Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ASHGABAT1055
2006-10-05 14:17:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Ashgabat
Cable title:  

COTTON, LIES AND COPIERS IN DASHOGUZ

Tags:  PGOV EAGR CVIS PINR SENV TX 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0009
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAH #1055/01 2781417
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 051417Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7883
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0362
RUEHFT/AMCONSUL FRANKFURT 3304
C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 001055 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CACEN (PERRY),CA/VO/F/P FOR SAVAGE, FRANKFURT
FOR RCO BROWN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/05/2016
TAGS: PGOV EAGR CVIS PINR SENV TX
SUBJECT: COTTON, LIES AND COPIERS IN DASHOGUZ

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Jennifer L. Brush for reasons 1.4(B) a
nd (D).

SUMMARY
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 001055

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CACEN (PERRY),CA/VO/F/P FOR SAVAGE, FRANKFURT
FOR RCO BROWN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/05/2016
TAGS: PGOV EAGR CVIS PINR SENV TX
SUBJECT: COTTON, LIES AND COPIERS IN DASHOGUZ

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Jennifer L. Brush for reasons 1.4(B) a
nd (D).

SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) President Niyazov's complete control over the minds
and means of Turkmenistan is in full view in Dashoguz Welayat
(province). The man widely rumored to be Niyazov's heir
apparent, the charming and utterly devoid of democratic
sensibilities Aganiyaz Akiyev, firmly enforces the
president's rules as governor (hakim). Educators are
speechless when asked their views on whether nine years of
compulsory education really could be considered adequate in
the modern world. Farmers, even private farmers, happily
return to growing cotton after the president decreed a
four-fold price increase and tax breaks for growing cotton.
Access to information is so controlled that even the
USAID-run Counterpart Consortium Resource Center warns users
against accessing political or religious sites out of fear
that the one access to the Internet in this province of 1.4
million residents would be shut down. Even access to copiers
is controlled; outside of government offices, only one
businessman (a Sabit alumnus) is "licensed" to make copies.
In spite of this suffocation of thought, speech and action,
USG-run programs continue to represent a beacon for the local
population. Peace Corps volunteers are rock stars here, and
the American Corner and Counterpart Resource Center are full
of users avidly reading the resource material, scanning grant
possibilities, and working on their English in order to
qualify for exchange programs. A USAID-funded assistance
program of $7k, just begun in April, already has assisted
20,000 farmers in the region. End Summary.

WE DON'T NEED NO (NINE-YEAR) EDUCATION...
--------------


2. (SBU) According to Akiyev, there are 507 schools in
Dashoguz Welayat. Akiyev (along with all other education
system interlocutors) defended the president's decision to
decrease mandatory education from 10 to 9 years, even though

his generation had the benefit of at least ten years of
mandatory schooling. He assured Charge that this decision
did not have a negative impact on Dashoguz's youth, as seen
by the participation of local youth in national and
international academic competitions. This new policy, he
claimed, contributed to the president's overall efforts to
reform the educational system; unlike the policies of the
Soviet era, President Niyazov's reforms would definitely
improve the quality of Turkmenistan's education, he said.


3. (SBU) The Charge told Akiyev that this policy could be
changed, given the president's comments in 2005 to former
Deputy Assistant Secretary Kennedy that he planned to
reinstate a 10th year of education. She added that, despite
the Soviet Union's many problems, America both respected and
feared the strong Soviet education system. Akiyev responded
that the Soviet educational system was riddled with "bad
habits" that undermined the ability of Turkmenistan's youth
to learn. In a separate discussion, local Ministry of
Education (MOE) representative Agamyrat Gummyshov explained
that, since independence, the government had gradually rolled
back the years of mandatory education from 12 to 9 years, but
could not explain why.


