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PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHVEN #0292/01 3581140
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 241140Z DEC 09
FM USMISSION USOSCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6793
INFO RUCNOSC/ORG FOR SECURITY CO OP IN EUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 0154
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 0120
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 0165
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 0116
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 0017
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 0168
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 0144
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL PRIORITY 0171
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV PRIORITY 0163
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0206
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 0147
RUEHUM/AMEMBASSY ULAANBAATAR PRIORITY 0107
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDRUSAREUR HEIDELBERG GE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHDLCNE/CINCUSNAVEUR LONDON UK PRIORITY
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/DOD WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMCSUU/EUCOM POLAD VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RUESDT/DTRA-OSES DARMSTADT GE PRIORITY
RUEASWA/DTRA ALEX WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JCS WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/SACEUR POLAD SHAPE BE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/USAREUR POLAD HEIDELBERG GE PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 07 USOSCE 000292 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2019 
TAGS: MARR OSCE PGOV PREL PHUM RU MD HR AF KZ
SUBJECT: OSCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS: DECEMBER 9 - 18, 2009 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Carol Fuller for Reasons 1.4(B)&(D) 
 
Special Reps to Revisit Proposed Support Team for South 
Ossetia Region 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Staff in the OSCE Secretariat's Conflict Prevention 
Center (CPC) told PolOff December 8 that Special Representative 
Christopoulos and Special Representative-designate Nurgaliev intend to 
visit Tbilisi and Tskhinvali December 14 and 15 to revisit the idea of 
establishing a small team to support the OSCE's participation 
in the Geneva Talks and the IPRM for the South Ossetia 
region.  Some in the CPC are optimistic there might be a 
window of opportunity to move ahead, highlighting as positive 
factors Nurgaliev's quick agreement to the trip, his likely 
rapport with the South Ossetians and the Russians (South 
Ossetian authorities reportedly agreed to the visit quickly 
and without preconditions), and the Kazakhstanis' presumed 
interest in achieving a quick deliverable for their OSCE 
Chairmanship.  Others in the CPC are less optimistic there 
will be any immediate progress, noting the South Ossetians 
continue to object to OSCE involvement in the region.  Greek 
and Kazakhstani representatives told PolOff they  expected no immediate 
breakthrough, and added that Christopoulos and Nurgaliev planned simply 
to gauge all sides' interest in the team.  Georgian PermRep 
Gaprindashvili downplayed expectations, but expressed hope that South 
Ossetian authorities would be more open to cooperation, as 
Nurgaliev likely would be "emotionally more acceptable than 
any European." 
 
Moldova Says Ministerial Negotiations Useful, Outcome 
Unsurprising 
 
¶2.  (SBU) A Moldovan representative told PolOff December 8 
that negotiations in Athens on a Ministerial statement on 
Moldova had allowed for useful discussions, even though they 
had broken down (as expected) over long-standing 
disagreements on the CFE Treaty, the Istanbul Commitments, 
the presence of Russian peacekeepers in the Transnistrian 
region, and other issues.  On a related note, a CPC 
representative said he expected no major developments in 2010 
on efforts to resolve the Transnistria conflict, but believed 
the informal bilateral meetings between lead negotiators 
Osipov and Yastrebchak would continue (the next reportedly 
could take place as early as December 12), and thought 
progress on confidence- and security-building measures was 
possible.  Meanwhile, talk of a possible 3 2 visit to 
Chisinau and Tiraspol in December seems to have faded, 
following the December 7 failure of the Moldovan parliament 
to elect a president. 
 
