VZCZCXRO7039
OO RUEHAG RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHPW RUEHROV
DE RUEHAH #0817/01 1830736
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 010736Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1078
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S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 ASHGABAT 000817 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EEB 
PLEASE PASS TO USTDA DAN STEIN 
USEU BRUSSELS FOR SPECIAL ENVOY GRAY 
ENERGY FOR EKIMOFF/THOMPSON 
COMMERCE FOR HUEPER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/01/2028 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EPET RS AJ TX
SUBJECT:  TURKMENISTAN:  BERDIMUHAMEDOV ON AZERBAIJAN: 
"STUPID HOOLIGANISM" 
 
REF: A. IIR 6 940 0006 08 
     ¶B. BAKU 0620 
 
Classified By: CDA RICHARD E. HOAGLAND:  1.4 (B), (D) 
 
¶1.  (S) SUMMARY:  In a surprising display of pique and 
frustration, Berdimuhamedov let loose to the Charge against 
Azerbaijan's President Aliyev, implying that the brief 
standoff in April between Azeri border patrol boats and a 
Turkmen vessel in the mid-Caspian disputed Serdar/Kyapaz 
block (ref A) was a personal attack calculated to belittle 
Turkmenistan.  We believe Berdimuhamedov has not given up on 
the concept of a Turkmen-Azeri natural-gas inter-connector 
pipeline, but he needs reassurance to move forward with this 
strategic project.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (S) In what was to have been a brief farewell call, 
Charge met with President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov for an 
hour on June 30.  After praising the sensitivity and respect 
the United States has shown in building a productive, new 
U.S.-Turkmenistan relationship -- "With your help we've 
proven we're a serious country" -- and praising the positive 
contributions of SCA assistant Secretary Richard Boucher and 
EEB Coordinator for Eurasian Energy Diplomacy Steven Mann, 
Berdimuhamedov in no uncertain terms laid into Azerbaijan and 
President Ilham Aliyev. 
 
¶3.  (S) Berdimuhamedov said, "Quite frankly, we didn't expect 
to move so quickly on Caspian affairs, but you gave us wise 
advice how to do it, and we trusted you.  We still trust you, 
but we need your help more than ever.  Even with the recent 
'Azeri stupid mistakes,' we are committed to moving forward, 
but the Azeris haven't made it easy because their patrol 
boats attacked our vessel (in Serdar/Kyapaz) just days before 
my visit to Baku.  We'd been there for three months, and they 
knew it!  Why did they wait until my visit?  That was a 
personal insult!  I've been the one who's taken all the steps 
-- at your urging.  I approached Aliyev in Saint Petersburg 
(at the CIS informal summit in 2007).  I made the first phone 
call to him.  I agreed to visit Baku before he visited 
Ashgabat -- on your advice!  I stood up to Putin for our 
sovereign rights at the 2007 Caspian Summit in Tehran, but 
Aliyev ran like a little boy.  And what did I get for all of 
this?  A slap in the face!"  Berdimuhamedov added, "The 
Russians keep yelling at me that we cannot build a new 
pipeline because it will destroy the ecology of the Caspian 
Sea."  At this point, he rolled his eyes and waved the back 
of his hand. 
 
¶4.  (S) Berdimuhamedov explained that when he had been in 
Baku, he had a polite but tough private one-on-one meeting 
with Aliyev, and had asked why Aliyev had sent patrol boats 
into Serdar/Kyapaz to challenge Turkmenistan's claim to the 
disputed block.  Berdimuhamedov said Aliyev responded that we 
was out of the country at that time and had been unaware of 
the event.  Berdimuhamedov said, "I didn't say anything then, 
but he IS the president, and he needs to know what is 
happening in his name in his own country, if he is really in 
charge." 
 
¶5.  (S) Berdimuhamedov recounted that he had told Aliyev 
clearly he wants to start trans-Caspian commercial 
cooperation from Serdar/Kyapaz.  But Aliyev allegedly said, 
"We don't need your gas -- we're rich enough without it. 
We've got more than enough.  We'll transit your gas to 
 
ASHGABAT 00000817  002 OF 003 
 
 
Europe, if that's what you want, but we don't need it." 
Berdimuhamedov said SOCAR President Rovnaq Abdullayev had 
come to Turkmenistan on June 19 (ref B) and offered to take 
responsibility for the Serdar/Kyapaz incident. 
Berdimuhamedov said, "I told him, 'You're not the guilty 
party.  I reject your apology!'" 
 
¶6.  (S) Berdimuhamedov said he was fully ready to move 
forward, despite delimitation issues, on technical details 
for a production pipeline between existing Turkmen and Azeri 
Caspian infrastructures, as the United States has urged him 
to do.  He said, "I trusted (Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign 
Minister Rashid) Meredov on this because he understands you 
better than I do."  But then, showing strong emotion, 
Berdimuhamedov said, "Aliyev has killed this.  I told him, 
'You're the guilty party; we could have been fruitful 
partners.'  So we're going back to demanding full 
delimitation before any other technical consideration.  I 
don't care how long it takes.  I have to project our national 
interests." 
 
