VZCZCXRO1322
RR RUEHDBU
DE RUEHAH #0043/01 0131339
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 131339Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6858
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ASHGABAT 000043 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SECSTATE FOR EUR/CACEN (PERRY) AND SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/13/2016 
TAGS: ECON ENRG EPET KIRF PHUM PREL SCUL TX
SUBJECT: DAS BRYZA MEETING WITH FM MEREDOV 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR TRACEY JACOBSON FOR REASONS (1.4 B, D). 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1.  (C) On January 13, following a meeting with President 
Niyazov (septel) Foreign Minister Rashit Meredov hosted a 
working lunch for visiting DAS Matthew Bryza and Ambassador 
Jacobson.  During the lunch, Bryza pressed for concrete 
progress on religious freedom and academic exchanges for 
Turkmenistani students.  DAS Bryza also solicited Meredov's 
ideas on specific ways Turkmenistan might contribute to 
Europe,s efforts to diversify its gas supplies, perhaps 
including through a proposed Trans-Caspian Pipeline.  Meredov 
expressed great interest in cooperating with the U.S. to 
develop a trans-Caspian gas pipeline and suggested forming a 
bilateral working group.  DAS Bryza cautioned that assembling 
of the elements of a trans-Caspian pipeline would require a 
level of cooperation between the U.S. and Turkmenistan that 
would be difficult to achieve without progress on all three 
of our sets of interests:  freedom through reform, security, 
and energy/regional economic cooperation.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
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ENERGY ISSUES 
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¶2.  (C) After discussing lingering problems on education and 
religious freedom (see below), DAS Bryza said that the U.S. 
and its European partners were now more actively seeking ways 
to help Europe diversify energy supplies, especially natural 
gas.  Turkmenistan could play an important role, especially 
given President Niyazov,s statement earlier in the day 
(SEPTEL) that he would inform his Russian interlocutors 
during his upcoming trip to Moscow that Turkmenistan will not 
sell all its gas to one buyer (read Gazprom).  DAS Bryza 
asked Meredov and Ahmed Calik (who also attended the lunch at 
Meredov's invitation and who is CEO of Calik Holding, a major 
player in Turkmenistan's economy) what they thought were the 
necessary steps needed to attract investors to a possible 
trans-Caspian gas pipeline.  Calik suggested Calik Energy was 
interested in leading a consortium of investors in such a 
pipeline.  To succeed, such a consortium would need 
participation by a U.S. company and OPIC.  He stressed the 
importance of &showing the U.S. flag8 to help mitigate 
political risk associated with the project, especially in 
light of expected arguments from Russia that a trans-Caspian 
gas pipeline could/should not be built due to environmental 
concerns and the lack of delineation of national boundaries 
in the Caspian Sea.  Calik was confident the project could be 
commercial, given the higher prices for natural gas now 
prevailing in Europe in comparison with the late 90,s. 
 
¶3.  (C) DAS Bryza replied that securing OPIC participation in 
such a project would require the U.S. and Turkmenistan to 
elevate their cooperation on democracy and human rights to 
build support throughout the U.S. Government, including in 
Congress.  DAS Bryza suggested the U.S. might work with the 
countries along the prospective transit route and with 
consuming countries in Southern Europe to explore the 
feasibility of a trans-Caspian pipeline.  Calik agreed with 
this approach, suggesting that the U.S. and Turkmenistan 
build on their previous experience exploring such a project 
during the late 1990,s.  Foreign Minister Meredov echoed 
President Niayzov,s suggestion from earlier in the day that 
the U.S. and Turkmenistan form a working group on energy 
security to explore this project, as well as possible exports 
of Turkmenistani electricity to Afghanistan and Pakistan. 
 
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OUTSTANDING ISSUE #1: EDUCATION 
------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C) DAS Bryza noted to Meredov that the USG attached high 
importance to its educational exchanges with Turkmenistan, 
and that he was concerned with the number of problems that 
existed.  Ambassador said that the Embassy was trying to work 
with the Ministry of Education to resolve all outstanding 
issues, but the Ministry was unwilling to do so.  Ambassador 
further noted that there has not been any movement on the 
PEAKS exchange program, despite the fact that the embassy 
submitted all required documentation to the Ministry of 
Education two years ago, and that three educational working 
groups have met with no results.  The lack of a new Education 
Minster also made cooperation difficult.  Meredov recognized 
these problems, and offered the services of the MFA to 
resolve future problems.  He hinted that an agreement could 
also be reached on the PEAKS program, and offered to discuss 
the issue later in January.  Ambassador expressed thanks for 
the MFA,s offer, but also pressed for better cooperation 
with the Ministry of Education, which enjoyed primary 
 
ASHGABAT 00000043  002 OF 003 
 
 
responsibility for these issues. 
 