EU Troika Discusses Athens Aftermath and Corfu Process Status 
 
¶3.  (SBU) In a meeting with the EU Troika on December 9, 
Swedish Ambassador Bard-BringQus lauded the outcome of the 
Athens Ministerial Conference. She stated that Athens 
produced the most substance since the 1999 Istanbul Summit, 
especially in the areas of European security dialogue through 
the Corfu Process and the future of the 2nd Dimension. She 
expressed a desire to address "the 'almost decisions,'" 
specifically the freedom of the media and climate change 
decisions that did not reach consensus. For example, 
Bard-Bringeus mentioned that Russia was more positive to the 
Climate Change decision than usual this year, which could 
signal greater cooperation in the future. Regarding the 
status of the Corfu Process, the Swedish Ambassador 
 
USOSCE 00000292  002 OF 007 
 
 
recognized that it has turned Russia into a stakeholder for 
European security, while solidifying the OSCE as primary 
forum for European security dialogue. She noted that there 
seems to be a move away from zero-sum mentality in terms of 
security dialogue and also welcomed Deputy Secretary Steinberg,s 
positive statements about the Corfu Process.  She appreciated 
the four U.S. priorities (conflict prevention, transnational 
threats, energy security and freedom of the media) 
Deputy Steinberg outlined in his plenary intervention. 
 
Positive Reception for ODIHR Report on Elections in 
Afghanistan 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The Head of the ODIHR, Ambassador Janez Lenarcic, 
presented the Final Report from the OSCE/ODIHR Election 
Support Team (EST) for Afghanistan to the PC December 10. 
The report described widespread fraud, corruption and 
violence and serious problems with the Independent Election 
Commission and the Electoral Complaints Commission.  In their 
responses most pS noted the numerous detailed recommendations 
for election reform and promised to study them.  Turkey 
emphatically said it should be up to Afghanistan to decide 
whether to consider the recommendations. The Russian 
Federation (RF) welcomed the report's conclusions and 
recommendations and noted Moscow's support for the U.S. 
Administration's updated strategy for Afghanistan and 
Pakistan regarding the transfer of responsibility of 
Afghanistan to the Afghans.  Deviating from his written text, 
however, Ambassador Azimov questioned the "usefulness of OSCE 
involvement in Afghanistan" and noted that "we don't have the 
right to risk lives (Afghanistan is only an OSCE partner."  In 
response, the Afghan representative welcomed ODIHR's 
recommendations and thanked pS for financially supporting the EST. 
 Specifically in response to an EST recommendation that the Afghan 
Government consider postponing upcoming elections, the Afghan 
representative said delay was not an option, because, "to delay would 
risk everything we've gained.  Elections will be held in 2010." 
In closing, Lenarcic said the timing of upcoming elections 
"is clearly the sovereign right of the Government of 
Afghanistan (however our mandate was to make recommendations, 
which is what we did."  He welcomed an Afghan invitation to 
travel to Kabul the first week of February to deliver the 
report in person.  During the Chair's subsequent private 
lunch, he stated frankly that the international meeting on 
Afghanistan in London January 28 will be critical to deal 
with the corruption issues and that if another election were 
to happen in 2010 like the last one; the electoral system in 
Afghanistan will be "damaged 
beyond hope." 
 
OSCE Office in Zagreb Extended Through 2010 
 
¶5.  (SBU)   At the December 10 PC meeting pS agreed to a 
decision extending the mandate of the Office in Zagreb 
through the end of 2010. The decision also includes consensus 
versions of two paragraphs originally proposed by the 
Croatian delegation, this text recognizes "the significant 
progress achieved by the GoC in implementing its commitments 
in many fields in both areas of the mandate of the Office" 
and tasks the Office to produce a status report by the end of 
2010 to be used as the basis for PS to evaluate fulfillment 
of the mandate and mandate-related tasks. The Croats sought 
to add this language once they realized that closing the 
office this year was not a possibility, and carefully 
choreographed its rollout with consultations with the U.S. 
 
