VZCZCXYZ0012
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAH #1059/01 2741133
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 011133Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9470
INFO RUEHFT/AMCONSUL FRANKFURT 3405
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 001059 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR S/CT KEN MCCUNE 
PASS NCTC 
PASS TO DHS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PINR KVPR KHLS CVIS ASEC TX
SUBJECT: ASHGABAT RESPONSE TO CALL FOR INFORMATION-HOST 
GOVERNMENT DATA COLLECTION PROCESSES 
 
REF: STATE 133921 
 
 ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Please find below post's responses to the 
information requested reftel. Watchlisting - The government 
of Turkmenistan maintains a law enforcement-based watch list 
against which the names of incoming Turkmen citizen 
passengers are checked at the port-of-entry (POE).  Agencies 
contributing to this list are the Ministry of Interior, 
Ministry of National Security (MNB), and the Agency for the 
Registration of Foreign Citizens.  Prior to traveling to 
Turkmenistan, foreign citizens are subjected to a rigorous 
visa application/letter of invitation process through the 
Agency for the Registration of Foreign Citizens, during which 
time their names are vetted against this list. 
 
¶3. (SBU)  Traveler Information Collection - Passports are 
required for all passengers in Turkmenistan, including those 
on domestic flights.  Some areas of Turkmenistan, 
particularly the border regions, are restricted and require 
additional permission from the government before a foreign 
citizen may travel there.  Information is collected on 
travelers by the Border Police on both domestic and 
international flights, and in the case of foreign citizens, 
by the Agency for the Registration of Foreign Citizens.  The 
central law enforcement database described in paragraph one 
is available to immigration officers at the port of entry, in 
electronic form at the Ashgabat airport and in printouts at 
other border crossings.  The government maintains strict 
controls on entry for foreign nationals, the government has 
ample opportunity to evaluate names of foreign citizens 
traveling to Turkmenistan well in advance of the individual's 
arrival.  Information collected is not shared with foreign 
governments and information sharing is limited within the 
Turkmenistan government, although it is believed that the 
Agency for Registration of Foreign Citizens shares 
information extensively with the MNB. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Biometric systems - There are no biometric systems 
in use for passenger data collection in Turkmenistan and no 
plans to install such equipment or collect such data at this 
time. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Passports - Turkmenistan issues a machine readable 
passport with a digital photograph to every citizen when he 
or she turns 16 years old.  There are no biometric data 
included in the passport, which, uniquely, has no expiration 
date.  Replacement passports are issued with full validity, 
and lost or stolen passports are canceled in a database that 
is available electronically at Ashgabat airport and in 
printouts at other border crossings.  As the passport is used 
by the Turkmenistan government as the primary form of 
identification and as an internal residence permit within 
Turkmenistan for all Turkmen citizens, replacements are very 
difficult to obtain.  To obtain a replacement, a Turkmen 
citizen must apply for a replacement at a Ministry of 
Interior passport office and prove his or her own existence 
with a long list of difficult-to-obtain civil registry 
documents, school, work and police certificates, tax 
documentation and real estate transaction records, and 
affidavits from neighbors and coworkers stating that the 
person lives and works where he or she claims.  Replacement 
passports are believed to be issued out of the same number 
series as all regular passport issuances.  Post has 
encountered one case in the past year of an applicant 
changing his date of birth on his passport in what appears to 
have been an attempt to defeat CLASS name checks on past 
non-immigrant visa refusals.  It is believed that he changed 
his original birth certificate obtained through legal 
channels an entire new set of civil documents in order to do 
so.  Post has not seen any increase in the use of replacement 
passports. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Fraud Prevention - Fraud prevention efforts at 
passport offices are not robust, but the sheer number of 
regulations and difficulty obtaining replacement passports is 
believed to defeat many attempts to fraudulently procure new 
passports.  The passport agency has access to "Form Number 
One," a civil registry document maintained by the Ministry of 
Interior, which is created at the required registration of a 
Turkmen citizen with authorities at his or her 16th birthday. 
 This form registers the personal data of that citizen, to 
include a lifetime of residency and changes of residency, 
marriages, divorces, crimes, military service, tax 
 
information and real estate transactions, and includes photos 
of the citizen that are taken by law every 10 years.  When an 
individual loses a passport, he or she must gather and submit 
again all the documentation listed in paragraph five, which 
is checked against the data in "Form Number One." 
 
¶7. (SBU) Privacy and Data Security - As the process to obtain 
a visa or letter of invitation (LOI) to Turkmenistan is 
rigorous, detentions at the point of entry are rare.  Post is 
aware of one instance in which a U.S. citizen arrived at the 
airport in Ashgabat without a visa or LOI.  The individual 
was detained for nearly 12 hours before the government 
decided to grant that person entry to the country.  See 
paragraph 11 for more information regarding detentions. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Data Collection at POEs - Turkmenistan's Agency for 
the Registration of Foreign Citizens uses its own software to 
collect information on foreign citizens.  This software is 
available at all border crossings, each of which has a 
satellite uplink.  The database is updated every three days. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Watchlist system in use - The Turkmenistan 
government uses a law enforcement-based internal watch list 
referred to in paragraph two.  It is unclear if international 
watch list data are included on the internal list, which is 
not shared with other countries, or with other government 
ministries/agencies. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Identifying Partners - The secretive nature of the 
Turkmenistan government, as well as political realities in 
Turkmenistan, are unlikely to make the country a suitable 
partner for entering into a biometric data-sharing agreement 
with the USG at this time.  Turkmenistan passed a law 
defining terrorism and establishing mandatory prison 
sentences for those found to be engaging in such acts after 
an alleged assassination plot against then-President Niyazov 
in November 2002.  One of those arrested in the plot was a 
U.S. citizen; post was given no notification of the arrest by 
the Turkmenistan government.  Instead, post learned about the 
arrest nearly a week after the fact form family members of 
the individual.  Post was then denied consular access for 
nearly six weeks after the arrest occurred. 
HOAGLAND