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P 240656Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASHGABAT 000373 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR SENV PGOV TX
SUBJECT: TURKMEN SUBBOTNIK CREATES A GREENER LANDSCAPE 
 
¶1.  (U) Sensitive but Unclassified.  Not for Internet Distribution. 
 
¶2.  (U) SUMMARY:  On the second weekend of March, President 
Berdimuhamedov gathered state employees and students, foreign 
diplomats and businessmen for a national "subbotnik" (Saturday 
workday) to plant trees around Ashgabat.  The event kicked-off the 
2009 national tree planting campaign, a practice which was initiated 
in 1998 by late President Niyazov with the purpose to create forests 
around Ashgabat and other Turkmen cities.  It has been overseen by a 
self-financed State body named "Green Belt" or "Gok Gushak" in 
Turkmen.  The official statistics claim that 68 million trees have 
been planted in the ten- year period between 1998 and 2008, and 
there is a plan to plant three million trees in 2009.  Local 
observers report that only some fifty percent of the trees, which 
are mostly pine trees, survive beyond the first year due to the dry 
climate and lack of irrigation water.  In addition to planting green 
belts, the Government is trying to introduce the use of drought and 
salt resistant local species to protect transport and communications 
infrastructure from sand drifts.  END SUMMARY. 
 
TIME FOR SUBBOTNIK 
 
¶3. (U) On March 14, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov gathered all 
government employees, university and high school students, and 
members of diplomatic missions and foreign businesses for the 
national "subbotnik" (a Saturday community workday), for large-scale 
tree planting at the foothills of the Kopetdag Mountains outside 
Ashgabat.  The President planted a young pine tree, thus launching 
the 2009 national tree-planting campaign.  After the trees had been 
planted, Berdimuhamedov invited high-ranking local and foreign 
officials for a lunch, which offered dishes featuring the national 
cuisine.  The official media reported that "the guests had a meal 
with great pleasure and highly appreciated the wisdom and talent of 
the Turkmen people and Turkmen cooks' workmanship."  Turkmen 
musicians, singers and dance groups performed a concert for the 
participants of the workday. 
 
"GOK GUSHAK" OR "GREEN BELT" 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The event kicked-off the 2009 "green campaign," which will 
include planting and watering trees during the spring and fall 
months.  Turkmenistan launched its first large-scale tree planting 
campaign in 1998 according to the resolution of the late president 
Niyazov "On the formation of a park zone at the foothills of 
Kopetdag."  To implement Niyazov's project, a special department 
responsible for the organization of forest nurseries, forest-growing 
and planting of greenery was established.  Since the project 
envisaged the development of a large recreational forest park around 
Ashgabat, which would have surrounded the city like a belt, Niyazov 
named the department "Gok Gushak," which, translated from Turkmen, 
means "green belt."  According to the Government's statistics, in 
the framework of the Green Belt national project over 62 million 
trees have been planted between 1998 and 2005, including 24 million 
trees in Ashgabat and its suburbs.  Six million trees have been 
planted over the past two years, and the Government's target in 2009 
is three million trees. 
 
MINISTRIES AND GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES BUY SEEDLINGS 
 
¶5.  (SBU) All state agencies and enterprises are required to 
participate in the project by buying seedlings from Gok Gushak, 
planting and watering trees in spring and fall seasons.  Ministries 
and organizations buy seedlings with their own funds and organize 
tree planting on their allotted areas by sending their employees to 
work on weekends without pay.  Some ministries have established 
their own forestry departments, which oversee the tree-planting. 
For example, the forestry department of the oil and gas complex 
employs 600 workers with their wages being paid by the Ministry of 
Oil and Gas.  The Ministry of Energy and Industry established a 
similar forestry department for planting and tending a forest area. 
Its expenses are also paid out of the ministry's internal funds. 
 
ASHGABAT 00000373  002 OF 003 
 
 
Ministries and agencies that do not have the funds to buy seedlings 
require their employes purchase them.  School and kindergarten 
administrators require parents to buy seedlins for their children. 
 