USOSCE 00000292  003 OF 007 
 
 
starting Nov 20 and with the help of the Greek CiO who hosted 
informal consultations on Dec 7 with the U.S., RF, Germany, 
France, UK, NL, Finland, Sweden, Kazakhstan, and the 
Secretariat. The language, which was carefully calibrated 
from the beginning to be broadly  acceptable to all pS, 
met little resistance during these consultations and 
later negotiations, except from Serbia who sought to make the 
tone more neutral and make the reference to progress 
more ambiguous.  During remarks in the PC the Serbs also 
recalled a recent ICTY report in which prosecutor 
Brammertz gave a mixed report on Croatia's cooperation with 
the ICTY; Croatia rebutted this firmly as being unrelated and 
not relevant to the mandate of the Office. 
 
Switzerland Deflects Criticism of Ban on New Minarets 
 
¶6.  (U) At the PC on Dec 10, Swiss Ambassador Marfurt 
announced his government's plans to implement the 
construction ban on new minarets as stipulated by the Nov 29 
referendum* which it had tried to defeat.  Calling the vote 
"an expression of a defensive attitude towards a globalised 
world in times of economic crises," he claimed it would not 
interfere with the freedom of religious expression of roughly 
400,000 Muslims living in Switzerland.  Should the European 
Court of Human Rights judge the ban to be unlawful, however, 
"Switzerland would be obliged to study it very carefully," 
Marfurt said, hinting that the Swiss government is looking 
for international help in form of condemnation to justify 
reversing the ban. The EU noted positively the concern 
expressed by the Swiss Foreign Minister Calmy-Rey at the 
Athen's Ministerial and urged Switzerland to fully respect 
OSCE commitments regarding freedom of belief. 
 
EU Critical of Kyrgyzstan Treatment of Human Rights Defenders 
 
¶7.  (U) The EU issued a statement at the OSCE Permanent 
Council of December 10th criticizing actions taken by the 
government of Kyrgyzstan in the last 14 months against human 
rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan.  Among the actions taken in 
four different cases was the denial of entry into the country 
including a ban of significant length, deportation, 
harassment and confiscation of materials.  The EU 
characterized this as a "worrying trend in Kyrgyzstan to 
obstruct the work of human rights defenders" and urged Kyrgyz 
authorities to put an end to the harassment.  The Ambassador 
of Kyrgyzstan said she would forward the statement to her 
government, but then asserted that Kyrgyzstan is a member of 
all significant international human rights documents and that 
if a NGO is acting within the law and its mandates, the 
Kyrgyz government will present no obstacles.  She also 
mentioned that civil society in Kyrgyzstan enjoys many 
freedoms, such as freedom of expression for NGOs, but freedom 
of expression also includes a measure of responsibility. 
 
International Human Rights Day Commemoration 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Both the EU and U.S. delegations commemorated 
December 10 as International Human Rights Day, which marks 
the 61st Anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).  Both 
statements focused on international obligations and OSCE 
commitments regarding the respect of human rights and 
fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law.  The EU 
expressed its regrets that decisions on the rule of law and 
media freedom did not pass and that the Hate Crimes decision 
 
USOSCE 00000292  004 OF 007 
 
 
did not include a reference to sexual orientation and gender 
identity.  Similarly, the U.S. delegation noted its concern 
over human rights violations and acts of violence directed at 
individuals on account of their sexual orientation or gender 
identity and urged respect for the human rights of lesbian, 
gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in the OSCE region 
and around the world.  The Russian Federation also offered an 
intervention that, while mentioning that the principles of 
the UFDR are important, centered on the revival and danger of Nazism, 
Fascism and extreme racial ideologies. 
 
