VZCZCXRO6609
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBC RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHDE RUEHDF RUEHDIR
RUEHIK RUEHKUK RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNEH RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHSK
RUEHSL RUEHSR RUEHTRO RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #1109/01 2450701
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 020701Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3387
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 5607
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 3326
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 3190
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
RHMCSUU/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
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 3850
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASHGABAT 001109 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, INL/AAE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV MCAP KCRM SOCI TX
SUBJECT:  HAZING PERSISTS IN THE TURKMEN ARMY 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  SUMMARY:  Inherited from Soviet times, the practice of 
hazing still occurs widely in the Turkmen army.  Recruits are 
usually hazed because of their ethnicity or tribal affiliation.  As 
it can involve violations of human dignity and morale such as 
brutality, verbal abuse and rape, and it often results in physical 
injury, psychological damage, and suicide.  The Turkmen Government 
keeps silent about this problem and does little to protect the 
soldiers' rights.  Although military officers report that hazing has 
been decreasing during recent years, military death statistics 
indicate the opposite.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3.  (U)  BACKGROUND:  "Dedovshchina" (literally "the rule of 
grandfather") is the term used for hazing in the Soviet and 
post-Soviet military.  It refers to the relationship, in the form of 
violence, torture, and humiliation, between a soldier in his final 
half-year of conscription (referred to as a "ded"(grandfather) or 
"dembel" stemming from a vulgarization of the verb demobilize) and a 
soldier at the first half-year of conscription (referred in army 
slang as "dukh," or soul).  END BACKGROUND. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The practice of hazing in the Turkmen military is a 
carry-over from Soviet times.  The practice accelerated dramatically 
in the 1990s and still occurs widely.  Hazing in the Turkmen army is 
usually based on ethnic, geographic or tribal affiliation.  Soldiers 
from minority tribes are reportedly hazed more than others. 
According to one source who did military service in Mary city in 
2003-2005, conscripts from Lebap and Dashoguz provinces were hazed 
more in their military units than the conscripts from Mary or 
Ashgabat.  Meanwhile, another source who did his military service in 
2000-2001 at Ashgabat's military unit 1002 belonging to the Ministry 
of Interior Affairs claimed that hazing is a tradition and every 
soldier recruited for military service sees it.  "It doesn't matter 
which tribe you are from," this source continued, "it's all about 
behavior and tolerance.  If you do what dembel wants you to do, than 
you become "chmo" (the abbreviation for "chelovek moralno opushenny" 
- slang meaning morally disgraced person) and everyone keeps hazing 
you all the time.  If you don't do what the dembel orders you to do, 
than you were beaten.  If you report about it to the officers the 
next day, then you become a "kozel" (goat in Russian, slang meaning 
snitch), and that is even worse than chmo, no one talks to you after 
that and you may be hazed to death.  If you don't report that you 
were beaten, than you may be beaten a couple more times, but after a 
while the dembels stop hazing you and you may become 
"polozhenets"(respected person), if dembels find you as a cool 
guy." 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Hazing harms physically as well as psychologically. 
Bayram, who performed military service in 2003-2004 at the military 
unit 20040 of Ashgabat, says that dedovshchina was not habitual 
beating, but a culture or philosophy.  According to Bayram, hazing 
involved different "games," like "plov" (a traditional Turkmen 
dish), when a dembel invited a dukh to eat plov.  "If the dukh 
accepted the offer, dembel then asked him to bring a spoon.  When 
the dukh brought a spoon, dembel hit the top of the dukh's fingers 
with the spoon.  After a couple of hits, the dukh's fingers become 
dark blue and nails become black or fall out the next day."  Another 
"game" Bayram described was "breath."  The dukh took a deep breath 
and the dembel punched the dukh in the chest while dukh held his 
breath.  A couple such punches could lacerate the lungs, which used 
to happen quite often to conscripts.  As an example of psychological 
hazing, Bayram described roll-calls conducted by dembels.  "The 
dembel screamed an animal name to a group of dukhs, who were 
supposed to respond with the sound that the animal normally 
produces." 
 
