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DE RUEHTA #1179/01 1941052
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 131052Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY ASTANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5793
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE 1748
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1817
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RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2381
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 2699

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 001179 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL/IRF 
 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KDEM KIRF KNNP KZ
SUBJECT:  KAZAKHSTAN:  NAZARBAYEV PLAYS AN ACTIVE ROLE IN THE THIRD 
CONGRESS OF LEADERS OF WORLD AND TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS 
 
REF:  ASTANA 1131 
 
¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2. (U) SUMMARY:  Kazakhstan hosted the third triennial Congress of 
World and Traditional Religions in Astana July 1-2.  More than 70 
delegations with 400 participants representing Islam, Christianity, 
Judaism, Buddhism and other religious confessions participated in 
the event.  They discussed the role of religious leaders in building 
peace through tolerance, mutual respect, and cooperation. 
Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev made remarks at both the 
opening and closing ceremonies.  He called on religious leaders to 
set up a "new global order" to resolve various problems, and praised 
President Obama for seeking to enhance mutual understanding.  In his 
remarks to the Congress, Israeli President Shimon Peres urged Arab 
leaders to join Israel in peace negotiations; the Iranian delegation 
walked out during Peres's speech.  Israel's Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi 
Yona Metzger and Egypt's Minister of Religious Endowments (Awqaf) 
Mahmoud Hamdy Zakzouk condemned the use of violence.  Representative 
Eni Faleomavaega (D-American Samoa) attended the Congress of Leaders 
of World and Traditional Religions on July 2 (reftel).  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
NAZARBAYEV PRAISES OBAMA'S CAIRO SPEECH... 
 
¶3. (U) In his remarks to the Congress, Nazarbayev called on 
religious leaders to be conduits for setting up a "new global 
order," saying "a new global order can be created not after a global 
armed conflict, as it used to be in the past, but in a peaceful 
way."  He applauded recent initiatives from heads of leading 
"eastern" and "western" countries, specifically President Obama's 
Cairo speech, saying, "We are inspired by the new U.S. leadership's 
desire to reach mutual understanding with the Muslim world and it 
may be viewed as a sign of important changes in the world."  He 
added, "Kazakhstan also supports the proposal of the Saudi Arabian 
king to establish a dialogue of cultures and traditions." 
Nazarbayev suggested that the Secretariat of the Congress and 
Kazakhstan's International Center of Cultures and Religions 
establish a council of religious leaders to cooperate with other 
similar world forums.  Nazarbayev also called on religious leaders 
to deal with problems of lack of food security, prevalence of 
disease, and insufficient cultural understanding, as well as to find 
new ways to counter terrorism and drugs and to create a non nuclear 
world.  Nazarbayev referred to Kazakhstan's renunciation of nuclear 
weapons and legacy of leadership in non-proliferation, and called on 
the international community to create a new international nuclear 
non-proliferation treaty (NPT) since "the current NPT is not able to 
prevent the existence of nuclear weapons." 
 
...AND KAZAKHSTAN AS AN EXAMPLE OF INTERCONFESSIONAL ACCORD 
 
¶4. (U) Nazarbayev emphasized that Kazakhstan's experience in 
preserving interconfessional accord had "proved to be one of the 
most successful in the post-Soviet space," with 3,200 mosques, 
temples, and churches co-existing peacefully on Kazakhstan's 
territory.  Nazarbayev announced that on the eve of the Congress, he 
had personally laid the cornerstone for the construction of a new 
mosque in Astana which is expected to house 5,000 worshippers and 
thus be the largest mosque in Central Asia.  Construction of a large 
Orthodox Church will be completed next year, Nazarbayev added.  He 
argued that his government's establishment of an International 
Center for Cultures and Religions and a Fund for Islamic Culture and 
Education, as well as his government's call for the United Nations 
to declare 2010 a "Year of Rapprochement of Cultures,"  gave 
Kazakhstan "full credibility" to preside as chairman of the OSCE in 
2010 and of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in 
¶2011. 
 
PERES CALLS FOR NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE WITH ARAB LEADERS 
 
¶5. (U) In his remarks to the Congress, Israeli President Shimon 
Peres urged the leaders of Arab countries to join Israel in 
 
ASTANA 00001179  002 OF 003 
 
 
negotiations for peace in the Middle East.  "Here, from this 
rostrum, I am addressing Saudi Arabian King Abdullah with a call to 
gather in Jerusalem, Riyadh or maybe to come to Kazakhstan or 
another country, and together with other Arab leaders we will be 
able to discuss your vision," Peres said.  Describing an Israeli 
project to develop enriched wheat, Peres said enriched wheat is 
better than enriched uranium, and it is better feed people than 
threaten them.  "We must separate religion from terror; the God of 
killers is not the God of believers," declared Peres, adding, "We 
must hold and encourage peace initiatives." 
 
IRANIAN DELEGATION WALKS OUT ON PERES 
 
¶6. (U) Iranian representatives walked out during Peres' keynote 
address. "We have come to listen to religious leaders," Iranian 
delegation member Mehdi Mostafavi told reporters," and Peres is not 
a religious leader."  (COMMENT:  According to media reports, Peres 
was not originally scheduled to attend the conference, but since he 
was in Kazakhstan on a state visit at the time, he received an 
invitation.  END COMMENT.)  During the Iranian delegation's 
departure from the central hall of the Palace of Peace and Harmony, 
one of Mostafavi's aides reportedly told reporters, "Israel won't 
attack us; we're not afraid of Israel or the United States." 
Speaking of Peres, Mostafavi's aide said, "(Peres) is a stealer of 
lands and a conqueror, and we're not willing to hear him.  Peres 
represents an abominable Zionist personality, and his place is not 
here." 
 