Central Asians Not United 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  In an exchange of views on the Athens Ministerial, 
Russian Ambassador Anwar Azimov admitted to Charge Carol 
Fuller that there had been a backlash against him from 
Turkmenistan and especially Uzbekistan, which had both 
rejected his strong arming for them to join consensus on the 
decision on Freedom of the Media.  In the end, Uzbekistan 
publicly rejected the decision, saying only that they could 
accept no decision that was "subject to a political deal." 
In a similar exchange, Kazakh ambassador Kairat Abdrakmanov 
confided that Uzbekistan had changed the positive language in 
the final Corfu Declaration on the Summit sought so dearly by 
Kazakhstan in the Corfu Declaration because, although 
Uzbekistan agrees there should be a Summit, they want it to 
be "either before or after 2010, but not during 2010"Q*the 
year of the Kazakh OSCE Chairmanship.  He admitted that 
relations with Uzbekistan on some issues in the region are 
good, but not on others, and that the issue of the Aral Sea 
is particularly difficult.  When asked if Uzbekistan might be given 
some leadership role under the Kazakh chairmanship, he suggested that 
fighting extremism and radicalism might be an option because 
of serious concerns in the Ferghana Valley.  Asked again 
about Russia's blockage of OSCE training inside Afghanistan, 
he repeated "we are working on it." 
 
Greeks Reverse Course on Partner Involvement in the Corfu 
Process 
 
¶10.  (SBU) At the December 11 joint meeting of the Asian and 
Mediterranean Contact Groups, Greek Amb. Marinaki announced 
that henceforth Partners would be invited to be an "active 
component" in the Corfu Process. This is a complete reversal 
in the Greek position, as they had previously resisted even 
giving the Partners the most basic summary of discussions 
taking place in the informal Ambassadorial-level Corfu 
meetings throughout the Fall. The Partners, clearly delighted 
with this change, thanked Amb Marinaki for the invitation and 
expressed their expectation to be "very frequent" 
participants in the informal Corfu Process meetings in 2010. 
The Greeks subsequently issued an invitation to all pS and 
Partners to attend the final informal Corfu session of the 
year on December 17, which will discuss the way forward. With 
this announcement, the Greeks have (intentionally or not) 
short-circuited the Corfu Process decision adopted last week 
in Athens. The decision specifies that the Chairmanship, 
"after close consultation with participating States" will invite the 
Partners for Cooperation and other guests to contribute to discussions 
on an ad hoc basis. To our knowledge, the Greeks did not 
consult with any pS before issuing what amounts to a standing 
invitation to the Partners. 
 
Joint US-Russian Training Project in Afghanistan? 
 
 
USOSCE 00000292  005 OF 007 
 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Russian ambassador Azimov told ChargQ that the RF 
would indeed like to find some joint projects for the US, 
Russia, and perhaps the EU to implement next year under the 
OSCE ministerial decision on transnational threats 
co-sponsored by the US and Russia. ChargQ said that it was 
too bad FM Lavrov objected to OSCE training in Afghanistan 
because it might be interesting to explore a joint US/Russia 
training project for the OSCE. To ChargQ's surprise, Azimov 
responded this might actually be interesting and recommended 
that the two ministers discuss it. 
 
Representative for Freedom of the Media 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Greek CiO is reportedly trying to convince three 
countries to withdraw their candidates in favor of the 
leading candidate Bosnian Dunja Mijatovic so the appointment 
can be made by the Greeks this year. Russian ambassador Anwar 
Azimov told ChargQ today that the RF believes its candidate, 
Mikhail Fedotov, is the most qualified. He confided that 
Fedotov had appealed to the president Medvedev for support so 
that it will be difficult for the RF to withdraw him. 
Moreover, he said there is no hurry since Harazsti's term 
doesn't end until MarchQ*under the Kazakh CiO. 
 