¶5.  (C) Ambassador also expressed concerns with the Ministry 
of Education's interference with this year's current 
recruitment of FLEX participants.  The Ministry of 
Education's delayed permission to begin recruitment, and its 
efforts to allow local officials to sit in on interviews, 
have caused significant problems during this year's 
recruitment of FLEX participants.  Nobody, including 
officials of the Turkmenistani and U.S. Governments, has the 
right to interfere in the process.  Meredov explained that 
local teachers knew their students better than others, and 
would be in a position to determine whether their students 
would be able to be qualified applicants or might face 
emotional problems while abroad.  In order to ensure that 
FLEX recruitment did not interfere with ongoing classes, 
Meredov said that this would not be a problem in the future 
if the Embassy submitted a proposed schedule of interviews to 
the GOTX in August.  Ambassador noted embassy routinely did 
so, to no avail.  Ambassador added that Turkmenistani 
participants on exchange programs most often are the best 
students in their classes; something that the FM should be 
very proud of. FM Meredov reiterated his pledge to work with 
the Embassy to resolve these issues. 
 
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OUTSTANDING ISSUE #2: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (C) DAS Bryza underscored to FM Meredov how important 
religious freedom was for the United States.  While 
Turkmenistan was able to avoid CPC designation last year due 
to specific steps it had taken, he did not know whether 
Turkmenistan would be in the same position this year, absent 
concrete progress on ending harassment of religious groups 
and several other issues.  FM Meredov said that the GOTX has 
actively been working with the embassy on religious freedom 
issues for over two years now, and that several laws had been 
changed allowing for more religious freedom, adding that the 
GOTX registered four religious groups in 2004 and five in 
2005, and that six Jehovah's Witnesses were granted exemption 
from military service.  There are currently 119 registered 
houses of worship (90 Muslim, 13 Russian Orthodox, and 9 
Evangelical/Hare Krishna).  The GOTX works very closely with 
the embassy on religious freedom issues, as was seen during 
the October 2005 roundtable of government agencies and 
religious groups to discuss religious freedom issues. 
 
¶7.  (C) Ambassador informed FM Meredov that despite these 
steps, problems remained.  Recalling the efforts of local 
officials in Turkmenabat to denounce local Baptists in a 
public display in December, Ambassador reminded Meredov that 
such incidents only make the calls to designate Turkmenistan 
a CPC stronger.  Although the MFA had been helpful in 
resolving the December incident in Turkmenabat, local 
officials must be made aware that their actions will have 
serious consequences. 
 
¶8.  (C) DAS Bryza reiterated the USG,s opposition in 
principle to requiring religious groups to register.  The 
GOTX,s approach to the Roman Catholic Church was 
particularly puzzling, given that this was a rather well 
known organization, given its 2000-year history.  Meredov 
replied that the law on religion applied to all religious 
organizations.  The ball was now in the Catholic Church's 
court, which had submitted registration documents to the 
Vatican for approval.  Once the GOTX received the 
registration forms, Meredov promised that the Roman Catholic 
Church would be registered.  Ambassador suggested that 
another positive step would be to allow an official 
delegation of Jehovah's Witnesses to visit Turkmenistan and 
meet with their co-religionists. 
 
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CENTRAL ASIAN REOGRANIZATION INTO SCA 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (C) Ambassador took the opportunity to inform Meredov of 
the Department's plans to move Turkmenistan and other Central 
Asian republics from the European Bureau to the South Asian 
Bureau in order to create a new South Central Asian Bureau. 
This move potentially could provide Turkmenistan more 
attention more high-level USG attention and visits (as well 
as more scrutiny), as it will be one of 11 countries in its 
new bureau, as opposed to one of 55 countries in the EUR 
bureau.  Meredov welcomed the opportunity to receive more USG 
visitors to Turkmenistan. 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶10.  (C) DAS Bryza's meeting with Meredov and Calik yielded 
 
ASHGABAT 00000043  003 OF 003 
 
 
several promises by Meredov to resolve issues pertaining to 
academic exchanges and religious freedom. It also built on 
the opening President Niyzov provided earlier in the day to 
explore a trans-Caspian gas pipeline and possible energy 
exports from Turkmenistan to South Asia.  Such cooperation, 
especially given the expressed desire for OPIC participation, 
might also provide a new hook for us to push for greater 
reforms in Turkmenistan.  Given recent events in Ukraine, 
Georgia and Moldova, Turkmenistan is eager to look for 
alternative routes to bypass Gazprom,s obstructionism.   END 
COMMENT. 
 
¶10.  (U) DAS BRYZA CLEARED THIS CABLE. 
 
JACOBSON 
JACOBSON