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DE RUEHAH #1284/01 3301422
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 261422Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9772
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
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RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASHGABAT 001284 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON SOCI TX
SUBJECT:  TRIBES OF TURKMENISTAN 
 
¶1.  (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Notwithstanding 70 years of Soviet rule, 
tribalism remains a potent issue of potential division in 
Turkmenistan.  One's tribal identity continues to influence who one 
will marry, whether one will enter the university or whether one can 
get a government job.  Under former President Niyazov, the Ahal Teke 
tribe -- Niyazov's tribe, based in Ashgabat and Ahal Province -- not 
only dominated Turkmenistan's political structure, but also was the 
main beneficiary of Niyazov's Ashgabat-focused construction and 
economic development program.  While the Ahal Teke continue to 
dominate the government under President Berdimuhamedov, the 
president seems to recognize that the former policy of economic 
favoritism was a recipe for instability and is seeking to address 
some of the worst economic inequities.  END SUMMARY. 
 
TRIBAL DEMARCATION OF TURKMENISTAN 
 
¶3.  (SBU) All ethnic Turkmen belong to one of Turkmenistan's 
approximately 30 tribes.  The Teke, Yomut, and Ersari tribes are the 
largest of these, and they account for the majority of the Turkmen 
population.  Among these, the Teke tribe -- the largest -- is 
divided between the Ahal Teke and Mary Teke.  The second-largest 
tribe is the Yomut, with divisions between the Balkan Yomuts in 
western Turkmenistan and the Dashoguz Yomuts in northern 
Turkmenistan.  The Ersari, the third-largest tribe, inhabits the 
eastern province of Lebap.  (NOTE: While this characterization is 
convenient, it is also based on fact, since Turkmenistan's provinces 
were delineated based on the territories of the three major tribes. 
END NOTE.)  The minor tribes include Gokleng, Chowdur, Saryk, Sakar, 
Salir, Salor, Bayat, Alili, and the Ata.  Although every tribe has 
its own ancestor, Niyazov imposed the idea of a single mythical 
ancestor, Oguz Khan, in order to promote a point of convergence 
among the Turkmen tribes. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Tribal identity plays a major role in determining the life 
of the average Turkmen.  Traditionally, every tribe has striven to 
maintain the purity of its lineage, leading to great pressure for 
children to marry within their tribe.  This practice continues to 
prevail in most parts of the country.  For example, parents of a 
former (Ahal Teke) Embassy employee were upset with his choice of 
bride, an Ersari.  Even after nine years of a very happy marriage, 
the parents' resentment is still palpable, the employee claimed. 
Similarly, another (Yomut) Embassy employee, whose two sisters 
married Ahal Teke men, said that her parents were disinclined to 
approve their daughters' marriages, because they did not want to see 
their children treated as second-class members of an Ahal Teke 
family.  Indeed, minority tribes are less opposed to intertribal 
marriages between themselves than they are to marriages with Ahal 
Tekes, who are viewed as arrogant and superior. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Tribal origin can also influence one's career.  For 
instance, the official Turkmen language is based on the Ahal and 
Mary Teke dialects.  A strong knowledge of this "official" dialect 
is a prerequisite for a high-level government position.  For 
example, a 27 year-old Ersari man from Turkmenabat City, who 
currently works in a low-level government position in Ashgabat, told 
one Embassy employee that he almost exclusively speaks Russian at 
work.  This way, he confessed, he gets more respect, since he does 
not have to cover up his Turkmenabat accent. 
 
TRIBAL CONFLICT UNDER SOVIET UNION 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Before the Soviets unified the Turkmen tribes into the 
Soviet Turkmen Republic, the main source of conflict was over land 
and water distribution.  During the Soviet era, however, the tribal 
conflict evolved into the question of who holds power.  Aware that 
the Ahal Teke was the largest tribe and wanting to avoid fanning 
tribal tensions, Moscow instituted a policy of "tribal parity."  The 
main objective of this policy was to guarantee all groups equal 
access to administrative positions and economic benefits. 
Consistent with this policy, many members of minority tribes were 
sent to Russia for education and recruited to government positions. 
When appointing the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the 
Communist Party in Turkmenistan, Moscow also introduced a policy of 
 
ASHGABAT 00001284  002 OF 003 
 
 
rotating the position among the tribes.  Thus, while the First 
Secretary from 1947 to 1951, Shaja Batyrov, was Ahal Teke, his 
 
SIPDIS 
successor, Suhan Babayev, was Alili (1951-1958).  First Secretary 
Juma Garayev (1958-1960) was Teke; Balysh Ovezov (1960-1969) was 
Yomut; Muhammetnazar Gapurov (1969-1985) was Ersari; and Saparmurat 
Niyazov (1985-1991) was Ahal Teke.  Despite these efforts to share 
power, however, the power rested with the Ahal Tekes, the most 
educated and influential of all the tribes. 
 
THE DOMINANT AHAL TEKE TRIBE 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Three major factors accounted for the Ahal Teke tribe's 
leadership.  First, Tekes were at the forefront of the military 
resistance to Persian and Russian incursions in the nineteenth 
century, which allowed them to portray themselves as patriots. 
Second, Tekes were under direct Russian colonial rule since the 
1880s, much earlier than the Dashoguz Yomuts and Lebap Ersaris. 
This enabled Tekes to become more familiar with the Russian culture, 
language, and government operations, giving them an advantage as 
they competed for high-level government positions.  Lastly, 
Ashgabat, predominantly an Ahal Teke city, became the new republic's 
capital.  (NOTE: After Moscow realized that having Ashgabat as the 
capital would enhance the already-influential Tekes, it officially 
decided to relocate the capital to Charzhow City (now Turkmenabat) 
in Lebap Province.  However, the Soviets never implemented the 
decision to relocate the capital because of the bureaucratic hassle 
involved, and Ashgabat remained the capital city.  END NOTE.) 
 