Kazakhstan appoints Special and Personal Representatives for 
2010 
 
¶13.  (SBU) On Oct 16 Kazakhstan shared with us a list of 
confirmed Special and Personal CiO Representatives (SRs and 
PRs) for 2010 including Mr. Bolat Nurgaliev as SR for 
Protracted Conflicts; Mr. Andrzej Kasprzyk  as PR on the 
conflict dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference; Mr. 
Costanzo Periotto as PR for Article IV of Annex 1B of the 
Dayton Peace Accords in September 2007; Mr. Helmut Napiontek 
as OSCE Representative to the Latvian-Russian Joint 
Commission on Military Pensioners; Mr. Struan Stevenson as PR 
on Ecology; and Mr. Vitautas Nauduzas as PR on Transport. The 
list also included three Special Envoys for Elections: Mr. 
Kimmo Kiljunen for Election Observation Mechanisms, Mr. Jes#s 
L"pez-Medel B scones for Election Observation and Mr. Marat 
Sarsembayev for Election Issues.  Mr. A. Akhishev is named as 
Head of the High-Level Planning Group, Ambassador Heiner 
Horsten (Germany) as Chair of the Security Committee, 
Ambassador Alyaksandr Sychov (Belarus) as Chair of the 
Economic and Environmental Committee and Ambassador Ana Martinho 
(Portugal) as Chair of the Humanitarian Committee.  The three Personal 
Representatives for Tolerance, Mr. Adil Akhmetov for Combating 
Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims, Mr. Mario Mauro for 
Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination against 
Christians, and Rabbi Andrew Baker for Combating 
Anti-Semitism received reappointments.  Kazakhstan said it 
may nominate additional Representatives) including one on 
Women's issues) who are expected to be announced shortly. 
 
EU Shares Concern Over Kazakh Special Elections 
Representatives 
 
¶14.  (SBU)  At the weekly US/EU meeting) the last one with 
Sweden in the EU Presidency) Ambassador Bard-BringQus 
shared our concerns about Kazakhstan's appointment of three 
Special Envoys for Elections. Although it is the prerogative 
of the Chair to appoint its own representatives, we need to 
make clear to the Kazakhstanis that they should not use these 
positions to encroach on ODIHR's independence or second 
guess its role in election observation. 
 
USOSCE 00000292  006 OF 007 
 
 
 
Russia, Others Reiterate Contradictory Assessments of 
Abkhazia Elections 
 
¶15.  (SBU)   Following EU and U.S. statements at the December 
17 Permanent Council meeting rejecting the legitimacy of the 
December 12 presidential "elections" in the Abkhazia region 
of Georgia, Russia again declared its decision to recognize 
the region's independence "irreversible and irrevocable" 
and argued that the "elections" reflected public support 
for building a democratic state based on the rule of law. 
Russia noted that a fourth country (Nauru) had recognized 
Abkhazia's independence, said others were considering doing 
the same, and declared that participating States should be 
"mindful" of this reality.  In response, Georgia declared 
the "elections" fraudulent, noted that many citizens 
continued to be denied basic rights, and reiterated its call 
for Russia to end its occupation of Georgian territory. 
 
 PC Exchange on Zhovtis Case 
 
¶16.  (SBU) In response to U.S. and EU interventions at the 
December 17 PC criticizing the recent Kazakh judicial refusal 
to review the Zhovtis case, Russian ambassador Azimov 
implored pS to have "respect" for Kazakhstan as the incoming 
chair.  "Imagine if you continue this, how it will be if 
Russia raises every human rights violations in Lithuania when 
they become the Chair!"  Azimov said he did not rule out 
that Zhovtis might be pardoned but concluded that a 
"criminal should sit in prison; that is the law."  For its 
part, Kazakhstan raised the same tired response it has twice 
previously submitted, to wit: Zhovtis, like 163 others was 
convicted in a trial that was "as transparent, open and 
unbiased as possible" where numerous Kazakhstani and 
international observers had "unimpeded access to the trial 
and the appeal."  In a discussion with poloff after the PC, 
Kazakhstani DCM Usen Suleimenov angrily said A/S Blake just 
visited Kazakhstan and the Zhovtis case had been Q&fully 
explained to him."  When poloff offered to meet later to discuss the 
case, Suleimenov said, "No, forget about this case." 
 
