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PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAH #0120/01 0231226
ZNR UUUUU ZZH(CCY AD503F48 MSI2623-695)
P 231226Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
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UNCLAS ASHGABAT 000120 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y  DELETING CLASSIFIED BY STATEMENT 
AND REASON 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, IIP, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM TX
SUBJECT:  TURKMENISTAN:  AUTHORITIES BACK OFF HARASSSMENT 
OF RFE-RL REPORTERS 
 
REF: ASHGABAT 0058 (NOTAL) 
 
¶1.  (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  SUMMARY:  Working conditions for RFE/RL reporters 
took a dive in December and January as Turkmen authorities 
stepped up their efforts to stop RFE's radio reporting that 
has focused on the country's economic and institutional 
troubles.  Four reporters located around the country all 
experienced increased threats and harassment, and one 
reporter quit working for RFE after her interrogation.  The 
intimidation ebbed after Senator Richard Lugar intervened 
with President Berdimuhamedov on January 11 (ref). 
Ultimately, it is a reminder that this is still a difficult 
place to practice independent journalism.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Post confirmed on January 23 that living and 
working conditions had markedly improved for three of four 
RFE/RL reporters who had experienced a rather sudden 
onslaught of harassment and threats from Turkmen authorities 
who were reportedly displeased by the content of the 
journalists' recent radio reports.  Senator Richard Lugar 
raising the issue with President Berdimuhamedov, and 
attention from Embassy Ashgabat appear to have caused the 
change in behavior.  The senior Turkmen correspondent here, 
Halmurat Gylychdurdiyev, and the RFE/RL Central Office in 
Prague passed post updated information suggesting the Turkmen 
authorities have, for now, ceased their efforts to convince 
the journalists to quit reporting on Turkmenistan's economic 
challenges. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Senior Turkmen correspondent Halmurat 
Gylychdurdiyev informed post on January 22 that Lebap 
Province reporter Osmankuli Halliyev was able to return to 
work and no longer fears arrest.  In late December, 
provincial police had allegedly threatened him and members of 
his family, saying they would "suffer" if he continued 
reporting for RFE/RL.  Fearing arrest, he remained in his 
home, which was under constant surveillance.  Two of his 
siblings were sent "invitations" to come to the local 
internal affairs office for questioning, but they did not go. 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Gurbanguly Durdikuliyev, the RFE/RL correspondent 
in Balkanabat, was also able to return to work, and his phone 
was reconnected January 22.  Durdikuliyev, who was imprisoned 
several years ago in a mental hospital for sending a 
grievance to the government, was visited by "doctors" in 
early January, who reminded him he was on a list of 
psychiatric patients and demanded that he stop working for 
RFE/RL.  His home telephone was disconnected January 4. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Gylychdurdiyev himself has been a longtime 
recipient of Turkmen law enforcement attention, but stated 
that harassment and surveillance of him and his family has 
lessened substantially since Senator Lugar's visit to 
Turkmenistan.  He had been visiting the MFA regularly over 
the past several months in an effort to win press 
accreditation, but had always been refused information and 
was treated rudely.  More recently, however, when he visited 
the MFA for an update, the Ministry representatives were 
polite and kind.  Still, they were able to provide no 
information on his effort to gain accreditation. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  A fourth reporter, however, appears to have caved 
in to a demand to leave RFE/RL after an intense interrogation 
experience with Ministry of National Security 
representatives.  Soltan Achilova, an Ashgabat-based 
correspondent who had been with RFE/RL for just two months, 
was forced to sign an agreement to stop working for RFE 
 
without accreditation.  Ministry of National Security 
officials interrogated her for two days, during which they 
accused her of producing reports criticizing Turkmenistan's 
national policy.  According to Gylychdurdiyev, Achilova 
became extremely angry during the interrogation by four or 
five questioners and told them that if she had a grenade she 
would blow them all up.  The situation worsened thereafter, 
as the questioners proceeded to argue that she had terrorist 
intentions.  Gylychdurdiyev said Achilova had lost her temper 
because the government had demolished her two houses in 
Ashgabat last year, for which she had received neither a new 
house nor financial compensation.  (NOTE:  Her interrogation 
was in process during Senator Lugar's visit, and his 
intervention may not have been enough to counteract her 
outburst of temper.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  COMMENT:  Although it appears that the overall 
situation has improved and government authorities have backed 
off their nationwide campaign against RFE, events of the past 
two months serve as a reminder that engaging in indepedent 
journalism here still has its perils.  It is also particulary 
difficult when the reporters are "two-hatted" --  political 
activists as well as journalists, as sometimes is the case. 
Given the uniform negative attention that the reporters 
received at the same time, there is little doubt that 
Turkmenistan's government would have preferred that RFE/RL 
end its operations here.  However, they did respond to 
high-level requests to back off.  END COMMENT. 
HOAGLAND