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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001107 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SCA/CEN; EEB 
COMMERCE FOR ELLEN HOUSE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/01/2019 
TAGS: PGOV EIND EINV ECON ETRD TX
SUBJECT: HAVE A COKE AND A SMILE IN TURKMENISTAN 
 
REF: ASHGABAT 1077 
 
Classified By: DCM Sylvia Reed Curran for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY.  On September 1, Economic Officer visited the 
Coca-Cola bottling plant in Ashgabat at the recent invitation 
of the plant General Manager Kadir Uslu (reftel).  Uslu 
asserted that despite Turkmenistan's intense bureaucracy, 
Coca-Cola's brand name and multinational approach to 
Turkmenistan have contributed to significant growth over the 
last few years.  The Coke plant manager described Turkmen 
bureaucracy and GOTX pressure to employ only ethnic Turkmen 
as major issues his company faced.  At the same time, Coke 
representatives remained upbeat on expansion into untapped 
markets and the introduction of new Coke products in 
Turkmenistan in the nearest future.  END SUMMARY. 
 
A MULTINATIONAL APPROACH TO PRODUCTION 
 
¶2. (C) After offering Economic Officer a Coke, Uslu and his 
Chief Operations Manager Rivdan Duric provided a lengthy tour 
of the Ashgabat Coca-Cola Plant.  Uslu proudly stated that 
Coca-Cola Turkmenistan was a multinational enterprise, and 
this multinational approach was as important to Coke's 
success in Turkmenistan as the secret formula.  He explained 
that the large steel water tanks were German-made, the state 
of the art water filtering/purifying system was from the USA, 
the high-quality sugar was from Azerbaijan, the concentrate 
or syrup was from Coke plants in France, assembly line 
equipment was French, and the small, plastic granules that 
would eventually turn into bottles were from South Korea. 
Uslu stressed that unlike bottling plants in Europe and the 
U.S., the Ashgabat plant had to be creative and flexible in 
acquiring equipment and products from many different 
countries, especially since the GOTX heavily regulated all 
imported equipment and supplies. 
 
¶3. (C) As the tour continued, both Uslu and Duric became more 
critical toward Turkmen government policies.  One of the 
policies, they added, was the insistence that Coca-Cola 
Turkmenistan only employ ethnic Turkmen at the plant.  Uslu 
stated that several times a year Turkmen officials inquire as 
to the ethnicity of employees of the plant, demanding 
specifically that ethnic Russians be replaced with "real" 
Turkmen.  Uslu added that during these government visits, he 
shows government officials his employees' green, Turkmen 
passports as proof that even the ethnic Russians at his plant 
are Turkmen citizens.  He added that he had several 
ethnic-Russian physicists, chemists, doctors, and engineers 
on his staff because the Turkmen government was still 
shutting ethnic Russians out of government controlled 
enterprises.  Uslu pointed out one employee who was busy 
repairing large boilers.  According to Uslu, this employee 
was a brilliant Russian-born physicist that could not find 
work any where else in the country due to his ethnicity. 
Uslu was uncertain how far the Turkmen would go in insisting 
that ethnic Turkmen be hired over other ethnicities, and he 
expressed increased concern for his non-Turkmen employees. 
 
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE WATER 
 
¶4. (C) The plant directors beamed as they showed off their 
American-made water filtering and purifying equipment.  Uslu 
stated that this equipment was arguably the most important 
component at the plant.  He explained that this investment in 
American equipment not only filtered out the sand and mineral 
particles that abound in Turkmen water, but the equipment 
also filtered out bacteria and harmful contaminates, making 
Coca-Cola products in Turkmenistan "the safest drink in 
town."  He added that he was certain that no other 
Turkmen-produced soft drinks on the market used filtering 
systems to ensure the beverages were potable.  He also 
 
ASHGABAT 00001107  002 OF 002 
 
 
announced that Coca-Cola had started bottling both carbonated 
and noncarbonated Bon-Aqua drinks as the demand for highly 
purified water in Turkmenistan is always high. 
 
¶5. (C) Coca-Cola plant operations manager Duric lamented the 
fact that Coca-Cola disposes of thousands of gallons of water 
per day, as there is no water treatment plant infrastructure 
in Ashgabat.  He stated that Coca-Cola had approached the 
Turkmen government on several occasions about bringing water 
treatment and conservation technology into the country, but 
the government to date refuses to move on any initiatives, 
choosing instead to "send millions of gallons off into the 
desert to evaporate."  Duric added that Coca-Cola 
Turkmenistan brings water treatment inspectors from the U.S. 
on a regular basis to certify that the plant water meets 
western standards. 
 
THE PRESIDENT LOVES COKE CLASSIC 
 
¶6. (C) As the Coke reps discussed plans to bring new Coke 
brands on to the Turkmen market, Plant Manager Uslu pointed 
at pallet after pallet of what he called "original Coke."  He 
 stated that if he ever is in a bad mood he just comes out to 
the warehouse and looks at all the Coke Classic waiting for 
shipment, and a large smile immediately returns to his face. 
Uslu stated that Coke Classic represents 60 percent of sales 
in Turkmenistan, mainly because Turkmen trust the brand, and 
more important Turkmen President Berdimuhamedev, a dentist by 
trade, "loves his Coca-Cola Classic." 
 
¶7. (C) Uslu stated that the Turkmen President only drinks 
Coke Classic from small glass bottles.  Uslu explained that 
every few months, a government official from the President's 
office comes to the plant and selects random cases of bottles 
of Coke for the President's own consumption and for his 
guests.  Uslu then has to sign an official government 
certificate stating that the coke bottles deemed for the 
President were not tampered in anyway and are of the highest 
quality.  He noted that the "Presidential supply" is of 
course "gratis," but when former President Niyazov was alive, 
he came personally to the plant and paid for his supply with 
a large wad of cash that he pulled out of his pocket. 
 
MITIGATING THE BUREAUCRACY 
 
¶8. (C) Coke reps told Economic Officer that Cola Light (a 
sweeter version of Diet Coke) is growing in popularity with 
Turkmen, and that plans are in the works for introducing Coke 
Zero, but bureaucratic hurdles have kept Coke Zero in limbo. 
The reps added that there was a 40 percent growth estimate 
for the summer quarter due to the new line of products 
destined for Kazakhstan, but Turkmen and Kazakh "bickering" 
delayed shipment to Kazakhstan until mid-August, depriving 
the company of key, summer sales months.  The Coke reps added 
that Central Asian bureaucracy and corruption is maddening, 
but persistence has won out for Coca-Cola Turkmenistan, which 
will tally its eleventh year of operation in a few months. 
 
¶9. (C) COMMENT.  The visit to the bustling Coca-Cola plant in 
Ashgabat Turkmenistan confirms that foreign companies can 
prosper in the country if they have thick skins and are 
committed for the long-term.  Coca-Cola Turkmenistan is 
primarily a Turkish company with only 20 percent U.S. 
ownership, and the Turkish business model is currently well 
received in Turkmenistan.  Nonetheless, Coke representatives 
repeated the importance of U.S. Embassy advocacy on the 
company's behalf when the company invariable faced new 
problems with the government.  END COMMENT. 
MILES