4. (C) When asked why the German Embassy in Ashgabat stopped
supporting Dashoguz's so-called "German School" (a well-known
German Embassy-supported school specializing in English and
German-language instruction),Akiyev claimed that the German
Embassy decided to stop its funding for unexplained reasons.
(Comment: When informed of our exchange, a furious German
Ambassador Mondorff told Conoff that his embassy stopped
funding after the previous school director was sacked from
her job, accused of committing treason, and placed under
virtual house arrest. Local officials claimed that the
director whispered state secrets to Mondorff while he was
visiting the school. End Comment.)


5. (SBU) All Charge's interlocutors supported the
president's stated policy of teaching English in schools and
praised local Peace Corps volunteers' efforts in the region
to teach English. Despite their enthusiasm, local officials
were reluctant to express a wish for more USG resources and
PCVs to work in Dashoguz, even after the Charge informed them
that the Peace Corps Regional Director supported sending more
PCVs to the country. Interlocutors also were noncommittal
when Charge asked what their needs were to improve English
instruction; all responded, "If the Ministry of Education
says we need it, we'll take it." The exception was the head
of the local agribusiness school (which has no English
curriculum and is run by the local city authorities, not the
Education Ministry),who welcomed Charge's offer to start an
English language program at his school. When asked to
explain how and why local English teachers were prevented
from traveling to Ashgabat for the recent International
Teachers of English Conference, Akiyev and the local
educational official at first feigned ignorance, but later
gave varying excuses -- the teachers were on vacation, the
MFA did not properly inform us, and so on. (Comment:
Embassy knows for a fact teachers from Dashoguz were
threatened, harassed and otherwise prevented from attending
the conference even though their names had been submitted to
the Education Ministry months in advance. Those who did
attend, did so at their own risk. End Comment.)

INTERNET ACCESS -- AWAITING THE MAGIC CABLE
--------------


6. (SBU) Given the lack of Internet access in Turkmenistan
and the November 1 mandatory introduction of electronic visa
application forms (EVAF),Charge and Conoff asked about
Internet use in Dashoguz. According to Akiyev, all schools
in Dashoguz had computers, though none had Internet access.
(Comment: Counterpart's Dashoguz branch, located adjacent to
the American Corner, is the only place in Dashoguz with
Internet access, a total of five terminals, thanks to a
satellite link. Counterpart administrators told Charge they
were self-censoring, however, noting they informed users not
to access political or religious sites for fear the
government would shut down the center. End Comment.) Akiyev
said that the president had recently decreed that a new
Chinese-provided fiber-optic communications cable be
installed that would connect Dashoguz to existing Internet
lines in Ashgabat. MOE representative Gummyshov said that
Internet access in the region had been permitted in the past
and that he himself had access at one time, but that for
"some reason" Internet access was denied a few years ago.


7. (SBU) Charge noted that the government had recently
closed Dashoguz's sole Internet Access and Training Program
(IATP) and that the embassy had twice asked the MFA for an
explanation. Akiyev and our MFA "minder" both claimed
ignorance about the subject, with Akiyev promising to look
into the matter. Charge added that she hoped that the
government would approve the embassy's plans to introduce the
Global Connections Internet program to Turkmenistan, which
would provide Internet training free of charge.


8. (SBU) During the Charge's visits to various schools and
organizations, not one (with the exception of Counterpart),
had access to the Internet. At every location, Conoff raised
the issue of EVAF with his interlocutors, noting that the
Department had instructed all consular sections to stop using
paper applications by November 1. During the meeting with
Akiyev, Conoff said that although the number of visa
applicants from Dashoguz Welayat was small in comparison to
other welayats, the lack of Internet access in Dashoguz, as
well as throughout the country, would mean that no applicants
-- including government officials -- would be able to apply
for visas. Conoff added that, given EVAF's worldwide use, it
would be unfortunate for Turkmenistan's citizens to be unable
to apply for visas, because their country could not provide
Internet to its people.

