TURKMENISTAN: RUSSIAN BAZAAR BURNS, BUT NO TAPE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001036 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: RUSSIAN BAZAAR BURNS, BUT NO TAPE AT TEN ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet. ¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY: An early morning fire on September 24 destroyed temporary kiosks as well as badly damaging two permanent retail areas of Ashgabat's Russian Bazaar in the center of downtown. Although there is no information regarding possible casualties or the cost of the damage to the complex, there is plenty of speculation regarding the fire's cause and the mystery of its rapid spread. The fire's impact on affected shop owners, some of whom may have lost everything, underscores the risky nature of engaging in private business here. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) Post heard from residents about a fire that torched the western edge of the Russian Bazaar in the early hours of September 24. (NOTE: The name of the bazaar is a carry-over from the Soviet period when each major bazaar in Ashgabat was named for a primary ethnic group. END NOTE.) Though there were no official news reports, residents who depend on the bazaar and locally-employed staff were buzzing about the scale and damage of the fire. One Ashgabat resident who visited the bazaar the morning of the 24th reported that one of the commercial vendors claimed to know of two fire-related deaths and possibly several injuries, but post cannot confirm this information. (COMMENT: Some of the vendors, having gotten frantic calls in the middle of the night about their shops, may have entered their establishments in an attempt to rescue inventory, and been trapped by the burning wreckage. END COMMENT.) Once the fire was put out, local authorities barred vendors from entering the damaged area to salvage their surviving goods, and began to quickly to clear away evidence of the fire. Police in previous similar fires had allowed vendors to try to salvage their goods, according to locally-employed staff. ¶3. (U) Examining the remains of shops and the repairs already fully underway, the fire appeared to be centered on the southwest side of the bazaar, where vendors had set up a makeshift labyrinth of wooden semi-permanent structures underneath a row of permanent, post-Soviet shading structures. The fire had also spread to clothing and accessory boutiques housed in the bazaar's permanent structure, as well a medium-sized retail building just south of the bazaar. Residents were perplexed by the fire's rapid spread, given the local fire department's location just 500 meters from the bazaar. ¶4. (U) One Turkmen opposition website is reporting that half of the bazaar's commercial vendors were affected by the fire, but post assesses that the fire destroyed about one-fifth of the retail space there, most notably the more unattractive, makeshift structures that had expanded west of the complex over the last several years. Locals speculated that wreckage was carted away and repairs were speeding along to put everything in shape before the president returns from his trip to the United States at the end of the week. About a week ago, locals reported city authorities notified the shop owners in the semi-permanent kiosks that they would soon have to move because of city plans to build a new fountain. Some had already made arrangements to move into a new nearby retail building. ¶5. (SBU) Rumors are already circulating that the shops were burned because of unpaid debts to a loan shark, or because the bazaar's manager had failed to pay necessary bribes (NOTE: Locals postulated that the bazaar's manager would be the person most hurt by the fire, because he would have been ASHGABAT 00001036 002 OF 002 responsible for the security of the shops on bazaar property and at a minimum would lose his job. END NOTE.). There are stories emerging about the fire's tragic effect on some of the owners. One resident had a friend who had just rented a space in the now-burned section of the bazaar. She had borrowed money from the Central Bank, using her apartment as collateral, and purchased an inventory of new cell phones in Dubai. Her business had been open for a week when it was destroyed in the fire. Because commercial and property insurance is non-existent for the average citizen, she has likely lost everything, including her home. ¶6. COMMENT: Given the ramshackle nature of these semi-permanent kiosks, all of which were jerry-rigged for electricity and overstuffed with flammable merchandise, it is also possible that this was an accident waiting to happen. Post knows of no other cases where vendors have been burned out to force them to move because of city beautification efforts. In previous cases where city officials or property owners wanted to oust vendors, they were given the opportunity to move to new locations. That said, there is much local suspicion about the fire, given its occurrence in the middle of the night and its rapid spread. The quickstep pace of the cleanup and white wash of the smoke damage also suggests that authorities prefer the tidier look of the place now. Regardless, this tragedy serves to underscore the risks that small-business owners face in doing business here. HOAGLAND