VZCZCXRO1926
PP RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #0168/01 0391413
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 081413Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8355
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 1829
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0626
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 0572
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0167
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 0097
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 0145
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 0067
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 0027
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 0020

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ASHGABAT 000168 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN (PERRY) 
INFO SCA/PPD (VAN DE VATE), IIP/G/NEA-SA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO PINR PREL PGOV TX
SUBJECT: U.S. ASSISTANCE TEAMS VISIT TO MARY WELAYAT 
 
REF: (A) ASHGABAT 137, (B) ASHGABAT 123 
 
ASHGABAT 00000168  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  (U) Throughout official and unofficial site meetings, Mary 
Province (Welayat) displayed a first-class welcome and openness to a 
visiting eight-member USG group including five members of EUR/ACE 
Coordinator Adams's assistance delegation on February 2.  The day 
began with a cordial meeting at the Mary Province Governor's Office 
(Hakimlik), and then took the embassy team to the premises of three 
U.S. Government grantees as well as lunch at the American Corner. 
Local officials and a representative from the MFA in Ashgabat 
accompanied the delegation closely at every meeting, which may have 
mildly inhibited independent interlocutors.  END SUMMARY. 
 
GOVERNOR CAUTIOUSLY BUT CLEARLY WELCOMES ENGAGEMENT 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶2.  (U) Deputy Director of Freedom Act Programs (EUR/ACE, Department 
of State) Deborah Klepp, EUR/ACE Humanitarian Programs Director 
Gerald Oberndorfer, USAID Central Asia Team Leader Bob Wallin, USAID 
Senior Democracy and Governance Adviser Eric Rudenshiold, and DRL 
Deputy Office Director Catherine Kuchta-Helbling visited Mary 
Welayat February 2 as part of ref A assistance delegation visit to 
Turkmenistan.   The group's initial meeting, with the Mary Welayat 
Governor (Hakim) and his main deputy, featured a friendly atmosphere 
and expressions of openness to greater bilateral engagement which 
verged on the unprecedented in embassy's recent experience of 
Turkmenistan's regions. 
 
¶3.  (U) New Mary Welayat Hakim Muhammet Gurbannazarov thanked the 
delegation for coming to Mary Welayat and listed areas of priority 
and past development of Mary region: education, agriculture and 
medicine.  After describing new construction projects in the region, 
the Hakim stated that he hoped that in time Mary would grow along 
the lines of "developed countries such as the United States." 
Gurbannazarov, who began his appointed tenure only in November 2006 
following Niyazov's purge of all five welayat hakims over the 
nationwide grain harvest crisis, does not speak Russian, plainly had 
little to say on most non-agriculture questions, and was visibly 
self-conscious for much of the meeting.  For much of the time, he 
gracefully ceded the floor to Deputy Hakim for Culture and Education 
Shirin Ahmedova and the Deputy Hakim for economic issues, who both 
spoke in Russian. 
 
ELECTIONS UPDATE 
---------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) POL/ECON OFF asked what further elections activity had 
occurred since the embassy's last official visit to the Welayat in 
January (ref B).  All six candidates had now completed their 
appearances in all six welayats:  did this mean they would now be 
inactive through the 10 days remaining to Election Day, or would 
there be public debate of the candidates?   Ahmedova, also head of 
the provincial Election Commission, replied that the candidates' 
authorized campaign agents continue to hold meetings with local 
groups affiliated with the "Galkynysh Movement" (Revival - a 
Soviet-style people's front organization acting as an umbrella for 
trade unions, the women's organization and the youth movement) and 
that Mary's residents have been actively making use of hotlines 
recently established to communicate with the candidates.  The local 
Election Commission collects the questions and forwards them to the 
candidates.  In response to delegation's offers of additional 
assistance to foster communication between local groups and the 
government, Gurbannazarov declined, saying the government needed no 
assistance in this area. 
 
REQUESTS FOR INCREASED ASSISTANCE 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Rudenshiold then asked an open-ended question about where 
post assistance might be welcome.  This elicited a comment from the 
Deputy Hakim for economic issues that Mary has bought Case and John 
Deere equipment but lacked the follow-on training to ensure that the 
equipment was maintained.  Ahmedova followed this with a string of 
suggestions, beginning with praise of the work of Peace Corps 
Volunteers and a request for more English language teaching and 
health volunteers; assisting efforts to expand Mary's agricultural, 
medical and industrial vocational training with U.S. specialists or 
 
ASHGABAT 00000168  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
training, particularly at the Mary Energy Institute; and a request 
for more exchange programs, targeting students of secondary and 
higher educational institutions and particularly vocational schools. 
 She said that the region had received medical equipment for its new 
clinic from European donors: could the United States government 
consider supporting a new child and maternal health center, she 
asked.  Wallin responded that USAID has extensive regional 
experience and interest in supporting mother and child health 
programs, particularly programs to hinder mother-child transmission 
of HIV/AIDS. 
 
PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT 
----------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) Next, the delegation made an officially sanctioned visit to 
the government-sponsored Nature Protection Association, recipient of 
a joint Democracy Commission and OSCE grant in 2005 for 
establishment of resource centers in each of Turkmenistan's regions. 
 The newly-established center was to host a seminar on that day, and 
Ashgabat-based Association Deputy Director Akmuhammed Ibragimov (who 
has been the primary actor in the association and is the grant 
manager) spoke expansively about the potential of the association to 
promote awareness of environmental concerns.  The primary audience 
for the new centers was youth and retirees; Ibragimov claimed that 
young people had used the center in Ashgabat to complete research 
for their university degree projects.  On the other hand, Ibragimov 
admitted to accompanying CAO that the centers have been unable to 
establish Internet accounts because the state telephone company had 
stopped granting them.  It took Ibragimov a year to register the 
U.S.-OSCE grant for the centers, despite his close connections to 
its parent organization, the Ministry of Nature Protection.  Despite 
these problems, Ibragimov was confident he can promote his aims more 
effectively in the long term as a semi-governmental organization. 
 
AMERICAN CORNER THRIVING 
------------------------ 
 
¶7.  (U) The delegation proceeded to the building housing the 
American Corner for the rest of the day's events.  Embassy staff and 
American Corner Director Albina Burashnikova reviewed the Corner's 
monthly schedule with the officials.  (Embassy representatives 
stressed to Corner staff the need to print such schedules in Russian 
and English, or Turkmen if possible).  Neither the accompanying 
hakim officials nor the MFA escort had ever been to an American 
Corner; they looked around the center thoroughly and read the 
posters on the walls (with translation by Burashnikova and embassy 
staff).  Two of the local officials asked whether the Corner offered 
basic English classes and expressed surprise when Burashnikova told 
them such courses, plus exchange programs, library and English 
language resources, were free and open to all members of the public. 
 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  NOTE: The officials' presence made the usually calm and 
teacherly Burashnikova somewhat nervous, but she later told CAA she 
thought it would prove useful by demystifying the Corner.  One 
hakimlik official offered that he had a son currently serving in the 
army; CAO encouraged him to tell his son about the Corner when he 
completed his military service in several months.  END NOTE. 
 
Seamstresses Project 
-------------------- 
 
¶9.  (U) Democracy Commission grantees Guncha and Gozel Muradalieva 
of the Mary Seamstresses Association were confident that a visit by 
government officials would not endanger them or the project.  They 
agreed to host the delegation as planned, along with the host 
government guests.  A couple of delegation members stayed behind in 
the American Corner to speak to the FLEX alumni there while others 
visited the seamstresses; the official government retinue had split 
up to observe both U.S. groups.  Gozel Muradalieva, a 
Counterpart-trained grants trainer, helped her daughter-in-law 
Guncha organize the seamstresses project, which provides vocational 
and small business administration training to several dozen 
hearing-impaired women.  The delegation viewed two rooms equipped 
with sewing equipment, and visited the gathered students in their 
tiny "classroom."  The students were ecstatic at the visit, speaking 
through a sign-language interpreter and asking about exchange 
opportunities with like-minded hearing impaired Americans.  One of 
the hakim officials and the MFA representative observed this 
interaction and chatted with CAO about sign language; the hakim 
 
ASHGABAT 00000168  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
official expressed surprise that Russian could be communicated 
through hand signals (Note:  As far as embassy is aware, Turkmen has 
not yet been translated into sign language.  End Note.) 
 