DECISION 2006: DASHOGUZ SUFFERING FROM ELECTION FEVER
-------------- --


9. (SBU) Charge asked local interlocutors about the July
gengesh (village council) elections and the preparations for
the upcoming December etrap (district) elections. All
praised the conduct of the gengesh elections as "proof" that
democracy was thriving in Turkmenistan. Akiyev added that
one of the two runoff elections held in Turkmenistan occurred
in a village outside Dashoguz. While Akiyev was unaware of
the number of independent candidates who had won, Kunya
Urgench Hakim (mayor) Jelatedin Saparov said he believed that
some independent candidates were elected to gengesh councils
in his town. However, since there was only one party (the
Democratic Party of Turkmenistan),nobody really paid
attention to party membership. Akiyev and Saparov said that
independent candidates would not be precluded from running in
the etrap elections. (Comment: While discussing between
themselves, in Turkmen, whether or not any independent
candidates had in fact won in any of the gengesh elections,
Saparov and Gummyshov themselves had a hard time
understanding the concept of an independent candidate,
finally settling on the term "daller," or in English, "the
nots." And even then they did not seem to know if any of the
"nots" had been elected, though, they agreed there had been
some "not" candidates. End Comment.) Dashoguz City Hakim
(mayor) Nurmammedov said that the etrap councils (etrap Halk
Maslahatys) would be able to control their local budgets and
allocate funding for various projects (i.e. building
schools),but would need prior approval from Ashgabat before
implementing any projects. Saparov told Charge that local
voters were mainly concerned with agricultural issues and
improving their quality of life.

COTTON IS KING IN DASHOGUZ
--------------


10. (SBU) Akiyev said that the president,s September visit
to Dashoguz, which marked the start of the cotton harvest,
was a huge success and assured Charge that Dashoguz Welayat
would easily reach its quota of 615 thousand tons of cotton,
weather permitting. Due to bad weather in 2005, Akiyev said
that the 2005 cotton harvest of 615 thousand tons did not
meet Dashoguz,s quota. (Note: During a December 2, 2005
Cabinet Meeting, President Niyazov stated that 737,000 tons
of cotton harvested in 2005 -- just 5,000 tons more than was
harvested in 2004 -- had "fulfilled" the harvest plan, though
it was only 33.5% of the total 2.2 million tons called for in
the original plan. The government openly admitted failure,
but claimed technical challenges, and did not fault the
state-controlled agriculture system. End Note.)


11. (SBU) A private farmer had separately told emboffs on a
trip two weeks earlier that 70 percent of Dashoguz farmers
had not yet been paid for their 2005 cotton crops. According
to Akiyev, the delay in payments for the 2005 harvest was due
to last year,s low cotton prices, which have increased from
1,500 manat (6 cents) to 6,000 manat (25 cents) per kilogram.
(Note: Farmers wishing to keep cotton seeds for making
cotton oil and animal feed are paid 4,500 manat (about 19
cents) per kilogram. End Note.) Akiyev added that payments
for last year,s harvest are underway and should be completed
by mid-October.

SALTY SOIL
--------------


12. (SBU) Charge noted that from the airplane the ground
appeared to be white -- she thought evidence of cotton
fields. However it turned out the white substance was salt.
Akiyev explained that the salt was due to Dashoguz,s
traditionally low water levels, but -- thanks to the
government,s environmental policies and the installation of
a Culligan water treatment plant in the region -- water
quality in the welayat had significantly improved and now
each house, school, and hospital had its own water filters.


13. (SBU) Notwithstanding Akiyev's assurances, however,
Zulaiho Matyakubova, director of a local USAID health
awareness project in a local hospital, told Charge the high
salinity of Dashoguz,s soil presented the single biggest
health concern for the local population. As a result, the
region had the highest rates of kidney ailments and iodine
deficiencies in the country. While schools and hospitals had
water filters, they were antiquated and did not work
properly. She said that the local population relied on
bottled water for its consumption needs.

FARMERS WORK WITH COUNTERPART
--------------


14. (SBU) Charge also met with two organizations helping
local farmers benefit from USAID funding. According to
members of the Counterpart Consortium-assisted Dayhan
Resource Center, their organization helped local farmers sell
their goods on the local and international markets. They
also assisted farmers to develop business plans and locate
markets, and supported local entrepreneurship. Charge
informed the staff that the USG viewed the support of private
farmers as one of its most important goals in Turkmenistan.
One of the representatives said that the Dayhan Resource
Center and its member organizations were interested in the
upcoming local elections, and that one of the groups working
with the resource center was planning on fielding candidates
to run.