EU/U.S. Note Closure of Democratic Society Party in Turkey 
 
¶17.  (SBU)  Sweden, on behalf of the EU, at the December 17 
PC stated its concern with the Turkish Constitutional Court 
decision to close the Democratic Society Party (DTP) and 
called upon Turkey to make the necessary constitutional 
amendments to bring its legislation on political parties in 
line with international commitments.  In a much more muted 
tone, the U.S. encouraged all political actors in Turkey to 
pursue reconciliation, reflect democratic values, and refrain 
from the use or encouragement of violence.  In response, 
Turkey noted that since the judgment has not yet been issued, 
preliminary reactions might not factor in all the evidence 
and legal reasoning that led to the decision. Turkey also 
stressed that relevant case-law of the European Court of 
Human Rights (ECHR), particularly its recent decision on a 
similar case where a political party was dissolved by a court 
decision in one of the EU member States, had been taking into 
account in this process.  (Note: It is likely Turkey is 
referring to the June 2009 ECHR confirmation of a Spanish Supreme Court 
ruling to ban the Basque Batasuma Party.) 
 
Office in Zagreb Report Says 2008 Housing Care Benchmarks in 
Last Phase 
 
USOSCE 00000292  007 OF 007 
 
 
 
¶18. (U)  The December 16 biweekly report from the OSCE Office 
in Zagreb says final verification visits of 2009 show that 
the Housing Care benchmark for areas outside the Area of 
Special State Concern (ASSC) have been fulfilled. Further 
visits in early 2010 will be needed to see if outstanding 
cases inside the ASSC have been resolved. Primarily at issue 
are 68 cases where the HC recipients have not appeared to 
sign contracts, a Plenary decision in early 2010 will 
determine whether these cases should be considered resolved. 
The Office's October 2009 status report said that an 
additional approximately 1,500 families would need to be 
accommodated in 2010 to fulfill the 2009 benchmarks. 
 
Albania Likely to Push For Reductions in Presence Budget for 
2011 
 
¶19.   (SBU)  In a December 17 meeting a member of the 
Albanian delegation told poloffs that progress on reforms in 
Albania will warrant reductions in the 2011 budget of the 
OSCE Presence in Albania. Albania will likely not seek 
changes to the mandate as they did during negotiations on the 
extension of the Presence's mandate at the end of 2007 
because of the controversy this caused, but will instead try 
to bring about reductions to its activities through budget 
negotiations in 2010. The delegate mentioned phasing out the 
OSCE's role in facilitation of cross-border cooperation 
meetings with neighboring states on border management and 
policing, and elimination of some of the Presence's second 
dimension activities such as promoting better governance in 
waste management. Also mentioned was the potential to close 
one or more of the four project offices outside Tirana, 
particularly the office in Kukes, with the justification that 
this area can now be effectively covered from Tirana with the 
completion of new transportation infrastructure and reduced travel 
time. 
 
CiO Personal Rep For Transport Visiting Vienna to Discuss 
Mandate 
 
¶20.    (SBU) A member of the Lithuanian delegation told USDEL 
on Dec 15 that Lithuanian Ambassador-at-large Vytautas 
Nauduzas will be visiting Vienna Dec 17-18 for discussions 
with the Kazakhstanis on the mandate that will define his 
role as the CiO's Personal Representative (PR) on 
transportation issues during 2010. Nauduzas, who is currently 
attached to the MFA's Economic Security Policy Department, 
formerly served as the Lithuanian Ambassador to Turkey and as 
the Deputy Minister of Economy. He represented Lithuania and 
presented at the July 2009 Chairmanship conference on energy 
security held in Bratislava. The draft mandate under 
discussion would have him representing the CiO at conferences 
and similar events and with the UNECE and other IOs. The 
Lithuanian delegation said it is apparent that Kazakhstan 
will also take advantage of this PR where possible to promote 
their plans for road networks linking Europe to China and to 
Afghanistan. 
FULLER