US embassy cable - 05YEREVAN1722

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 001722 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR R, P AND EUR/CACEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/26/2015 
TAGS: PREL, KDEM, KPAO, EAID, PHUM, KMPI, AM 
SUBJECT: ARMENIA:  NOT MUCH EXTREMISM HERE 
 
REF: STATE 159129 04 YEREVAN 2151 
 
Classified By: CDA A.F. Godfrey for reasons 1.4(b,d) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1. (S) With 98 percent of the population ethnically Armenian 
and at least nominally Christian, extremism, and particularly 
Islamic extremism, is not perceived to be a serious problem 
in Armenia.  The vast majority of Armenians belong to the 
Apostolic Church, an Eastern Christian denomination which has 
formal legal status as Armenia's national church.  There is 
only one operating mosque located in Yerevan, where the 
majority of Armenia's 1,000 to 2,000 resident Muslims -- 
including Iranians, Syrians, and Kurds -- are tolerated, but 
not embraced.  Armenian attitudes toward the Yezidis, a 
Kurdish cultural group of 40,000 people whose religion 
includes elements of Islam, Zorostrianism and animism, are 
similarly ambivalent.  Without evidence of extremist 
tendencies in the few Muslim institutions in Armenia, the 
GOAM and its security forces have taken little action beyond 
close monitoring (ref B).  USG programs in Armenia target 
civil society, economic development, and political stability. 
 End Summary. 
 
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LITTLE ROOM FOR MUSLIMS IN CHRISTIAN ARMENIA 
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2. (S) Islamic extremism is not perceived to be a great 
problem in Armenia, where approximately 98 percent of the 
population is ethnic Armenian and most Armenians identify 
Christianity as their ethnic trait.  About 90 percent of 
Armenian citizens nominally belong to the Armenian Apostolic 
Church, an Eastern Christian denomination which has formal 
legal status as Armenia's national church.  Most of the 
nation's few Muslims left Armenia for Azerbaijan during the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, increasing the country's Christian 
religious and Armenian ethnic homogeneity. 
 
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SOCIETAL PREJUDICES KEEP MUSLIM COMMUNITY IN CHECK 
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3. (S/NF) Muslims in Armenia generally choose to maintain a 
low profile.  As a result, public hate speech, overt 
fundraising, and open terrorist rhetoric either against the 
United States or ethnic and religious minorities is rare. 
Some Kurdish activists (ref B) assert they are affiliated 
with Kongra Gel, the successor organization to KADEK and PKK, 
though, they too, avoid provocative activities.  Without 
evidence of extremist tendencies in Armenia's few Muslim 
institutions, the GOAM and its security forces have taken 
little action beyond close monitoring. 
 
-- According to the GOAM's Department of National Minorities 
and Religion Head Hranoush Khataryan, the Yerevan-based 
Armenian-Kurdish Friendship Society conducts activities in 
the Kurdish-Yezidi populated regions of Armenia to support 
Kurdish national self-identification, religious traditions, 
and cultural heritage.  In Spring 2004, the organization 
became the Kurdish-Yezidi National Cultural Center 
"Kurdistan," headed by Haidar Ali, a self-proclaimed "Kongra 
Gel Representative in the South Caucasus."  Ali, who is no 
longer in Armenia, granted infrequent press interviews, but 
did not espouse terrorist rhetoric, and did not appear to 
have engaged in overt fundraising for any specific causes. 
 
-- The NGO "Kurdistan Committee" has ties to Kongra Gel.  The 
committee advocates on behalf of the Kurdish-Armenian 
community to resolve social, military, and criminal issues. 
The committee has offices in Yerevan, Armavir, and Alagaz. 
 
-- Yezidi community leader Aziz Tamoyan, the self-proclaimed 
Chairman of the National Union of Yezidis and President of 
the World Union of Yezidis (some Yezidis in Tamoyan's own 
village say they've never heard of either Union), threatened 
to protest in front of U.S. Embassy Yerevan.  He told us that 
his fellow villagers, who are frustrated by hollow responses 
from local government authorities to requests for municipal 
improvements, would only abandon the demonstration if 
"embassy staff meet with the villagers" to discuss their 
numerous complaints against the Armenian Government.  Tamoyan 
claimed municipal development projects discriminated against 
Yezidis in favor of his Armenian neighbors.  The protest did 
not materialize.  On September 29, Embassy Yerevan will 
dedicate a new community center, funded through a USG 
Community Self-Help Grant, in Tamoyan's predominantly Yezidi 
village of Zovuni. 
 
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USG ASSISTANCE IN ARMENIA INDIRECTLY COMBATS EXTREMISM 
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4. (SBU) The USG has contributed over USD 1.6 billion in 
assistance to Armenia since its independence in 1992 (about 
USD 85 million in FY2005).  USG assistance programs focus on 
helping Armenia achieve three goals, which indirectly address 
extremism:  1) an open and pluralistic civil society; 2) a 
functioning market economy; and, 3) a stable and secure 
political environment in the region. 
 
-- To determine USG funding priorities, avoid duplication of 
efforts, and coordinate USG assistance to meet Armenia's 
development goals, the Ambassador chairs the Assistance 
Coordination Group (ACG), a bi-weekly meeting of key officers 
from each of the USG's funding agencies -- Embassy Yerevan 
DCM, Pol/Econ Chief, Public Affairs Officer, and Consul, 
USAID Mission Director, the DOD Office of Defense 
Cooperation, the Director of the USDA-sponsored Center for 
Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD), Embassy Yerevan 
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Assistance 
Program Regional Coordinator, Peace Corps Country Director, 
and the Resident Advisor for US Treasury Office of Technical 
Assistance.  Embassy Yerevan has also designated one 
political officer as Embassy Assistance Coordinator. 
 
-- The US Government has spent more than USD 30 million on 
educational and professional exchange programs in Armenia. 
Embassy Yerevan's Public Affairs Section, in cooperation with 
local and international partners, develops and implements 
academic, professional, and cultural exchange programs, 
English language programs, speakers programs, and the 
International Visitor Program.  In 2005, the U.S. Government 
has sent 186 Armenian citizens to the United States on 
academic and professional exchange programs.  Since 1993, the 
USG has funded study programs in the U.S. for more than 4,500 
Armenian citizens.  None of the participants were Muslim. 
 
-- The Public Affairs Section (PAS) also maintains Embassy 
Yerevan's Information Resource Center (IRC), a long-term 
project that provides Armenian citizens access to reference 
materials and services on U.S. foreign policy issues, U.S. 
societal values, economic development issues, and Armenian 
media reviews.  Annually, about 2,000 Armenian citizens visit 
the IRC.  PAS also opened two American Corners in 2005, one 
in Yerevan, and one in Gyumri, Armenia's second largest city. 
 Located in public libraries, the American Corners provide 
direct access to materials on the U.S. and to the Internet 
for local citizens.  They also provide venues for the Post 
Outreach Program, which among other things includes monthly 
appearances by Emboffs speaking to audiences of interested 
English-speaking Armenians.  The Yerevan American Corner has 
seen upwards of 400 visitors a month. 
 
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COMMENT:  INDIRECT ASSISTANCE LIKELY TO CONTINUE 
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5. (C) For the foreseeable future, Muslim outreach and 
tolerance programs for the small, quiet Muslim community in 
Christian Armenia will likely remain an indirect activity 
resulting from USG efforts to enhance civil society, 
democracy, and economic development. 
GODFREY