ICE SKATING IN THE DESERT AND OTHER CELEBRATIONS TO

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000549 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN (PERRY) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI EPET JA FR TX SUBJECT: ICE SKATING IN THE DESERT AND OTHER CELEBRATIONS TO MARK MAGTUMGULY DAY (MAY 18) ASHGABAT 00000549 001.4 OF 002 Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) GOTX marked the May 18 holiday of Resurrection, Unity and Magtumguly Poetry with the expected pomp and wastefulness of a grand musical concert and the opening of Turkmenistan's first ice skating rink. At the concert, a Japanese delegation presented President Niyazov with a Japanese translation of his Ruknama sequel, extolling the virtues of the book. At the ice rink, a group of French champion ice-skaters and local children performed a spectacular show for parents, GOTX representatives and the diplomatic community. While event participants expected President Niyazov at both ceremonies, Niyazov attended only the concert, leaving over a thousand children, bussed in to line the highway to the ice rink for five hours under the scorching midday sun, nothing to show for their efforts but dehydration and sunburn. Dozens of families also lost their homes when a neighborhood opposite the rink was razed in less than 48 hours to prepare for Niyazov's aborted visit. End Summary. Choreographed Adulation -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Following an early morning wreath-laying ceremony at Independence Park and the downtown Magtymguly statue, Turkmenistan's May 18 Day of Resurrection, Unity and Magtumguly Poetry celebration began in earnest with a noon musical and theatrical concert at Rukhyet Palace. Arriving 90 minutes early in accordance with presidential security procedures, PolEconOff feared he had misread the invitation when he walked into a packed, 1,000-plus seat auditorium with spectators standing, chanting and waving hundreds of Turkmenistani flags. On inspection, the mass adoration was nothing but the practice run for the fully choreographed "standing, thunderous ovation" that greeted Niyazov on his entrance and which was reported later in the government- owned newspaper Neutralnyi Turkmenistan. To complete the staged scene, security forces also pre-positioned two young girls with bouquets, who stood frozen like statues for 90 minutes near Niyazov's audience-center throne, with security guards looking on. ¶3. (SBU) To start the concert, a Japanese delegation presented Niyazov a Japanese translation of the second volume of his Ruknama. Calling the first Ruknama "invaluable," delegation member Professor Yushaki Sasaki of the Science Academy Foundation of Tokyo said he had read the original Ruknama seven times and planned on reading the second volume ten times. Niyazov thanked the delegation for the book and in an extemporaneous speech noted the high level of Turkmen-Japanese cooperation. Japanese companies Itochu Corporation and JGC, among others, were renovating the Turkmenbashy and Seidy oil refineries, he said. Niyazov also announced plans to open a Japanese language department in Turkmenistan. ¶4. (U) The concert included a mixture of music, song, and dance productions with lyrics by Turkmen poet Magtumguly and President Niyazov, who, according to the newspaper Neutralnyi Turkmenistan, "continues the high poetic tradition" of Turkmenistan and blesses the country and its people with his "inspiring artistic gifts." Waiting in the Desert -------------- ¶5. (U) GOTX also opened on May 18 the much-anticipated $21.5 million "Ice Palace." The ice rink, officially named the "National Olympic Sports Palace," is the second 'Olympic' facility GOTX has built; GOTX opened a 30,000-seat track and field complex in 2000. An Olympic pool complex is also under construction. The venues are part of $2 billion of "humanitarian projects" that GOTX has built over the last several years. Niyazov's portrait graces the building's white marble facade. ¶6. (SBU) GOTX bussed in over a thousand school children and ASHGABAT 00000549 002.4 OF 002 others to greet Niyazov along the highway to the ice rink. One embassy employee said her daughter, who is in the 6th grade, stood beside the road in the scorching midday sun for five hours without water or shelter. When the opening ceremony came and went without Niyazov's arrival, the girl's class walked approximately 30 minutes to the nearest public center, where the girl was able to call her mother to pick her up. The Embassy employee said her daughter went to the event thinking she would be allowed to see the opening ceremony and the visiting French ice skaters, but in the end she and her classmates had left seeing nothing. GOTX also demolished over the course of 48 hours a neighborhood facing the ice rink in preparation for Niyazov's aborted visit. ¶7. (SBU) Closer to the Ice Palace, troupes of young children practiced karate, gymnastics, and traditional dance as they waited for Niyazov's arrival. PolEconOff observed dance instructors applying stage make-up to darken the faces of children who would be standing close to Niyazov. When word apparently came that Niyazov would not attend the opening, parliamentary leaders, the mayor of Ashgabat, and a managing director of Bouygues, the French construction firm that built the rink, cut the ribbon to inaugurate the facility. Skating in the Desert -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Bouygues flew in a ten-person team of French champion figure skaters to perform at the opening, and over 100 Turkmenistani children, all new to the sport, took to the ice as well. The children performed laudably for their little training, executing geometric figures on the ice with minimal spills to the joy of many parents in the crowd. (Note: Not all parents apparently made it into the 1,000- seat stadium. PolEconOff observed one mother, who had been denied entrance, in tears outside the building. End Note.) A very young Turkmen hockey team then cautiously slapped around a puck at center ice before the group of French professional skaters, featuring the 2006 World silver medalist, took over for the main event. Comment -------------- ¶9. (SBU) The ice skating rink is expected to be popular with the public when it opens for regular operations in September. Niyazov has already instructed all GOTX ministers to learn how to ice skate. When viewed objectively, there is no reason why a country rich in oil and gas revenues should not have such a facility. But when viewed relative to what the country has cut or suppressed in areas like education, civil society, human rights and free enterprise development in Ashgabat and beyond, the ice rink turns into yet another lurid example of the mismanagement and megalomania of Niyazov's highly manufactured and choreographed white city. End Comment. BRUSH