15. (SBU) According to members of the Tagt Cooperative,
the organization received funding from Winrock, Counterpart,
and the UK government, and provided grants to support
agribusiness and water resource management. (Note: the
cooperative,s total USG grant budget is $7,000. End Note.)
Members of the cooperative, one a FLEX exchange alumni,
showed Charge several projects involving restoring unusable
land by clearing out old irrigation canals and repairs to
water pumping facilities. This year the cooperative provided
training courses to over 100 people, who also benefited
because project participants were not taxed on the land they
use for the projects. Once the projects were completed,
those working on the projects were able to keep the land for
private use. The cooperative estimated that over 20,000
people have benefited from the cooperative's various projects
and training programs. When asked if it was possible for
farmers to grow things other than cotton and wheat, the staff
said that, provided the farmers have government permission,
they are allowed to do so.

DON'T LOOK BEHIND THE GREEN CURTAIN!
--------------


16. (C) Despite our hosts' efforts to show us the "bright"
side of Dashoguz, there were several reminders that all was
not well with this northern metropolis. While visiting the
German School's computer center, one student complained that
that he and his classmates were no longer able to use the
Internet at the American Corner, since the government banned
Internet connections in the region. (Note: A very unhappy
MFA minder stood nearby eavesdropping on our conversation.
End Note.) Counterpart's local director told us that the
organization self-censored its Internet users, forbidding
them from accessing any potentially controversial sites (such
as those discussing politics and religion). The director of
the Polyclinic #2 Resource Center explained that she did not
seek government approval for Internet access because she was
"too scared she would lose her job." When asked to create a
t-shirt with the president's image, our hotel manager (a USG
SABIT Fellowship alumni) immediately contacted the MNB to get
its approval. (Note: The hotel also served as an office
supplies store specializing in digital photography. End
Note.) After Conoff cancelled his order in order to protect
the manager, the manager explained that he was concerned
since "I'm Uzbek, not Turkmen, and they target Uzbeks," while
making a gesture of someone shooting a machine gun. This
alum also had the sole copying franchise in the welayat --
yes, even copy machines are controlled.

BIOGRAPHIC NOTE
--------------


17. (C) While charming and savvy, Dashoguz Welayat Hakim
Akiyev's demeanor does not conceal his well-known loyalty to
the president, stemming from his days as a former
presidential body guard and Ministry of National Security
(MNS) officer. (Note: During his conversation with the
Charge, Akiyev joked that an electricity surge causing the
lights to go out for a few seconds, was to allow the MNS to
"change their tape." End Note.) Given his previous work in
other welayats, he is definitely well trusted, and is even
rumored by locals to be a possible (and dangerous)
presidential successor, a rumor, which if true, may possibly
lead to his eventual downfall.

COMMENT
--------------


18. (C) Despite the regime's efforts to convert students to
the president's "holy" book, the Ruhnama, and its assurances
that no further assistance is needed to teach English, there
is a genuine thirst for more USG-provided English and
educational programs in the region. Everyone from government
officials to students realize the importance of learning
English. Government assurances that a new fiber-optic cable
will connect Dashoguz to the information superhighway are
doubtful given the regime's poor history of making false
promises. Nevertheless, we will continue to push for greater
Internet access for the population, and have warned the
government that their inability to provide Internet to their
population denies them the right to apply for visas, as well
as access general information about the world.


19. (C) Local citizens' efforts to help improve their
societies, often at times with the help of USG exchange
alumni, deserve special praise. While facing many
environmental and security difficulties, they are able to
make significant achievements promoting private business,
farmer development, and environmental protection with little
or no material support. Continued USG support for their
efforts is critical both psychologically and financially.
END COMMENT.
BRUSH