VZCZCXRO0949
RR RUEHAST RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHMRE RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR
RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #0466/01 1300851
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 100851Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8716
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNOSC/OSCE POST COLLECTIVE
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 0286
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0308
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 1991
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 0734
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0788
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000466 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN (PERRY) 
INFO SCA/PPD (VAN DE VATE/KAMP), IIP/G/NEA-SA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO PREL TX US
SUBJECT: YELLOW BIRD -- TURKMENISTAN EMBRACES U.S. NATIVE AMERICAN 
CULTURE 
 
REFERENCE A: YELLOW BIRD CABLE 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  (U) Following close on the heels of its previous performing arts 
group Yellow Bird [ref A] , post hosted the Ari Roland Jazz Quartet 
representing Ethiopia, Iran, China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, 
Uzbekistan, Turkey and Estonia.  In the background, the host 
government's ingrained urge to control made post's partnership with 
the ministry a struggle, but one that yielded further insight into 
host government expectations and behavior.  End Summary. 
 
Government's Urge to Control Cuts Both Ways 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) Post thanks the South and Central Asia and Educational and 
Cultural Exchanges bureaus for their moral and financial support for 
this program.  Yellow Bird kept its good humor throughout, despite a 
heavy performance schedule that included five performances for the 
festival, three embassy-organized public performances, two workshops 
at the Public Affairs Section, and one workshop each for the 
Ashgabat International School and at the Turkmenabat and Mary 
American Corners.  The Ministry of Culture was pleased that post 
chose to participate in its first large-scale international 
performing arts festival, and in response set the group first on 
performance rosters, gave the group prime time performance slots, 
and acquiesced without protest to post's request to take the group 
out of town for additional programming.  (Note:  Post was the only 
diplomatic mission that succeeded in holding an independent cultural 
program with its delegates to the festival.  End Note.) 
 
¶3.  (U) As expected, the Ministry of Culture laid great emphasis on 
control of the performers, the media, the diplomatic missions 
involved, and the public, sometimes at the expense of the cultural 
exchange for which the festival was intended.  A lack of logistical 
planning in other key areas offset this attempt at control.  The 
host government did not publicize times or venues for the festival 
performances, which meant that many members of the public learned 
about festival events through post's hampered efforts to advertise 
Yellow Bird.  The ministry packed performance venues with students 
and government employees, despite high public interest in the 
festival.  The colorful and entertaining opening performance (which 
included a short performance by each of the participating groups) 
was held outside a major new theater in the center of Ashgabat, but 
the police blocked the roads off so no interested members of the 
public could attend. 
 
¶4.  (U) The ministry did not plan ahead on translation for 
performances or performers and did not build in rest time to 
facilitate interaction between the foreign performers.  The ministry 
tailored some performances to its own taste, which in some cases 
stripped them of meaning.  For example, the ministry had dialogue 
removed from one Turkish dance-dialogue performance, leaving the 
audience puzzled.  At one point post insisted that a PD FSN 
translate for Yellow Bird because ministry translation was inept. 
The same lackadaisical planning characterized the ministry's 
treatment of involved diplomatic missions: none were invited until 
the last minute to the opening and closing ceremonies, though the 
missions' representatives were expected to give public statements. 
 
 
¶5.  (U) Nonetheless, as the festival got underway, state media 
coverage of festival events -- including dozens of daily televised 
and radio interviews with performers -- drummed up wider-scale 
public interest in the festival and in Yellow Bird.  Yellow Bird 
members alone gave over 15 interviews during the week and received 
full-color photographic and print coverage in the two main daily 
newspapers and on the government's state media website (septel). 
 
¶6.  (U) The Ministry of Culture offered greater support to Yellow 
Bird than anticipated, covering the costs of all hotel stays except 
one night in Mary, visas, transportation within Ashgabat, and all 
meals in Ashgabat and Turkmenabat.  Post was glad the ministry 
assigned a representative to accompany the group, which facilitated 
logistics.  It also gave post a chance to expose the representative 
to the American Corner concept and communicative style of program 
management. 
 
The Coolest Thing Since Sliced Bread 
------------------------------------ 
 
ASHGABAT 00000466  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶7.  (U) Despite the customary bureaucratic hassles, Yellow Bird 
members were treated like rock stars in Mary and Lebap provinces. 
Lebap's new deputy governor, Annamyrad Saparmyhammedov (formerly the 
director of the Mollanepes State Drama Theater in Ashgabat), 
arranged a lavish dinner and breakfast, and free lodging for the 
visiting group --nine people in all.  He also insisted on ordering 
several dozen uniformed students to fill the front rows, which he 
thought would be a favor to post.  Despite the reasons for their 
appearance, these students whooped and cheered for Yellow Bird just 
like the "free will" portion of the audience that filled the new 
500-seat theater.  Dozens -- mostly young people -- pleaded with 
theater management to be able to stand inside to watch the 
performance.  Many waited outside for the chance to take photographs 
with Yellow Bird after the show. 
 
¶8.  (U) In Mary, the region's Deputy Governor for Education and 
Culture Shirin Toychiyevna arranged a welcoming ceremony by local 
dance groups in front of the new city drama theater.  Yellow Bird 
participated in the choreographed welcome and began preparing inside 
as hundreds of spectators waited outside.  The governor's office 
only allowed selected spectators inside the theater, leaving many 
empty seats.  It was apparent that Toychiyevna was disturbed by the 
crowd's enthusiasm and was unsure how to control them.  CAO and PD 
FSN suggested that either more young people be admitted into the 
theater or that the performance be moved outside -- which 
Toychiyevna agreed to do.  The tension quickly morphed into cries of 
excitement when Yellow Bird appeared on the theater's front steps in 
the cold and windy Mary evening and performed for everyone who had 
come. 
 
¶9.  (U) Seminars at the American Corners in Turkmenabat and Mary 
were packed, with about 40 young people at each.  In both places the 
discussion turned to the ethnic relationship between Turkmen and 
Native Americans.  Yellow Bird's Ken Duncan did not confirm such a 
link, but retold an Apache legend which suggests the Apache were 
among several peoples who migrated from Central Asia and Siberia 
across the Bering Strait into North America.  Yellow Bird's last 
public seminar, at the Public Affairs Section, drew about 50 
people. 
 
Still Paying Homage to the Ideal Turkmenistan 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶10.  (U) At the festival's closing ceremony, the Ministry -- without 
informing post -- had Yellow Bird performer Vijaya Watson read a 
prepared statement in ungrammatical English.  The statement praised 
the festival and Turkmenistan in inflated terms, and claimed that 
the festival "solved" the issue of international intercultural 
dialogue; post informed the ministry informally that this was an 
inappropriate use of the performer. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶11.  (U) Even with recent changes in the host government, the 
Ministry of Culture's organizing ethos still reflects Soviet 
practice -- and will continue to for a while to come.  Yellow Bird 
was the ideal group for this arts partnership because the members' 
natural ebullience, a believed ethnic link between U.S. Native 
Americans and Turkmen, and shared cultural values such as respect 
for elders, created an instant bond with local audiences and the 
host government. 
 
¶12.  (U) The crowds that gathered in Mary and Turkmenabat 
demonstrated as much a desire for access to cultural resources as 
well as interest in Yellow Bird.  In either case, post continues to 
serve as the facilitator of such access, as well as a trusted 
interlocutor between local populations and their government.  End 
Comment. 
 
BRUSH