ISRAELI, EGYPTIAN REPRESENTATIVES DENOUNCE TERROR AND VIOLENCE 
 
¶7. (U) Israel's Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi, Yona Metzger, also called for 
peace among nations in his opening remarks.  He praised Kazakhstan 
for being a place where people of different faiths live in peace and 
harmony.  He specifically thanked Nazarbayev for his role in 
organizing the Congress, saying "you are the one leader who calls 
everyone and everyone comes."  Metzger held up a picture of abducted 
Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and appealed to all the religious 
leaders to pressure Hamas to allow a "person of faith" to visit the 
soldier.  Metzger said it was impossible to hold talks with 
Hezbollah or Hamas "because they have a quite different language of 
negotiation; it is a language of terror." He called on all religious 
leaders "not to use houses of prayer as instigators of terror." 
Mahmoud Hamdy Zakzouk, Egypt's Minister of Religious Endowments 
(Awqaf), also declared that "no religion can call for violence." 
Zakzouk used a vivid analogy, saying that if all of humankind is 
sharing a boat, we cannot make a hole in it, or we will all drown. 
 
LUTHERAN REPRESENTATIVE URGES MOVEMENT FROM WORDS TO ACTIONS 
 
¶8. (U) Reverend Ishmael Noko, General Secretary of the Lutheran 
World Federation, also applauded President Obama's outreach to the 
Muslim world through his Cairo speech, and expressed hope that 
religious leaders will imitate his approach and reach out to one 
another.  The real test of the "Astana Agenda," Noko declared, is 
"when the Third World Congress of Religions will make a difference 
in people's lives, and when religious leaders will move from 
speeches to actions."  Chief Mufti of Kazakhstan Absattar Derbisali, 
Grand Imam and Sheikh of Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque Muhammed Sayyed 
Tantawi, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious 
Dialogue Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, Vice President of the World 
Federation of Buddhists Hamba Lama Choyzhilzhavyn Dambazhav, and 
Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva Sergei 
Ordzhonikidze made the remaining opening speeches. 
 
NAZARBAYEV MEETS ONE-ON-ONE WITH SEVERAL WORLD LEADERS 
 
¶9. (U) President Nazarbayev met with many world religious leaders 
and guests of honor on the margins of the Congress.  Media reporting 
highlighted the following meetings: 
 
- Director-General of the United Nations (UN) Office at Geneva 
Sergei Ordzhonikidze told Nazarbayev that the UN "supports this very 
 
ASTANA 00001179  003 OF 003 
 
 
important initiative, which is necessary for the international 
community and is aimed at improving relations between people, 
religions and states." 
 
- Secretary General of the Saudi Arabia-based World Muslim League 
Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsin Al-Turki thanked Nazarbayev for his 
invitation to take part in the Congress, passed on greetings from 
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, and expressed his intention to open a 
World Muslim League regional office in Kazakhstan next year. 
 
- Turkey's Minister of Work and Social Security Faruk Celik 
discussed further cooperation between Kazakhstan and Turkey on 
behalf of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan. 
 
- Former Norwegian Prime Minister and current head of the Oslo 
Centre for Peace and Human Rights Kjell Magne Bondevik said, "We are 
expecting a lot from Kazakhstan's OSCE presidency and have the same 
positions on non-proliferation." 
 
PARTICIPANTS DESCRIBE ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT 
 
¶10. (U) The Congress concluded with an elaborate outdoor ceremony 
featuring a short concert of traditional Kazakh and Western music, a 
closing address by President Nazarbayev, and children releasing 
doves.  Nazarbayev noted that a dramatic increase in the number of 
delegations over the previous congress -- from 17 to over 70 -- 
showed the forum's increase of authority.  He said the discussions 
at the Congress showed that all the spiritual leaders who gathered 
in Astana had shown their readiness for dialogue.  Reiterating his 
opening remarks, Nazarbayev emphasized that "spiritual beginnings 
must rank as one of the most important mechanisms for the 
reconstruction of the post-crisis world."  Nazarbayev reminded the 
participants that the Congress had taken place during a holy month 
in the Islamic calendar, and therefore that the decisions made by 
the participants would be "blessed." 
 
¶11. (SBU) PolOff met with several participants during the Congress, 
all of whom expressed gratitude to Kazakhstan and President 
Nazarbayev for holding the Congress. 
 
- Representing a newly opened synagogue in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Rabbi 
Torenheim praised Kazakhstan for its tolerance, and said he has not 
felt his community to be the target of any anti-Semitism, and 
applauded President Nazarbayev for holding the congress. 
 
- The Chairman of UNESCO's Executive Board, Olabiyi Babalola Joseph 
Yai, said the Congress was much improved over the previous one held 
in Astana in 2006, particularly because the number of delegations 
had increased dramatically.  Yai expressed hope the next Congress 
will be even more inclusive, especially in representation from 
female delegates and traditional religions.  "There were practically 
no women here at all, which is very disappointing," declared Yai 
noted that "aside from Shinto, almost no representatives from 
traditional religions participated." 
 
- Paul Pieper, a representative of the Church of Jesus Christ of 
Latter Day Saints, said not all delegates were as receptive to 
inter-religious dialogue during working-group sessions as opening 
speeches encouraged.  Nevertheless, Pieper told PolOff that the 
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was pleased to have 
participated in the congress for the first time, and he hoped it 
would be invited to the next congress. 
 
HOAGLAND