¶7.  (S) Berdimuhamedov said he has been sending Meredov 
regularly to Baku for "not publicized" contacts -- "sometimes 
in the middle of the night" to try to work out a real 
solution to the Turkmen-Azeri mid-Caspian disputed fields. 
Berdimuhamedov said, "We judged that you (the United States) 
are right.  For strategic reasons, we need to work out a way 
to link our infrastructures to send Turkmen natural gas 
directly to Europe.  We want to do that.  That is my personal 
decision!  But then why did Aliyev allow the 'stupid 
hooligans' to mistreat us?  Who made that decision and why?" 
He added, "If necessary to prove our point, we will take 
British Petroleum to international arbitration for having 
violated our rights to (Azeri-Chirag-Gunshli/)Osman-Omar." 
 
¶8.  (S) Charge asked, "What steps should President Aliyev 
take to rebuild trust and get this all back on track?" 
Berdimuhamedov responded, "You are an old country and have 
great patience.  We are a new country.  Let Aliyev take the 
next serious step.  I hope he works more closely with you 
(the United States), as we have done, so that he can 
understand us better.  We'll let the various Turkmen-Azeri 
bilateral commissions continue to work, but Aliyev has to 
convince me he's serious about cooperation.  I don't want his 
boys telling me, 'We don't need you at all, but we'll help 
you, if you like.'"  In the end, Berdimuhamedov said, "We 
don't need Azerbaijan.  I want a brotherly relationship of 
mutual respect, but they have to want it, too." 
Berdimuhamedov then one more time returned to the 
Serdar/Kyapaz confrontation and said, "My guys asked if they 
should fire on them, but I told them to stand down."  He 
added, "I simply don't understand why Aliyev 'broke the 
tender twig' to prove he's better than us.  Why did he ruin 
everything?" 
 
¶9.  (S) In an aside, Berdimuhamedov said that Russia has not 
yet agreed to meet Turkmen price demands for natural gas in 
¶2009.  He said, "If they won't agree, we'll shut off the 
pipelines and develop our own natural-gas chemical industry. 
They need us more than we need them." 
 
¶10.  (S) As if picking at an open sore, Berdimuhamedov asked 
one more time, "Why one week before my visit to Baku did 
Azerbaijan attack us?  Does Aliyev really think we are weak, 
or is he maybe working for the Russians?" 
 
ASHGABAT 00000817  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶11.  (S) To all of this, Charge assured Berdimuhamedov that 
we have indeed clearly understood his concerns.  Further, we 
firmly believe that both states value their independence from 
Russia.  We have no immediate answers for him, but we will 
seriously consider what he has said and will work to find a 
mutually respectful way forward.  Charge asked that the 
president not give up on the long-term strategic goals that 
will, eventually, benefit the sovereignty and independence of 
each state and, eventually, make the Caspian a world-class 
player in its own right.  He asked that Berdimuhamedov take 
the high road for international leadership.  Berdimuhamedov 
said, "You can afford the high road.  I can't." 
 
¶12.  (S) COMMENT:  We continue to wonder if Turkmenistan and 
Azerbaijan are further along on Caspian cooperation than 
either side is letting on as they attempt to keep it under 
the Russian radar.  However, if Berdimuhamedov's wounded 
fulminations against Azerbaijan and President Aliyev were an 
act, he should be nominated for an Academy Award.  What we 
probably need to recognize is that Berdimuhamedov, for all 
his pretences at statesmanship, is still seriously hobbled by 
the traditional Turkmen inferiority complex about Azerbaijan, 
which harks back to the early 20th century when the Soviets 
tried to use the more urbane Azeris to "civilize" the Turkmen 
nomadic tribes.  It will not be easy, given the presidential 
bulls-pawing-the-turf in this region, but we need probably to 
try to explain to Azerbaijan the need for unaccustomed, 
high-road sensitivity in dealing with the brittle Turkmen. 
Our arguments should always be strategic, and never appear to 
favor one protagonist over another. 
 
¶13.  (S) COMMENT CONTINUED:  From all the hints he dropped, 
we believe Berdimuhamedov has not given up on the concept of 
a Turkmen-Azeri natural-gas inter-connector pipeline.  But, 
at the moment, he appears -- unless it's a huge act, and even 
if he exaggerated for effect -- to be bruised and frustrated. 
 He needs realistic reassurance at the highest level.  It's 
in our national interest for energy security to do so. 
Berdimuhamedov needs to meet with President Bush, whom he 
respects.  END COMMENT. 
HOAGLAND