NIYAZOV AND TRIBALISM 
 
¶8.  (U) The first president, Saparmyrat Niyazov adopted a 
manipulative policy towards the tribal issue.  On the one hand, he 
publicly admitted the existence of conflict among tribes.  For 
example, during his January 2006 Memorial Day speech honoring the 
victims of the 1881 Gokdepe Battle, Niyazov acknowledged the 
existence of tribal tensions and called for their end.  As a symbol 
of the tribes' unification in Turkmenistan, he called for more 
intertribal marriages.  On the other hand, with his program of 
economic development and construction focused primarily in Ashgabat 
and Ahal province -- the areas where the Ahal Teke dominate -- 
Niyazov neglected other provinces, creating discontent among other 
tribes, especially the Dashoguz Yomuts and Lebap Ersaris.  (NOTE: 
Due to their different historic experiences, the dialects, 
traditions, and lifestyles of these two tribes differ more from the 
Teke than those of any other minor tribes.  Dashoguz Yomuts were 
part of Khiva, while the Ersaris were part of Bukhara -- both Uzbek 
khanates.  Because of this, Tekes and other Turkmen tribes perceive 
Dashoguz Yomuts and Ersaris as being Uzbeks -- or, at least, 
semi-Uzbeks.  END NOTE.)  Thus Dashoguz Yomuts and Ersaris, in 
addition to already being significantly different from the other 
tribes, also found themselves more neglected and isolated under 
Niyazov's rule. 
 
WHO IS BERDIMUHAMEDOV? 
 
¶9. (SBU) President Berdimuhamedov is continuing to show the same 
tribal favoritism (towards the Tekes) as his predecessor.  Like 
Niyazov, Berdimuhamedov is an Ahal Teke.  Moreover, he comes from 
Gokdepe District, where the famous Battle of Gokdepe between Turkmen 
and Russians took place in 1881.  Because this battle took place 
specifically in Gokdepe, where resistance to Russian rule was the 
strongest, the Gokdepe Tekes consider themselves the core of the 
Teke tribe.  Thus, the President of Turkmenistan comes not only from 
the Teke tribe that holds both political and economic power, but 
also from Gokdepe, the heart of the Teke tribe.  Moreover, within 
Turkmenistan's Cabinet of Ministers (all of whom were appointed by 
Berdimuhamedov), four out of seven deputy chairmen (i.e., deputy 
premiers) come from the Ahal Teke tribe.  In addition, Parliamentary 
Speaker Akja Nurberdiyeva is also an Ahal Teke.  On a ministerial 
level, 18 out of 22 ministers are Ahal Teke.  As a result, Ahal 
Tekes continue to dominate the political arena, and there is only a 
very slim chance of getting a leading government post if an 
individual is not Ahal Teke. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) This favoritism is also manifested in other sectors, 
 
ASHGABAT 00001284  003 OF 003 
 
 
including education.  Although universities and colleges are free in 
Turkmenistan, each university department has a quota of how many 
students from each province it can accept.  For example, when an 
Embassy contact from Dashoguz Province applied to study in the 
foreign languages department at the Turkmen National Institute of 
World Languages, there were only two slots available for Dashoguz 
applicants.  Similarly, two slots were available for Lebap, Balkan, 
and Mary provincial applicants.  However, the joint quota for Ahal 
province and Ashgabat was twelve slots. 
 
TRIBAL ISSUE UNDER BERDIMUHAMEDOV 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Notwithstanding the dominance of Ahal Tekes in his 
cabinet, Berdimuhamedov has yet to define his policy on tribal 
issues.  Yet, he has undertaken some serious steps that have led 
many to hope for fairer treatment for all tribes.  For example, the 
candidates for the February 2007 presidential election were chosen 
from five different tribes.  Although it was clear that these 
candidates were hand-picked and that Berdimuhamedov would win the 
elections, the fact that they represented different tribes made a 
significant impact on ethnic Turkmen.  Since his inauguration, 
Berdimuhamedov has also ordered construction of new schools, 
hospitals, stadiums, hotels, kindergartens, and other similar 
establishments in all provinces.  In July, the president announced 
establishment of a new free economic zone in Balkan Province's 
Turkmenbashy City.  This plan will help develop a Yomut-dominated 
region.  However, Dashoguz, Lebap, and Mary provinces continue to 
struggle economically, and it remains to be seen whether the 
president eventually will also seek to promote economic development 
in those provinces as well. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) COMMENT:  Tribalism continues to remain a potential 
flashpoint for tension within Turkmenistan.  Resentments over tribal 
discrimination, both perceived and real, have built up for 
centuries, and have been exacerbated by the lack of economic 
development and former President Niyazov's policies.  That said, 
most minority tribes seem willing to accept Ahal Teke political 
domination -- at least, for now -- as long as it does not lead to 
continued economic neglect. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) COMMENT CONTINUED:  The fact that President 
Berdimuhamedov seems to recognize this and to be responding to the 
economic inequities is a point in his favor.  But tribal traditions 
still run strong in Turkmenistan, and many still prioritize family 
and tribe above any concept of national identity.  Even if the 
president succeeds in bringing economic development -- and increased 
employment -- to all provinces, he may find creating a nation a 
tough task. 
 
CURRAN