VZCZCXRO0466
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #0536/01 1200911
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 290911Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0699
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 3699
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 1517
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 1384
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL PRIORITY 1953
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 2466

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASHGABAT 000536 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, INL, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON EAGR SNAR PBTS PREL TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN'S ETREK DISTRICT:  WAITING FOR 
DEVELOPMENT 
 
 
¶1.  (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Burdened by an isolated location, poor 
roads and years of neglect from the center, Turkmenistan's 
Etrek District, located in western Turkmenistan on the border 
with Iran, has experienced little economic development in 
recent years.  What it does have going for it is the only 
official border crossing west of Ashgabat.  Residents and the 
district's leadership are hoping that the Kazakhstan-to-Iran 
railway currently under construction, which is planned to 
cross the border at Etrek, will bring new and better 
transportation.  They also hope it will help to stimulate the 
district's economy, which currently is based primarily on 
livestock production.  In the meantime, the president's new 
rural development program is offering at least limited funds 
for infrastructure development -- building a new school, 
laying new water pipes and establishing a new gas station. 
Apparently, however, there are no plans in the works for 
quick fixes to the broken roads that are at the heart of the 
district's isolation.  END SUMMARY. 
 
AN ISOLATED LIVESTOCK CENTER 
 
¶3.  (U) Turkmenistan's isolated Etrek District is located on 
the border with Iran in Balkan Province, in western 
Turkmenistan.  Production of livestock (cattle, sheep and 
camels) accounts for 57% of the economy of this desert 
district, which can be reached only after hours of driving on 
bad-to-awful roads that are almost impassible when wet.  Here 
and there, isolated fields of wheat that could be irrigated 
with water from the Etrek River on the border seemed to be 
growing well.  Some small groves of olive trees and 
pomegranate trees decorate the landscape close to the 
district center, also named Etrek.  Deputy Premier for Oil 
and Gas Tachberdi Tagiyev comes from Etrek.  Nevertheless, 
the district has no known hydrocarbon reserves. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) During an April 24 meeting, Etrek district head 
Nurmurad Niyazmyradov, a livestock specialist from the 
neighboring district of Esenguly and a five-year veteran in 
his position, offered EmbOff an improbably upbeat briefing on 
his district.  The district routinely exceeds production 
plans for livestock, wheat and cotton, even though it suffers 
from lack of rain.  While young people receive a good 
education, few choose to leave the district for the 
provincial capital, Balkanabat, or Ashgabat -- the two 
largest cities closest to Etrek.  (NOTE:  Actually, EmbOff 
saw few young people -- especially young men -- walking or 
driving around town, suggesting that many may be spending 
weekdays working in larger cities.  END NOTE.)  Although 
Niyazmyradov claimed that banks in his district were 
following the president's order to offer rural residents 
loans for new houses, there was no evidence of new housing 
construction anywhere in Etrek.  He said the only new housing 
that she had seen while driving to Etrek (some with fancy 
cars parked outside) was financed privately, rather than 
through government loans.  In addition, all the district's 
residents are prospering due to Turkmenistan's increasing 
meat prices (possibly true, since most of the livestock 
EmbOff saw was free-range, rather than grain-fed), and there 
is no problem with drug addiction, despite the district's 
proximity to Iran.  In fact, he added, most of those going 
back and forth across the border have family on the other 
side.  Etrek's -- and Turkmenistan's -- relations with Iran 
are friendly and neighborly, and there have been no problems 
with any of the Iranian visitors. 
 
