VZCZCXRO8126
OO RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHAH #0819/01 2141154
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 021154Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7636
INFO RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 0405
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC//DHO-2/REA/NMJIC-J2// PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC//J5/RUE// PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/USCENTCOM SPECIAL HANDLING MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNOSC/OSCE POST COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000819 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
KABUL ALSO FOR DAO OFFICE, STATE FOR SCA/CEN (PERRY) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/02/2016 
TAGS: AF EAIR IO MARR PHUM PREL TX
SUBJECT: ICRC REPRESENTATIVES VISIT ASHGABAT TO DISCUSS 
PRISON ACCESS AND HELICOPTER CRASH 
 
REF: A. ASHGABAT 773 
 
     ¶B. ASHGABAT 793 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Jennifer L. Brush for reasons 1.4(B) a 
nd (D). 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (C) During a July 31 meeting, the new Head and Deputy 
Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross's 
(ICRC's) Regional Delegation of Central Asia told the Charge 
that their organization is changing its strategy on seeking 
access to prisoners.  Instead of holding fast to the ICRC's 
previous insistence on meeting with those associated with the 
2002 assassination attempt on President Niyazov, the new team 
will agree to a staged approach, de-emphasizing the political 
aspect and starting first with visits to common criminals. 
Their hope:  that this will give them a foot in the door that 
will allow the ICRC to begin improving prison conditions now. 
 The two representatives also indicated that the ICRC has 
faced strong pressure from the Government of Turkmenistan to 
pay compensation to the families of the Turkmenistan Air 
helicopter crew that was killed in a crash in Afghanistan, 
even though the flight was fully indemnified.  They suggested 
that Turkmenistan officials may be seeking to create a U.S. 
role in the downing in order to find an alternate source of 
compensation, most of which would probably, in any case, 
never find its way to the crew's families.  End Summary. 
 
Prison Access:  Working on a Go-Slow Approach 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) Charge met on July 31 with two new ICRC 
representatives, Boris Michel and Raffaello Mueller, to 
discuss the status of ICRC efforts to gain access to 
prisoners in Turkmenistan.  (Note:  Michel is Head and 
Mueller is Deputy Head of the Regional Delegation of Central 
Asia, based in Tashkent.  End note.) 
 
¶3.  (C) According to Michel, the ICRC has seen that previous 
efforts to "work the hardest issues first," including gaining 
prison access to prisoners convicted of complicity in the 
2002 assassination attempt on President Niyazov, have been 
largely unsuccessful.  ICRC also wants to forestall any 
efforts by the government to give the prison visit portfolio 
to other, less experienced and/or less objective "observers," 
such as the OSCE or members of the Ashgabat diplomatic corps. 
 As a result, his organization is retooling its strategy in 
Turkmenistan. 
 
¶4.  (C) Specifically, the ICRC has decided to shift its 
immediate emphasis to gaining access to the thousands of 
common prisoners, who are also living in very harsh 
conditions.  According to Michel, gaining access so that ICRC 
can learn more about prison conditions and begin to fight 
larger-scale problems, such as the spread of tuberculosis 
among prison inmates, is a more immediate priority.  Michel 
indicated that his organization would be willing to agree to 
a stipulation that ICRC representatives would be accompanied 
by a government representative, since "government 
representatives can be asked to step out of the room."  The 
ICRC will then use those visits to write a report and 
recommendations for improving the prison situation.  If the 
program is going well and the Government of Turkmenistan 
shows signs of beginning to implement ICRC recommendations, 
the ICRC will pursue an agreement.  Although the ICRC hopes 
eventually to be given access to those convicted of terrorism 
and to former officials accused of embezzlement, it 
recognizes that such visits are probably politically 
impossible in the short term. 
 
ICRC Asks U.S. to Play Down its Advocacy Efforts 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶5.  (C) Charge noted that the embassy is expecting several 
high-level USG visits in the coming weeks, and offered to 
support ICRC negotiations in whatever way would be most 
helpful.  Michel said ICRC was changing this strategy too and 
instead of a multilateral approach, which had not worked so 
far in Turkmenistan, ICRC preferred now to "try an 
independent approach." 
 
ASHGABAT 00000819  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
ICRC Concerned About Helicopter Crew Families 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (C) Michel then said that, although this was his first 
visit to Ashgabat to discuss prison access, Mueller had been 
to Ashgabat four times in connection with the Turkmenistan 
Air helicopter that crashed in February in Afghanistan while 
returning from an ICRC humanitarian relief mission to 
Pakistan (ref A).  Charge noted that the Civil Aviation 
Service in Turkmenistan had recently sent a letter to 
Secretary Rice (ref B) demanding a full accounting of what 
 
SIPDIS 
had happened to the helicopter; even though the United States 
has passed to the government what it knows about the 
accident, the government appeared unwilling to accept that 
information as conclusive. 
 
¶7.  (C) Mueller noted that ICRC had been having similar 
difficulties with the government, and said that ICRC had 
information indicating the helicopter was "far off its route" 
when it crashed.  (Note:  Mueller subsequently indicated that 
the helicopter was almost five miles from the route it had 
filed, and suggested the pilot may have been trying a 
shortcut.  End note.)  The Government of Turkmenistan has 
been trying to claim that it is the ICRC's responsibility to 
pay compensation, even though the ICRC had paid an indemnity 
when it hired the helicopter, and had been told that the 
aircraft was fully insured by the Government of Turkmenistan. 
 The ICRC had worked with the team that the government had 
sent to Kabul to investigate the crash, and had found the 
team members baffled by their mission.  "The U.S. rescue team 
even had to provide them appropriate clothing," he said. 
Essentially, according to Mueller, the Turkmenistani Embassy 
in Kabul was "useless" and did nothing to help with 
facilitating the recovery operation.  Even now, he continued, 
although there are "mechanisms" that the government could use 
to make further inquiries, "only the president can make any 
decisions and everyone else is too scared to suggest further 
measures to him."  In the end, he concluded, civil air 
officials were desperate to lay the blame for the crash on a 
non-Turkmen entity, preferably the ICRC and/or the U.S. 
military, and force that entity to pay for the damage.  The 
alternative, finding fault with the way the Government of 
Turkmenistan had handled the crash, would result in "heads 
rolling." 
 
¶8.  (C) According to the two ICRC reps, their organization is 
now most concerned about compensation for the families, who 
still have not received any money.  ICRC had no legal 
responsibility to pay anything other than back salaries and 
per diem, which it was prepared to pay to the family members 
directly.  The government had yet to respond to ICRC's 
repeated requests for information on how the families would 
be compensated in the long-term for the deaths of their 
breadwinners, who died while serving the Government of 
Turkmenistan.  He requested that U.S. officials visiting 
Ashgabat -- particularly when meeting with Civil Aviation 
Service officials -- ask after the welfare of the crew's 
families. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶9.  (C) The ICRC has been largely at a stalemate with the 
Government of Turkmenistan on prison access.  Michel and 
Mueller (who previously was involved in ICRC activities in 
Chechnya) seem to hope that their new go-slow strategy -- and 
a new team -- would allow them to finally make headway on 
gaining access to Turkmenistan's prisons.  They also plan to 
de-emphasize prison access as ICRC's main activity in 
Turkmenistan and concentrate more on ICRC's educational 
activities, including promoting international humanitarian 
law through activities with Turkmenistan's armed forces, 
police and security forces.  Charge said embassy would 
support ICRC's new strategy and we stood ready to assist. 
BRUSH