VZCZCXRO9573
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLH RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHNEH RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSL RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #1066/01 2361204
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 241204Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3342
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 5577
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 3296
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 3161
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 3820
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1102
RHMCSUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 3830
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001066 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM SOCI SENV TX
SUBJECT:  TURKMENISTAN:  ENVIRONMENTAL NGO EDUCATES 
DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN 
 
¶1. (U) Sensitive but Unclassified.  Not for Internet 
distribution 
 
¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY:  During the past few years, an 
unregistered civic group in the town of Hazar, on the 
Caspian coast, has organized summer ecology camps for 
children from disadvantaged families.  The group was 
unable to register as an NGO because it does not 
operate on a year-round basis.  Despite being an 
unregistered organization, the group managed to 
successfully conduct OSCE and U.S. Embassy-funded 
projects, largely due to the group leader's personal 
contacts with local authorities.  END SUMMARY. 
 
SUMMER ECOLOGY CAMPS 
 
¶3. (SBU) On August 20, Inessa Perminova, Project 
Leader of the Initiative Group of Hazar Town Residents 
(Hazar Group), briefed Political Assistant on the 
background and activities of the group.  Perminova's 
group, consisting of civic activists living in Hazar 
town on the Caspian coast, organized summer and autumn 
ecology camps for children from disadvantaged families 
and orphans in Hazar.  The Hazar Group organized 
these activities since 2006 using funds provided by 
international donors.  In the framework of the Caspian 
Environmental Program (CEP), in the spring of 2006, 
Hazar Group implemented a project "Green Town by 
Schoolchildren's Hands," planting over 300 trees near 
each school in the town and holding ecological 
contests among schoolchildren.  In 2006 and 2007, the 
Group conducted OSCE-funded summer and autumn camps 
for orphans and children from disadvantaged families 
at a local sanatorium.  At these camps, children 
learned about environmental protection, as well as 
improving their own health.  In 2008, Hazar Group also 
conducted OSCE and U.S. Embassy-funded ecological 
camps.  The municipality of Hazar supported the 
group's projects, assisting with finding appropriate 
participants, providing water and electricity, and 
doing technical repairs when needed.  The project was 
registered at the Ministry of Economy and Development. 
 
REGISTRATION ISSUE 
 
¶4. (SBU) The Hazar Group is an unregistered 
organization.  In the spring of 2008, Perminova 
attempted to register the group at the Ministry of 
Justice.  Due to the group's lack of working capital 
and the seasonal nature of its activities, she was 
told the group would not qualify for registration. 
Perminova is a geologist and a full-time employee of 
the State Scientific Research Institute of Geology. 
She works on the group's projects during her vacations 
and, since the projects take place only once or twice 
a year, she decided not to further pursue 
registration for the group.  In order to implement 
the OSCE-U.S. Embassy-funded project, Perminova 
obtained a license to conduct social activity and 
canceled it after the project was completed. 
 
MUNICIPAL ASSISTANCE AND FUTURE PROJECTS 
 
¶5. (SBU) Perminova said the only problem implementing 
the projects was a shortage of drinking water, a 
common problem in Hazar.  Drinking water is normally 
brought to Hazar from Balkanabat, the provincial 
center of Balkan province.  According to Perminova, 
Hazar's municipal officials supported the group's 
projects from beginning to end by supplying 
drinking water and electricity, allowing use of the 
sanatorium's premises, and helping with gathering the 
 
ASHGABAT 00001066  002 OF 002 
 
 
participants from around the town.  When something 
broke down, it was fixed after a phone call to the 
municipality.  The project enjoyed the support of 
local authorities because of Perminova's personal 
contacts.  She had worked in Hazar in the past and 
knew the town and many of its residents very well. 
Concerning the prospects for similar projects in 
the future, Perminova said the sanatorium where she 
held the camps in the past is now demolished, to be 
replaced by a new 250-place sanatorium. 
Nevertheless, subject to funding, she may consider 
organizing children's daytime eco trainings at one 
of the town's schools. 
 
POOR INFRASTRUCTURE AND RICH ENERGY COMPANIES 
 
¶6. (SBU) Perminova said that Hazar has poor 
infrastructure and roads.  It takes 1.5 hours to get 
to Hazar by car from Balkanabat, along an extremely 
dangerous road.  Yet, according to Perminova, none of 
the foreign oil companies working in Hazar do anything 
to show corporate social responsibility, such as 
building a new road or improving the municipal water 
supply.  "Only Dragon Oil brings Christmas gifts to 
orphans residing at the sanatorium, others do not do 
even that," Perminova said. 
 
¶7. (SBU) COMMENT:  The Hazar authorities' support 
of the group's activities is a positive 
step reflecting their awareness of local 
ecological and social problems, and their 
willingness to solve them with the assistance of 
civil society.  The Hazar Group's focus on Working 
with disadvantaged children on a politically "neutral" 
topic such as ecology also facilitated project 
implementation.  Still, the success of Perminova's 
group in collaborating with local authorities is due 
to a large extent to her personal contacts with 
Hazar authorities, who let her implement the project 
even though it is an unregistered group.  Without 
such contacts, it would have ben impossible to 
function.  END COMMENT. 
 
MILES