CORRUPTION UNDER "GOK GUSHAK" 
 
¶6. (SBU) Under Niyazov, because of his preference for foreign 
tropical trees, Gok Gushak was turned into a joint stock company 
with the responsibility to buy palm and cypress tree seedlings in 
Iran and to sell them to government agencies.  A special decree by 
Niyazov released Gok Gushak from payment of taxes.  While 
information about the identity of Gok Gushak's stockholders is not 
known, Turkmen opposition websites claimed that Niyazov's son 
controlled this business, and had a cut of USD 150 million per year. 
 
 
BERDIMUHAMEDOV'S "GREEN" OBJECTIVES 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Under President Berdimuhamedov, the Government's priority 
for tree planting is to develop and use drought and salt resistant 
local species to protect transport and communications infrastructure 
from sand drifts.  A Pol/Econ contact at the National Desert 
Institute said the Institute was doing research on developing a 
technology for protecting the 560-kilometer Ashgabat - Karakum 
Desert - Dashoguz railway from sand drifts.  (NOTE:  Passengers on 
the Ashgabat-Dashoguz train told Pol/Econ LES that a special car, 
carrying soldiers to clear sand from the railway, is attached to the 
train.  END NOTE.)  To accomplish this objective, the Government 
needs to provide sufficient funding and train qualified specialists. 
 A local nature protection specialist told Pol/Econ LES that a 
special course on forestry should be reinstated at the Turkmen State 
University.  Also, the contact thought that it is necessary to 
revise the structure of the forestry sector.  The self-financing 
requirement has forced some forestry organizations, including the 
Ministry of Nature and the Gok Gushak Joint Stock Company, to turn 
to agricultural production, as it is more profitable to meet 
short-term management goals. 
 
"GREEN" BY COMMAND METHODS 
 
¶8.  (SBU) So far the Government continues to apply command methods 
to achieve its goal in becoming "green."  At a recent session of the 
Cabinet of Ministers, Berdimuhamedov severely reprimanded Executive 
Director of Gok Gushak Joint-Stock Company, Hudaiguly Orazsahedov, 
for "unsatisfactory performance of official duties."  The Turkmen 
press service reported that "Hudaiguly Orazsahedov has been warned 
that if he fails to take necessary steps to improve the work of the 
joint-stock company in accordance with qualifying standards, he will 
be relieved of his post."  During the meeting, Prosecutor General 
Chary Khodjamuradov reported to the President on the status of tree 
planting conducted by ministries and agencies.  The report flagged 
those ministries and agencies that failed to take proper care of the 
trees on their allotted plots. 
 
GUESS WHO IS RIDING A HORSE 
 
¶9.  (SBU) During the March 14 subbotnik, President Berdimuhamedov 
appeared riding a beautiful Ahal-Teke horse, which was decorated 
with Turkmen traditional silver work.  The ground under the 
President's feet was covered by hand-made carpets, leaving a small 
hole for planting a tree.  A spade designated for the President was 
painted gold as was a wheelbarrow of dirt and a watering can. 
Historically, the idea of the first Soviet-era subbotniks proposed 
that Communist leaders worked shoulder to shoulder together with the 
working class people, so that the latter would view them as one of 
their own.  In the updated Turkmen version, the subbotnik's stage 
directors did everything possible to distinguish the President from 
other tree planters. 
 
 
¶10.  (SBU) COMMENT:  Local experts cast doubt on the success of the 
 
ASHGABAT 00000373  003 OF 003 
 
 
Government's large-scale tree-planting project, mostly because of 
Turkmenistan's dry climate, shortage of irrigation water and 
inability of the Government to introduce and maintain modern 
water-saving irrigation technologies.  According to local observers, 
fifty percent of newly planted trees die during the first summer. 
Experts believe that the maximum the project will achieve is a 
forest park in the mountains near Ashgabat, a far cry from the green 
belt intended to encircle the city.  END COMMENT. 
 
MILES