward. The 
roundtable, which follows roundtables organized by the OSCE 
Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on 
discrimination against Muslims held in December 2008 and on 
discrimination against Christians held on March 4, 2009, is 
on ODIHR,s schedule for March 17 in Vienna. 
 
-- A joint visit by the three Personal Representatives for 
tolerance and non-discrimination to Washington, followed by a 
visit to Moscow.  Baker said that he had only briefly met the 
other two Personal Representatives in January, in Vienna.  He 
believes their two visits would help bridge differences 
between the U.S. and the Russian Federation on human 
dimension issues.  (Baker did not provide specifics.)  Baker 
also noted that it would be appropriate for the Personal 
Representatives to visit the Russian-Jewish Museum of 
Tolerance, currently under construction in Moscow. 
Bakoyiannis thought this was a good idea, according to Baker, 
but wanted to settle the more contentious issues related to 
Georgia and security before moving forward. 
 
-- Increase extrabudgetary commitments to support OSCE/ODIHR 
goals on tolerance.  (In explaining this proposal to Poloffs, 
Baker claimed that U.S. extrabudgetary commitments had 
decreased during the last few years and that the USG should 
return its funding to previous, higher levels.)  Bakoyiannis 
reacted by saying that she was aware of the OSCE's budget 
issues and broader extrabudgetary issues with the Russians 
but, according to Baker, had no substantive response. 
 
¶3.  (C) Baker also discussed with Bakoyiannis issues of 
concern to the Jewish communities in Athens and Thessaloniki: 
 
-- Right-wing LAOS party leader Karatzaferis and anti-Semitic 
statements.  Bakoyiannis was "dismissive" of LAOS and its 
leader, according to Baker, saying it was a "free speech 
problem."   She herself was sometimes attacked in Parliament 
as being too pro-American and pro-Israel.  Bakoyiannis 
mentioned to Baker that she had a good relationship with 
Moses Constantinis, a leader in the Athens Jewish community. 
(NOTE: Constantinis is a close Embassy contact and we know 
that the good feelings are mutual. END NOTE.) 
 
-- Jewish cemetery / property restitution issues in 
Thessaloniki.  According to Baker, Bakoyiannis said that 
these issues had "all been settled."  (NOTE:  Baker and 
Bakoyiannis may have misunderstood each other, or Bakoyiannis 
may have had incomplete information on this subject. 
According to the local Jewish community in Thessaloniki, in 
February the Ministry of Finance appointed a new president 
for the committee tasked to settle the property restitution 
issue.  The new committee has not met yet.  Under the 
previous president, the committee met a few times but made no 
substantive progress.  Staff-level contacts in the Ministry 
of Finance have indicated for several months that the 
committee will reach conclusions soon.   END NOTE.) 
 
-- Construction of a Metro subway station at and partly 
 
ATHENS 00000286  002 OF 002 
 
 
inside the cemetery border, next to Aristotle University. 
Bakoyiannis said that the government is considering 
constructing a memorial in the new subway station honoring 
the cemetery and/or the Jewish community in some way, 
according to Baker.  (NOTE:  According to David Saltiel, the 
leader of the Thessaloniki Jewish community, both the head of 
the Thessaloniki Metro construction company and Deputy 
Foreign Minister Theodore Kassimis had offered to create some 
kind of monument to the cemetery in the subway station. 
Saltiel requested but never received confirmation of this 
offer in writing.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The Greek OSCE deegation noted to USOSCE that the 
reason for iviting Baker to Athens was to press Baker to 
coordinate his activities more closely with Bakoyiannis and 
her OSCE staff.  The Greeks had been caught by surprise on 
Baker's participation in the February 15-17 London Conference 
on Combating Anti-Semitism and did not clear on a speech he 
gave while there in his role as OSCE Personal Representative 
on Combating Anti-Semitism. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) After his meetings with Bakoyiannis and her OSCE 
task force, Baker met with Panayote Dimitras, the outspoken 
head of the Greek Helsinki Monitor, and Moses Constantinis, a 
leader of the Athens Jewish community.  Baker said that he 
might be returning to Greec in a few months' time.  Embassy 
Athens and Cnsulate General Thessaloniki will continue to 
ngage the Greek government on issues of concernto the local 
Jewish communities. 
 
¶6.  (U) US. Mission OSCE Vienna cleared this cable. 
SPECKHARD