EXCHANGE PROGRAMS 
----------------- 
 
¶10.  (U) After the seamstresses, the delegation had lunch with 15 
alumni of the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) Program (for 
high-schoolers), Teaching Excellence and Achievement (TEA) Program 
(for humanities teachers), International Visitor Leadership (IVLP) 
Program (a professional exchange), and Ben Franklin Transatlantic 
Fellows Program (for young adults).  The FLEX students described the 
clubs and courses they ran at the Corner and the community projects 
they have initiated, inevitably returning to their goal -- to 
continue their education, typically back in the United States.  Some 
expressed frustration at the limited opportunities for educational 
advancement in-country.  Many FLEX-ers had been required to repeat 
their U.S. high school year in Turkmenistan upon their return, 
because Turkmenistan currently did not recognize U.S. coursework. 
 
¶11. (SBU) The adult alumni included the director of a local 
independent school, accredited by Turkmenistan's Ministry of 
Education, which was administering post's ACCESS English Language 
Microscholarship Program.  The school provides some of the clubs and 
extracurricular activities found at a typical U.S. school, but which 
are unheard of at local state schools.  Many of the school's 
teachers and students frequent the Corner.  (Note:  Embassy 
Ashgabat's ACCESS program targets students 12-14 years old in order 
to serve as a "feeder" program to FLEX and other U.S.-sponsored 
exchange programs.  End Note.)  A TEA teacher at the lunch said that 
she had shepherded over 30 of her students into the FLEX program 
recruitment process and that 12 of her students had studied or were 
studying in the United States through the program.  The local 
officials stayed through the lunch but left early; the regional 
hakimlik's administrative officer waited until the delegation had 
largely departed the Corner before approaching the FLEX alumni to 
ask them what they had told the visiting delegation (all interaction 
between the delegation and alumni was in English). 
 
¶12.  (U) The delegation's last stop was the Merv Resource Center, a 
USAID-funded resource center for women, managed by Irina Mirzoyeva. 
The resource center, which provides free computer access, offers 
civic and business training and consultations on association 
development and local project management, and English language 
training.  In contrast to the gritty ebullience of the seamstresses' 
workshop, the Merv Center meeting began with an orderly DVD slide 
show about the many grants facilitated by the Center -- including 
programs to infuse basic health and drug prevention education into 
martial arts events for youth, a grant to provide rehabilitative 
exercise equipment in a center for the disabled, and a music 
festival bringing together government and community figures on the 
importance of arts education for youth. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) Present at the meeting were Counterpart trainees also 
active in the Mary civic scene, including outspoken USDA Cochran 
agricultural program alumna Sheker Mollayeva, consultant for the 
Ilkinjiler farmer's association (the association is a highly 
successful U.S. Government grantee.)  Responding to a question from 
the delegation about her experience on the Cochran program, 
Mollayeva quickly stole the show by speaking bluntly about the need 
for better communication between civic actors -- farmers in 
particular -- and the local and regional government.  She urged the 
embassy to expand the Cochran program and to require the program to 
bring mixed groups of independent farmers and local government 
figures in order to ensure that the lessons learned in the United 
States could be more easily implemented upon participants' return to 
Turkmenistan.  Mollayeva also stated that although Turkmenistan's 
legal code was good, the laws were not always implemented properly 
(at which point our host government notetakers wrote faster), and 
that better host government understanding of the aims of exchange 
programs like Cochran would help to break down barriers to 
cooperation with local government officials.  (Note:  Post recently 
received a request for an agricultural exchange program from the 
host government, and plans an International Visitor Leadership 
Program on Agriculture that would involve a range of host government 
officials involved in developing Turkmenistan's agriculture policy. 
End Note. ) 
 
COMMENT 
 
ASHGABAT 00000168  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
------- 
 
¶14.  (SBU) Post's independent interlocutors and exchange program 
alumni proved capable, creative and even outspoken during arguably 
one of the highest profile ever official USG visit to Mary.  In more 
than one case during the visit, locals took the risk of exposing 
their activities to host government officials in order to foster 
dialogue -- and, they hoped, eventual cooperation -- between the 
private and public sectors.  Mary's new regional leadership, 
meanwhile, appeared open to -- and sincerely interested in -- the 
delegation's suggestions of increased partnership, and emphasized 
its desire for a strong, sustained long term relationship with the 
embassy. End Comment. 
 
¶15. (SBU) Prospects for improvement in this context feel real.  In 
particular, this visit reinforced our view that Deputy Hakim 
Ahmedova has potential to be a real positive force in partnership 
for future collaboration, assuming acquiescence from Ashgabat once 
the new president is formally inaugurated.  That said, the old-style 
gumshoe shadowing of the Embassy group throughout its long Mary day 
is a stark reminder of how low the Turkmenistan bar is currently 
set. 
 
BRUSH