VZCZCXRO4861
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #0429/01 0980808
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 070808Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0556
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 3592
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 1410
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 1277
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL PRIORITY 1846
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 2389

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000429 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, G/IWI, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON ELAB SOCI SNAR KWMN TX
SUBJECT:  TURKMENISTAN:  THE FEMALE "STREET NINJAS" OF ASHGABAT 
 
¶1.  (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY: Every day, an army of Turkmen women, in bright 
orange traffic vests and with their heads and faces wrapped in 
scarves, descend on the capital's streets and public sites to 
carefully sweep away Ashgabat's omnipresent dust with handmade 
brooms.  These "street ninjas," who work on traffic-laden streets in 
all weather conditions, are among Turkmenistan's lowest-paid 
laborers, hired primarily because they are cheaper than maintaining 
expensive street-cleaning equipment.  Finding a ready labor force 
because of Turkmenistan's poverty and high unemployment rate, these 
jobs have become a sort of make-work program for these women, who 
are among Turkmenistan's most disadvantaged citizens.  END SUMMARY. 
 
KEEPING THE WHITE-MARBLE CAPITAL PRISTINE 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Every day, a multitude of Turkmen women in orange traffic 
vests turn out to sweep away dust all year, leaves in the fall, and 
even a quarter inch of snow in the winter from the streets in front 
of Ashgabat's domed government palaces, around fountains, and along 
the six-lane boulevards.  Local people call them "Turkmen ninjas" 
because most wrap their heads and faces in scarves, leaving only 
their eyes uncovered.  While the majority of women use the cover to 
protect their faces from sun and their lungs from dust, some do this 
so as not to be seen doing one of Turkmenistan's dirtiest, most 
menial jobs.  It is the job of Turkmenistan's "street ninjas" to 
ensure that white-marble Ashgabat remains pristine.  Their mission: 
to ensure that Turkmenistanis walk through the "Golden Age of 
Turkmen" on clean streets. 
 
"STREET NINJAS" INSTEAD OF STREET-CLEANING EQUIPMENT 
 
¶4.  (SBU) To meet the government's requirements for the city 
beautification program, the Ashgabat mayor's office purchased some 
expensive street-cleaning machines from abroad, which are used 
mainly for streets lay along the president's daily travel routes. 
However, the department continues to favor hiring "street ninjas" 
over purchasing expensive equipment.  In the past two years, the 
department doubled the number of "street ninjas" to about 1,000 and 
increased their salary from 1 million manat ($50) to 1.5 million 
manat ($75) per month.  (NOTE: The average monthly wage in 
Turkmenistan according to official statistics is 2.8 million manat, 
or $140. END NOTE.)  All the cleaning is done with hand-made brooms, 
which the street cleaners have to buy at their own expense. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The sweepers are women of all ages, including some who are 
elderly, as well as teen-age girls just out of high school. 
Whatever the weather, they work 12 hours a day (from 7 a.m. to 7 
p.m.), with one day off a week.  On evenings before the president's 
inspection trips around the city, the "street ninjas" work until 
midnight.   The employer does not provide them with special seasonal 
clothing, nor does it guarantee workplace safety.  Five years ago 
two street cleaners were killed in car accidents while cleaning mud 
from an Ashgabat tunnel. 
 
WHO ARE THE WOMEN?  UNEDUCATED AND POOR 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Locals observers have commented that this is not work that 
traditionally has been considered suitable for women. 
(Traditionally, Turkmen women, especially young women with babies 
and small children, have been carefully protected from anything that 
was associated with dirt.)  However, during the Niyazov era, high 
unemployment and a growing drug addiction rate left many Turkmen 
males unable to support their families.  Desperate to feed their 
families, Turkmen women turned to street sweeping.  These women, in 
general, are viewed with pity by society, which sees them as victims 
of the growing drug trade -- and of the government's failure to 
undertake meaningful social reforms. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The majority of the women are uneducated and from the 
lowest income levels.  They include single mothers, women with 
multiple children whose husbands are unemployed, and elderly women 
ineligible for pensions and who do not have other sources of income 
or families to help support them.  Some women take this job to 
supplement their families' meager income.  The relative of one 
 
ASHGABAT 00000429  002 OF 002 
 
 
embassy FSN who lives in a low-income community not far from the 
Tolkuchka market in the far northern part of the city confirmed that 
about 20 women in her neighborhood alone serve as street sweepers. 
 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Although the majority of "street ninjas" are from Ashgabat 
because this job requires an Ashgabat residency permit, good 
connections with the hiring office and a bribe can open a slot for a 
person without a residency permit.  For example, one woman, who 
moved with her husband and two children from Dashoguz to Ashgabat 
five years ago and who does not have an Ashgabat residency permit, 
received the job by paying a $50 bribe.  Her husband, who also does 
not have a residency permit, works for a Turkish construction firm 
and earns $100/month.  The family lives in a mud hut on a relative's 
dacha property 15 kilometers outside the city.  Whenever local 
police raid the dacha to clear out unauthorized migrants (this 
happens every three months), the family has to bribe the district 
police officer.  The minimum bribe for a person in this case is 
100,000 manat or $5.  As a result of these difficulties, there are 
very few "street ninjas" from outside Ashgabat. 
 
THE LOWEST BRIBE IN THE STATE LABOR MARKET 
 
¶9.  (SBU) To get a "street ninja" job requires a one-time bribe of 
$50, the cheapest bribe by the local labor market standards.  Upon 
getting the job, the sweeper frequently pays the bribe from his/her 
first paycheck.  By comparison, any other job in the state sector 
requires a bribe of $100 to $1,000, depending on the job.  One 
Ashgabat resident said she was asked to pay a $100 bribe to get a 
janitorial job at a state enterprise.  A resident of Mary province 
paid $200 to get a job at a joint-venture textile factory run by a 
Turkish firm.  An Ashgabat teacher was asked to pay a $1,000 bribe 
to a city education department official for promotion to the 
position of deputy principal in her school. 
 
"SOCIALLY USEFUL LABOR" 
 
¶10.  (SBU) While "street ninjas" are the major force behind 
Turkmenistan's cleanliness, street cleaning is also part of any 
government employment contract.  "Participation in socially useful 
labor" -- street cleaning and tree planting during week-ends, and 
seat filling at government-organized public events -- is an 
important condition for retaining a job in a state sector.  Refusal 
to participate in "socially useful labor" usually results in 
dismissal. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) COMMENT:  Turkmenistan's poverty and high unemployment 
rate have made it relatively easy for the government to find a 
ready, cheap labor force.  For women, who are socially and 
physically ill-suited for low-paid jobs in the construction 
industry, these "city beautification" jobs have become a sort of 
make-work program.  But, as in many other areas, the government has 
not addressed the economic and social roots of the poverty that 
leave the "street ninjas" among the country's most disadvantaged 
citizens.  END COMMENT. 
 
HOAGLAND