VZCZCXRO7177
PP RUEHAG RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHAH #0671/01 1520943
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 010943Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2877
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 5233
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 2971
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 2836
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 3477
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 3575

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ASHGABAT 000671 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/31/2019 
TAGS: PINR PINS SCUL SOCI EAGR TX IR SA TC
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN:  TRADITIONS OF NOHUR CHALLENGED BY 
OUTSIDE INFLUENCES 
 
Classified By: Charge Richard Miles, reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  Nohur, a remote settlement of about 5,000 
people located in a mountainous area near Iran in the Western 
part of Ahal province, is notable for its traditional culture 
and animalistic-superstitious variant of Islamic belief. 
Living conditions are primitive and the economy is based 
largely on subsistence farming.  The area's pristine nature 
is a potential source of tourism revenue, but locals object 
to the potential negative impact of inappropriate behavior of 
some visitors.  Bureaucratic restrictions on the ability of 
non-resident Nohurli to return to Nohur has generated 
conflict with government officials in the past, a sensitive 
subject for a government preoccupied with maintaining 
internal stability.  The existence of Nohur and tolerance of 
its unique culture by the Turkmen Government illustrates the 
complexity of inter-tribal relations in Turkmenistan, which 
can require the government to tread lightly at times in order 
to preserve peaceful co-existence.  END SUMMARY. 
 
WHAT IS NOHUR 
 
¶2.  (C) Nohur, a settlement of about 5,000 people located in 
a mountainous area close to the Iranian border and between 
Ahal and Balkan provinces, is distinguished by the 
traditional nature of its culture, which is protected from 
outside influence by the area's remoteness.  Nohurli speak 
their own language, called Nohur, which is a dialect of 
Turkmen containing influences from Persian and Arabic. 
Locals practice Islam tinged with superstition and animalism, 
which can be seen in the cemetery where gravestones are 
topped by the horns of goats -- and which outsiders are 
forbidden to enter or photograph.  Columns on the front of 
homes in the area include details that may be in the Ionic 
style, or could represent sheep horns.  Nohur is also home to 
several legends concerning holy people and which are linked 
to the Persian legend of the Peri.  Very little is known 
about the origins of Nohurli, some of whom claim that they 
are the descendents of Alexander the Great's soldiers.  Among 
the Nohurli, there is a preponderance of blue-eyed, 
long-nosed people whose appearance clearly differs from that 
of ethnic Turkmen. 
 
PRIMITIVE LIVING CONDITIONS; SUBSISTENCE ECONOMY 
 
¶3.  (C) During a 24-hour stay in the area, a local family 
told Embassy Officer that children hardly ever go to school 
and when they do, not much is expected of them.  Hence, 
nearly everyone is illiterate.  According to the daily 
routine, adults get up at about 6:00 a.m. to begin the day's 
work.  Women wear traditional long Turkmen dresses and spend 
their days milking cows, baking bread, preparing meals, 
tending children, and cleaning.  Men tend fields or watch 
livestock.  Children generally play or help with the 
livestock.  At the end of the workday, village elders call 
men to prayer in the mosque, and elderly women, but not young 
women, pray in their homes on prayer mats.  Some Nohurli are 
able to sell produce on the market, but much of the farming 
is for subsistence.  The home where Embassy Officer stayed 
had running water and electricity, albeit unreliable, with a 
separate outhouse in the back.  In the evenings, women watch 
Russian television programs, which helps some to learn 
passable Russian, while weaving silk by hand on a loom.  Men 
and women eat meals in the traditional Turkmen way, on the 
floor and in separate rooms.  The elder of the family where 
Embassy Officer stayed still knew Russian from his experience 
in the Soviet Army.  Two brothers, one age 26 and the other 
30, said that they didn't know anything about the U.S., 
except from what they saw in pictures that a non-Nohurli 
friend took during a U.S. Government-funded trip to the U.S. 
Like elsewhere in Central Asia, Nohurli highly value 
hospitality and refuse to allow visitors to help with chores. 
 
PRESIDENT'S CLASSMATE:  THE VILLAGE DENTIST 
 
 
ASHGABAT 00000671  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Embassy Officer noticed a man wearing the dark suit 
and tie, white shirt, and Turkmenistan flag pin 
characteristic of government officials.  The brothers 
explained that he is the area's dentist.  He is not a 
government official, but dresses like one because he went to 
dental school with President Berdimuhamedov. 
 