¶6.  (SBU) For most ex-conscripts, dedovshchina is associated with 
the "toilet cleaning" ritual, the worst of all the dembels' games. 
One of the sources, reiterating his military experience at 
Ashgabat's military unit 20016 belonging to the Honor Guard 
 
ASHGABAT 00001109  002 OF 003 
 
 
Squadron, told how he went through this "ritual."  "Me and nine 
other newly-arrived conscripts were taken to the bathroom by a 
dembel on the first day of our service.  We were lined up in the 
bathroom and the dembel handed a dirty piece of cloth to each of us 
and ordered us to clean the toilets.  Cleaning a toilet is "zapadlo" 
(disgracing action).  I refused to take the cloth and was 
immediately hit in my chest.  All the others who also refused with 
me were beaten by the dembel.  Only two guys among us took the cloth 
after several punches.  After that, they became "chmo."  Nobody 
respected them and they were the ones who then cleaned toilets 
everyday.  Sometimes dembels made them clean the toilets with a 
toothbrush, which was basically just for fun.  Many "chmos" who 
couldn't stand hazing committed suicide.  It is quite common that 
conscripts commit suicide in the army because of hazing." 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Meanwhile, military officers claim that the trend of 
dedovshchina has diminished in the past couple of years as the 
military service conditions have improved.  According to a Senior 
Lieutenant from the military division of Bekreve, dedovshchina 
occurs very rarely.  Describing the soldiers daily life, the Senior 
Lieutenant said, "Soldiers get up at six in the morning do physical 
exercise from six-thirty to seven, then go to breakfast.  They line 
up for roll-call at eight.  From nine to ten they take classes; from 
ten to eleven they do the territory clean-up.  From 1100 to 1700, 
soldiers watch TV in barracks.  No activity is allowed for soldiers 
during this time due to the hot weather, except for a walk to 
cafeteria for lunch.  At 1800, they go to dinner and after that they 
watch TV in barracks till 2200.  They have good food including meat, 
potatoes, and melons.  Their barracks are equipped with satellite TV 
dishes.  There is no time to think about dedovshchina in the army. 
Officers watch soldiers all the time.  We stay with them in the 
barracks day and night."  However, the Senior Lieutenant admitted 
that on some occasions officers or dembels have no other choice but 
to "punish" soldiers who do not obey orders.  "I once hit a soldier 
on the head with a stool because he refused to sweep the territory," 
the source said.  "I explained to him that territory clean up was 
not "zapadlo," but he refused, and I took a stool and hit him," 
confessed the officer. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Dedovshchina is a crime that the Turkmen government 
prefers not to talk about.  No official statistics have been 
published on crimes committed in the military, although a source 
from the Ashgabat Central Directorate for Military Health reported 
that the military death statistics and suicides for 2008 have been 
significantly high compared to previous years, even though the 
length of compulsory military service was reduced from two years to 
a year and a half in 2008.  Reportedly, the majority of these death 
cases were related to military hazing.  Usually, officers conceal 
hazing incidents.  For instance, a military source reported that the 
officers at a military unit in Ashgabat hid the suicide note of a 
conscript, who hung himself after being hazed.  Although the 
conscript wrote in the message that he was beaten and raped by the 
dembels, the military unit's administration told his parents that he 
hung himself because of his girlfriend. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) COMMENT:  The officer's description of a typical soldier's 
day seems excessively positive, especially the claim that soldiers 
get meat, potatoes and melons.  We've heard that soldiers not 
getting enough to eat is one reason people pay bribes to get their 
family members to serve near home ... so Mom can feed her poor son. 
One possible method to combat dedovshchina would be the 
implementation of a professional non-commissioned officer corps and 
a professional military.  A few years ago, CENTCOM advocated for NCO 
academies throughout Central Asia.  Certainly no one will volunteer 
for service if they think they're in for a beating.  In any case, 
Turkmenistan seems quite happy with its conscript military, so 
drastic changes to current practices are not in the offing. 
 
¶10. (SBU) COMMENT CONTINUED:  Article 16 of the Law on the Status 
and Social Protection of a Military Serviceman, issued August 31, 
2009, states that the State guarantees the health and life of a 
 
ASHGABAT 00001109  003 OF 003 
 
 
military serviceman.  This law alone will not stop the persistent 
practice of dedovshchina in the Turkmen military, but it could be a 
first step in combating its prevalence.  In order for progress to 
take place, however, old attitudes will need to change, such as that 
of the Senior Lieutenant who said skeptically "dedovshchina existed, 
exists and will exist, if there are at least two people in the 
army."  END COMMENT. 
 
CURRAN