VZCZCXRO9503
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #0452/01 1020645
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 110645Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0577
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1426
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1293
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 3608
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 1862
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 2402
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000452 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EUR/ACE, SCA/PPD, ECA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SCUL KPAO TX
SUBJECT:  TURKMENISTAN:  MEETING DIRECTLY WITH MINISTER OF EDUCATION 
BEST WAY TO CIRCUMVENT BAYRAMOV ROADBLOCK 
 
REF: A. ASHGABAT 0396 
      ¶B. ASHGABAT 0249 
      ¶C. ASHGABAT 0375 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  In a follow-up to Charge's recent meeting with 
the Minister of Education (Ref. A), PAO gave a tailored presentation 
on U.S. Government-funded programs that send Turkmen students to two 
American-style universities in the region.  The presentation proved 
to be a success at getting information directly to the Minister and 
circumventing the known roadblock, the Ministry's anti-Western 
International Relations Director Nury Bayramov.  In the end, the 
Minister agreed not to interfere in the programs, but fell short of 
?approving? them.  Perhaps most importantly, the meeting revealed 
what might be the very beginning of a marginalization of Bayramov's 
influence.  END SUMMARY. 
 
BACKGROUND TO A NEAR REVERSAL 
 
¶3.  (SBU) On April 3, PAO met with Minister of Education 
Muhammetgeldi Annaamanov to present him directly with information on 
scholarship programs for the American University of Central Asia 
(AUCA) and Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics, and 
Strategic Planning (KIMEP, by its Russian acronym), on behalf of 
implementing partner American Councils/ACCELS.  Post had learned 
that the Ministry of Education (MOE) was likely to interfere for the 
second time with standardized testing for the two university 
scholarship programs.  Similar to previous meetings with the 
Ministry of Education, post believes that a key Ministry official, 
International Relations Department Head Nury Bayramov, deliberately 
delayed the meeting to inconvenience the program organizers (Ref. 
B). 
 
¶4.  (SBU) As often reported, post has good reason to believe that 
Bayramov is the principle obstacle to cooperation in education - and 
European embassies and EU-TACIS fully agree.  He has used his 
position to horde information and manipulate the current and past 
Ministers of Education.  What distinguishes Minister Annaamanov from 
his predecessors is that he was appointed by President 
Berdimuhamedov with a mandate to reform education and increase 
international exchanges, including with the United States.  Despite 
the orders from above, Bayramov has managed to manipulate or filter 
information and access in a way that has kept Annaamanov 
ill-informed and suspicious of U.S. exchanges and educational 
programs (Ref. C). 
 
IMPRESSING THE MINISTER WITH FACTS... AND POWER POINT 
 
¶5.  (SBU) In the meeting, PAO used a PowerPoint presentation that 
highlighted the success stories of several graduates from both 
universities and was intended to persuade the Minister that sending 
Turkmen students could only be beneficial.  It worked.  Following 
the presentation, the Minister expressed his regret that 
Turkmenistan's law currently prohibits recognition of degrees from 
any private institutions in the CIS, but added that this was 
?outdated? and in need of reform.  He suggested that when education 
legislation is reviewed, he would seek the recognition of degrees 
from universities like AUCA and KIMEP.  The Minister was almost 
apologetic as he tried to explain that they needed programs like the 
two the PAO described, but that private colleges and universities 
with little credibility had sprung up across the former Soviet Union 
?like mushrooms.? 
 
¶6.  (SBU) PAO also presented to the Minister a copy of the 
diplomatic note first announcing the new scholarship program in 
September 2007.  The Minister sheepishly asked the PAO, ?And what 
response did you receive??  When PAO said ?none?, the Minister shook 
his head with an expression of apology and angrily glanced towards 
Bayramov. 
 
NO APPROVAL, BUT NO INTEFERENCE 
 
 
ASHGABAT 00000452  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The Minister said the legal recognition of degrees issue 
prevents his government from approving the scholarship programs. 
When pressed by PAO, the Minister said that the Ministry would not 
support the programs, but would not prevent students from applying 
independently to these programs or to other universities abroad. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Unfortunately, the lack of Ministry approval also meant 
that the government would not approve use of a hotel conference room 
for testing, or provide the letters of invitation needed for visas 
for two KIMEP representatives to administer the testing in person. 
Post subsequently moved the testing into the smaller and barely 
adequate space of the Information Resource Center (IRC), which is 
controlled by the Embassy. ACCELS obtained last minute permission 
from KIMEP to administer the tests themselves. 
 
OUTSTANDING ISSUE 
 
¶9.  (SBU) PAO then highlighted for the Minister post's over 
one-year-old request to implement the ?Shaping the Way we Teach 
English? seminar for Turkmenistan's English Teachers.  Although the 
government officially approved the program in September 2007, 
Bayramov had managed to delay any real implementation for months. 
When the Minister looked through the copy of the year-old dipnote 
handed to him by the PAO, he sternly asked Bayramov why the program 
hadn't been implemented.  After Bayramov's apologetic reply, the 
Minister looked Bayramov in the eye and in a serious tone said, ?I'm 
giving this back to you, but I don't want to see it disappear!? 
 
¶10.  (SBU) COMMENT:  Post had long-suspected that Minister 
Annaamanov would be amenable to closer cooperation and supportive of 
our educational exchanges if Nury Bayramov was not filtering 
information.  This meeting was the first confirmation that our 
suspicion was true.  We certainly do not yet want to declare 
victory, but we are encouraged that the timid Minister of Education 
is finally beginning to assert himself over his malevolent "minder," 
Bayramov.  END COMMENT. 
 
HOAGLAND