TO LEAVE, OR NOT TO LEAVE NOHUR 
 
¶5.  (C) The 30-year-old brother is thinking about leaving 
Nohur -- as he estimated 70 percent of Nohurli have done -- 
to become a driver in Ashgabat.  The younger brother was 
content with life in the village and planned on staying. 
They explained that villagers accepted that young people 
moved elsewhere because of the limited living and farming 
space on the mountain.  They explained that those who left 
Nohur retained their traditions and some local habits, like 
having wooden chests painted in a traditional Nohur style in 
their homes, which differ in style and motifs from similar 
furniture owned by Turkmen.  These brothers acknowledged the 
prevalence of inbreeding and the health problems that it 
caused.  The household elder did not want members of his 
household engaging in this practice any longer, and they are 
now allowed to marry outside of their clan, to members of 
other clans in the Nohur area.  (NOTE:  Nohurli apparently 
understand that inbreeding leads to birth defects and 
learning disabilities, but not so much that they know that 
they will have to expand the pool beyond 5,000, or the 
approximate total of 17,000 Nohurli in Turkmenistan in order 
to avoid this.  END NOTE.)  The two brothers admitted that 
Nohurli who live in other parts of Turkmenistan are known to 
be wily businessmen, which contributes to a bad reputation 
for Nohurli -- their illiteracy leaves them few options in 
the professional world and they have to rely on their street 
smarts.  One Turkmen told emboff that she knows of a Nohur 
woman who is a shuttle trader of goods from Iran, and 
marveled that she is able to do this job without being able 
to read or write. 
 
BEHIND THE WATERFALLS, PEOPLE STAND UP TO AUTHORITY -- AND 
OUTSIDERS 
 
¶6.  (C) The area's pristine nature, including several 
waterfalls, has long attracted Turkmen, but -- according to 
various sources both inside and outside of the area -- local 
Nohurli tore down the Chandybil Tourist Center because 
"Turkmen brought prostitutes and drank."  Nohurli are 
especially critical of drunkenness and complained about this 
behavior several times when explaining the refusal of local 
elders to accept tourism in the area.  (NOTE:  When asked 
about Nohur, one Ashgabat resident told emboff that he wanted 
to go to Nohur soon, to "drink vodka under the waterfalls," 
and maintained that he would sneak alcohol into these areas, 
even if he stayed with locals.  END NOTE.)  A tourism company 
interested in developing tourism in Nohur asked to meet with 
members of this family, who in addition to farming, also work 
for the Ministry of Nature Protection as forest rangers of 
the nearby national forest.  However, the family declined to 
work with the company because it did not appear sincerely 
interested in the area or people, but just wanted 
information.  They family was also suspicious of the problems 
that tourism could bring to the area. 
 
¶7.  (C) A non-Nohur and close friend of the family explained 
how Nohurli forced Turkmen security officials to discontinue 
requiring border permits in order to enter the area three 
years ago.  Security officers prevented some Nohurli who 
lived outside the area from returning to attend a funeral 
because they didn't have the necessary permits.  (NOTE: 
Nohurli believe in burying the dead within a 24-hour window, 
and obtaining border permissions took several days at a 
minimum.  END NOTE.)  Nohurli, angered that the government 
was interfering in their lives and sacred burial traditions, 
tore down the officers' building, and literally drove them 
out of the area.  This source noted the extreme sensitivity 
 
ASHGABAT 00000671  003 OF 003 
 
 
of this information, explaining that Turkmen authorities are 
extremely fearful about the spread of information containing 
any hint of instability in the country. 
 
MORE ON THE COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD 
 
¶8.  (C) The brothers noted that one good thing about border 
permissions was that Iranians could enter the area only with 
difficulty.  They said that Iranians bring two things to 
Nohur that no one likes:  drugs, and in the other extreme, 
the Iranian brand of religious observance.  They also said 
that some young people were going to Saudi Arabia and the 
United Arab Emirates for religious education, and elders did 
not like the new ideas that these youth brought back with 
them.  Nohurli like the way that they worship and want it to 
stay that way. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) COMMENT:  The existence of Nohur and tolerance of 
its unique culture by the Turkmen Government illustrates the 
complexity of inter-tribal relations in Turkmenistan.  While 
some Nohurli seek to protect their traditional culture, it is 
clear that pressures are building to open up to the outside 
world.  Increasingly Nohurli move elsewhere to earn a living 
and, tourism, which could provide local jobs, would bring the 
influence of pernicious habits.  Still, options are limited 
if the Nohurli are going to improve their current dire living 
conditions.  END COMMENT. 
MILES