WE NOW HAVE A BRIGHT FUTURE 
 
¶5.  (SBU) When emboff asked whether President Niyazov's rural 
development plan had affected Etrek, Niyazmyradov responded 
proudly, "We now have a bright future!"  He outlined some 
on-going projects, including a new school and new mosque that 
either have been built or are in the planning stage.  In 
 
ASHGABAT 00000536  002 OF 003 
 
 
addition, the government is working on laying new water pipes 
from the Etrek River.  Once the pipes have been laid, the 
city will hook them up to state-of-the-art water purification 
equipment which will offer residents access to free-of-charge 
potable water.  He added the Kazakhstan-to-Iran rail line is 
supposed to cross the border at Etrek.  The otherwise 
isolated town is just waiting for the railroad to arrive. 
The government, he added, is also talking about building an 
"international highway" from Iran through Etrek that will 
open the district and its products to the world.  Once that 
happens, Etrek hopes to become a popular holiday location, 
since it can offer clean air and a down-home living 
experience, complete with traditional Turkmen yurts and 
camels.  The mayor -- who accompanied EmbOff on all of her 
other activities while she was in town -- also took her to 
the town's new gas station, which replaced a 1940's-era 
single-pump facility.  "We did this ourselves, and we did it 
to international standards.  And there was no need to bring 
in fancy outside construction companies to do this for us." 
 
A STATE-OF-THE-ART BORDER-CROSSING STATION 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Etrek contains the only official border crossing 
point between Turkmenistan and Iran west of Ashgabat.  The 
road leading to the border-crossing facility there -- funded 
by the United States and built by the Nevada National Guard 
-- is a potholed dirt-and-gravel strip of dubious quality. 
Eighteen months after its opening, the facility remains in 
pristine condition.  Unfortunately, because Niyazmyradov was 
two hours late for his meeting with EmbOff, the two arrived 
at the border-crossing facility at 5:30 pm -- well after the 
facility's 4:00 pm closure.  Therefore, EmbOff was unable to 
observe officials processing the approximately 300 people per 
day (about 150 individuals in each direction) that the 
facility reportedly handles. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Under Niyazmyradov's gimlet eye, the director of 
the facility, too, denied that there were any problems with 
the visitors from the other side.  At first he acknowledged 
that some of the visitors had been caught with small 
quantities of opium -- enough for personal use only. 
However, after a glare from Niyazmyradov, he backed down, 
adding, "No, actually there have been no drugs at all.  We 
have no problems with narcotics."  He then hastily changed 
the subject, stating how well everything in the building 
works and thanking the United States for the facility.  When 
EmbOff asked whether the facility was hooked up to the 
Internet, the director said no, but he was expecting to get 
broadband access in September, once the government finishes 
laying a fiber optic line. 
 
OLIVE OIL FACTORY OWNER DREAMS OF GOING INTERNATIONAL 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Although Niyazmyradov played up Etrek's cottage 
carpet industry ("our girls here know how to weave"), there 
is little industry in Etrek.  The one "factory" is an olive 
oil facility established by an alumnus of USDA's Cochran 
program with assistance from USAID and Winrock.  Located in a 
now-defunct former tomato-processing facility, the "factory" 
contains a single block of Italian oil-pressing machinery. 
During production months -- November to March -- it employs 
four individuals.  The rest of the time, the equipment stays 
covered and at rest, waiting for the next harvest.  The 
manager stated that his dream is to take his sales 
international.  He showed EmbOff a price brochure from a 
California-based gourmet olive oil producer, and stressed the 
high prices that olive oil can get on the international 
market.  First, however, he needs to expand his facility, but 
that will require both more olive groves and better roads. 
For now, he is selling his product primarily in markets in 
Ashgabat and Balkanabat, Balkan's provincial capital. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) COMMENT:  Clearly, Etrek, like many rural 
districts, was allowed to languish under former President 
 
ASHGABAT 00000536  003 OF 003 
 
 
Niyazov. While President Berdimuhamedov's rural development 
program is finally giving isolated communities a break, Etrek 
has no prospects soon of getting more than minimal funds, 
since oil-rich Balkan province is getting less money than 
Turkmenistan's other provinces.  Neighboring Esenguly 
District -- the designated development focal point -- is 
soaking up most of those funds.  So, for now, Etrek's best 
hope may be the new Kazakhstan-to-Iran railroad.  In the 
meantime, however, Etrek. suffering from its lack of good 
roads and resulting isolation, continues to live a hard, 
half-existence.  END COMMENT. 
CURRAN