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DE RUEHAH #1123/01 2461259
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P 031259Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001123 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, INL/AAE BUHLER 
DOJ/ICITAP FOR MOGLE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR PGOV KCRM SOCI TX
SUBJECT:  TURKMENISTAN: CHEMICALS SHIPMENT SNAFU 
RESOLVED 
 
REF: Ashgabat 392 
 
¶1.  (U)  Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public 
Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  A shipment of chemicals that 
arrived in February under the auspices of Post's INL- 
funded DOJ/ICITAP project with the Ministry of 
Interior (MVD) has finally reached its destination at 
the Interior Ministry's Criminal Research Center 
(CRC).  After seven months of bureaucratic back and 
forth with the State Customs Service, the CRC was able 
take the delivery of USG-donated methanol and 
chloroform.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Forty-five kilograms of methanol and 
chloroform were shipped via diplomatic sea cargo to 
Turkmenbashy last February under the auspices of 
Post's INL-funded DOJ/ICITAP project to assist the 
Interior Ministry's forensic lab (referred as CRC). 
(NOTE: DOJ/ICITAP has been actively working with the 
CRC since 2001. The USG previously donated several 
essential pieces of lab equipment, including a gas 
chromatograph. END NOTE).  During the past six months, 
Post sent five diplomatic notes requesting customs 
clearance for the chemicals, but received no response. 
Follow-up phone calls every week, as well as the 
meetings with MFA and MVD officials, brought no 
progress in clearing the chemicals, which sat for six 
months at the Turkmenbashy Customs clearing point. 
Turkmen Customs authorities had denied clearance on 
the grounds that the importation of methanol requires 
specific Presidential approval.  The MFA applied to 
the Presidential Apparatus (PA) in June, but that also 
produced no resolution of the issue. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Last week, the Embassy revised its approach 
in a diplomatic note to the MFA, stating that the 
chemicals had already been donated to the CRC, and 
that the CRC had further responsibility for clearing 
them through Customs and their transportation from 
Turkmenbashy to Ashgabat.  The note essentially 
transferred responsibility for the chemicals from the 
Embassy to the CRC, which in turn facilitated quick 
clearance from the Presidential Apparatus.  The head 
of the CRC's Chemistry Department, who was given 
responsibility for transporting the chemicals, said 
that he was given a letter signed by Gurban Torayev, 
Head of the Presidential Apparatus' Department of 
Analysis of Law Enforcement Activities.  The letter 
contained a Presidential decree allowing the chemicals 
to be cleared.  CRC Forensic Lab personnel called the 
Embassy to express their gratitude for the chemicals, 
which they said were "badly needed" for their 
operations. "There is no way for us to purchase this 
stuff (chemicals) locally or overseas on our own.  We 
don't care if they're seven months late.  If stored 
properly, these solvents have no expiration dates, and 
will be useable for a long time.  We're just glad to 
be getting them at last." chemists said. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) COMMENT:  Although the Turkmen government 
had been told from the beginning that the chemical 
solvents were destined for the CRC, the fact that the 
shipment technically belonged to the Embassy had 
prevented their clearance.  Neither the Customs 
Service nor the Presidential Apparatus was willing to 
take such responsibility.  For the Turkmen, to 
officially refuse customs clearance was also 
 
ASHGABAT 00001123  002 OF 002 
 
 
problematic given accepted norms of diplomatic cargo 
destruction procedures.  Ultimately, it was only 
Post's creative alternative that got the shipment 
cleared.  END COMMENT. 
 
CURRAN