VZCZCXRO2209
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #0329/01 0720313
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 120313Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0415
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 3488
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1306
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1173
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 1742
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 2305
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000329 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, SCA/PPD, EUR/ACE, DRL 
AID/W FOR EE/EA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL EAID KDEM TX
SUBJECT:  TURKMENISTAN:  LEGAL DATABASE PROJECT STOKES COMPETITION 
BETWEEN DONORS AND GOVERNMENT 
 
REF: A. ASHGABAT 0099 
 
 ¶B. ASHGABAT 0206 
 
 
¶1.  (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Internal competition to compile a legal database 
seems to have broken out among several government entities, spurred 
probably by a desire to get credit for fulfilling a high government 
priority and at least in part by an overzealous European 
implementing partner.  As a result, no less than three international 
organizations in Turkmenistan have expressed their support for 
variations of a similar project with three different governmental 
ministries or agencies.  USAID and OSCE have agreed to join their 
efforts by cooperating with the Institute for Democracy and Human 
Rights, while the most recent entrant, the European Union, awaits a 
funding decision from NATO on a proposal made by an implementing 
partner university to the Supreme Council for Science and Technology 
that enjoys only modest local EU support. END SUMMARY. 
 
USAID'S ENTRY TO THE DATABASE RACE 
 
¶3.  (SBU) On January 16, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs delivered a 
positive reply to USAID's October 29 proposal for cooperation with 
the Institute for Democracy and Human Rights (reftel A).  Among the 
approved areas for USAID's cooperation with the Institute for 
Democracy and Human Rights reply was "Support(ing) the production of 
an online legal database."  (NOTE:  The legal database project was 
originally one component of a USAID community empowerment program 
launched in late 2006 that envisioned the database as a tool to 
increase access to information for community activists.  Recent 
opportunities for cooperation with the Institute led to the ongoing 
discussions related to joint work in this area.  END NOTE.) 
Subsequent meetings with the Institute's director, Shirin Ahmedova, 
have addressed her desire to move forward on this joint project with 
USAID's implementing partner, the American Bar Association (ABA) 
(reftel B).  Giving a hint of the internal competition brewing 
behind the scenes, on March 1 Ahmedova told USAID's Country 
Representative that she was ready to move forward with even an 
incomplete database and proposed adding a disclaimer that 
acknowledged that it was not complete. 
 
¶4.  (U) At the same time, USAID was aware that the OSCE previously 
had undertaken similar projects to gather legislation from most CIS 
countries and was interested in doing the same in Turkmenistan.  In 
the March 1 meeting, Ahmedova expanded the proposed database's focus 
beyond the national database that USAID originally proposed.  As a 
result, her vision now closely corresponds to an existing online 
OSCE resource, www.legislationonline.org. 
 
OSCE'S DILEMMA - WHO'S THE PARTNER? 
 
¶5.  (U) After being rejected for the past three years, the OSCE's 
proposal to develop a legal database was approved by the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs (MFA) for the first time this year.  The MFA, 
however, identified the Ministry of Justice as OSCE's government 
counterpart which limited its ability to work jointly with the 
Institute for Democracy and Human Rights - and USAID. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) On March 3, OSCE and USAID met with the Institute's 
director to address this issue (reftel A). 
Ahmedova said that the OSCE's approved project list does not 
preclude cooperative work with the Institute as well.  She noted 
that the Ministry of Justice and Institute of Democracy are already 
partners on informational matters, and that it should not matter if 
the OSCE worked with the Institute on this project.  Ahmedova said 
that she would call the Minister of Foreign Affairs to ask the MFA 
to remove the offending clause from its agreement with the OSCE so 
that the proposed partnership could continue.  She also requested 
that the OSCE Ambassador contact the MFA to have the clause removed. 
 OSCE intends to submit a diplomatic note to the MFA requesting the 
change in partners, and if approved, this presents an ideal 
 
ASHGABAT 00000329  002 OF 002 
 
 
opportunity for donor coordination and joint work with a government 
partner.  The OSCE would provide the physical components (such as 
database software, scanning of laws and loading onto the internet) 
necessary for putting the database together, and USAID through ABA 
would provide technical assistance on using the database. 
 
BEHIND CURTAIN NUMBER THREE?  THE EU AND SUPREME COUNCIL 
 
¶7.  (SBU) On March 4, USAID Country Representative learned that the 
EU was considering a request from the Supreme Council on Science and 
Technology to establish a legal database.  After being caught off 
guard when asked about the project at a reception that night, the 
EU's Advisor to the National Coordination Unit shared details of the 
proposal the next day.  He clarified that he had personal 
reservations about the proposal, which he felt duplicated activities 
with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice and the Mejlis 
(Parliament). 
 
¶8.  (SBU) The EU advisor made clear that the idea for the project 
came not from the Supreme Council, but instead EU/NATO's existing 
partner on the Virtual Silk Highway project, Hamburg Harburgh 
University,  which had promised support for the database project to 
the MFA from NATO, EU-TACIS, the German Technical Cooperation Agency 
(GTZ), and the Embassy of Germany in Turkmenistan without prior 
dialogue with any of these organizations until after its own 
meetings with the Government of Turkmenistan.  As a result, promises 
were made to the government which Hamburgh Harburgh University 
cannot fulfill. 
 
¶9.  (U) The EU Advisor acknowledged that this created confusion 
since the EU has already agreed to start a legal reform technical 
assistance program later in 2008, which has been approved by the 
Government of Turkmenistan.  The partners under the upcoming EU 
program are the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice and the 
Mejlis (Parliament), plus the Institute of Democracy and Human 
Rights and the Turkmen State University Law Faculty.  As a result, 
he was unhappy since he perceived the Hamburg proposal to have been 
made for diplomatic gain rather than for the benefit of the wider 
stakeholders in Turkmenistan.  The Deputy Director of the Supreme 
Council is scheduled to travel to meet with NATO leadership next 
week, where the question of funding is expected to be resolved. 
 
¶10.  (U) COMMENT:  This is a complicated tale that contains elements 
of competition between government entities and donor organizations 
alike.  It is clear that certain government officials want to move 
full speed ahead to bring a legal database online, even an 
incomplete one.  Our guess is that the legal database is probably a 
high priority for the president, and so various government entities 
are competing with each other to get it done.  At the same time, an 
international implementing partner appears to have promised a 
project that it cannot deliver without external financing.  Despite 
much talk about donor coordination, it is a rare occurrence in 
practice, due at least in part to such competing interests and 
unilateral actions.  END COMMENT. 
 
HOAGLAND