U.S. ASSISTANCE TEAMS VISIT TO MARY WELAYAT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ASHGABAT 000168 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN (PERRY) INFO SCA/PPD (VAN DE VATE),IIP/G/NEA-SA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO PINR PREL PGOV TX SUBJECT: U.S. ASSISTANCE TEAMS VISIT TO MARY WELAYAT REF: (A) ASHGABAT 137, (B) ASHGABAT 123 ASHGABAT 00000168 001.2 OF 004 SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (U) Throughout official and unofficial site meetings, Mary Province (Welayat) displayed a first-class welcome and openness to a visiting eight-member USG group including five members of EUR/ACE Coordinator Adams's assistance delegation on February 2. The day began with a cordial meeting at the Mary Province Governor's Office (Hakimlik),and then took the embassy team to the premises of three U.S. Government grantees as well as lunch at the American Corner. Local officials and a representative from the MFA in Ashgabat accompanied the delegation closely at every meeting, which may have mildly inhibited independent interlocutors. END SUMMARY. GOVERNOR CAUTIOUSLY BUT CLEARLY WELCOMES ENGAGEMENT -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) Deputy Director of Freedom Act Programs (EUR/ACE, Department of State) Deborah Klepp, EUR/ACE Humanitarian Programs Director Gerald Oberndorfer, USAID Central Asia Team Leader Bob Wallin, USAID Senior Democracy and Governance Adviser Eric Rudenshiold, and DRL Deputy Office Director Catherine Kuchta-Helbling visited Mary Welayat February 2 as part of ref A assistance delegation visit to Turkmenistan. The group's initial meeting, with the Mary Welayat Governor (Hakim) and his main deputy, featured a friendly atmosphere and expressions of openness to greater bilateral engagement which verged on the unprecedented in embassy's recent experience of Turkmenistan's regions. ¶3. (U) New Mary Welayat Hakim Muhammet Gurbannazarov thanked the delegation for coming to Mary Welayat and listed areas of priority and past development of Mary region: education, agriculture and medicine. After describing new construction projects in the region, the Hakim stated that he hoped that in time Mary would grow along the lines of "developed countries such as the United States." Gurbannazarov, who began his appointed tenure only in November 2006 following Niyazov's purge of all five welayat hakims over the nationwide grain harvest crisis, does not speak Russian, plainly had little to say on most non-agriculture questions, and was visibly self-conscious for much of the meeting. For much of the time, he gracefully ceded the floor to Deputy Hakim for Culture and Education Shirin Ahmedova and the Deputy Hakim for economic issues, who both spoke in Russian. ELECTIONS UPDATE -------------- ¶4. (U) POL/ECON OFF asked what further elections activity had occurred since the embassy's last official visit to the Welayat in January (ref B). All six candidates had now completed their appearances in all six welayats: did this mean they would now be inactive through the 10 days remaining to Election Day, or would there be public debate of the candidates? Ahmedova, also head of the provincial Election Commission, replied that the candidates' authorized campaign agents continue to hold meetings with local groups affiliated with the "Galkynysh Movement" (Revival - a Soviet-style people's front organization acting as an umbrella for trade unions, the women's organization and the youth movement) and that Mary's residents have been actively making use of hotlines recently established to communicate with the candidates. The local Election Commission collects the questions and forwards them to the candidates. In response to delegation's offers of additional assistance to foster communication between local groups and the government, Gurbannazarov declined, saying the government needed no assistance in this area. REQUESTS FOR INCREASED ASSISTANCE -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Rudenshiold then asked an open-ended question about where post assistance might be welcome. This elicited a comment from the Deputy Hakim for economic issues that Mary has bought Case and John Deere equipment but lacked the follow-on training to ensure that the equipment was maintained. Ahmedova followed this with a string of suggestions, beginning with praise of the work of Peace Corps Volunteers and a request for more English language teaching and health volunteers; assisting efforts to expand Mary's agricultural, medical and industrial vocational training with U.S. specialists or ASHGABAT 00000168 002.2 OF 004 training, particularly at the Mary Energy Institute; and a request for more exchange programs, targeting students of secondary and higher educational institutions and particularly vocational schools. She said that the region had received medical equipment for its new clinic from European donors: could the United States government consider supporting a new child and maternal health center, she asked. Wallin responded that USAID has extensive regional experience and interest in supporting mother and child health programs, particularly programs to hinder mother-child transmission of HIV/AIDS. PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT -------------- ¶6. (U) Next, the delegation made an officially sanctioned visit to the government-sponsored Nature Protection Association, recipient of a joint Democracy Commission and OSCE grant in 2005 for establishment of resource centers in each of Turkmenistan's regions. The newly-established center was to host a seminar on that day, and Ashgabat-based Association Deputy Director Akmuhammed Ibragimov (who has been the primary actor in the association and is the grant manager) spoke expansively about the potential of the association to promote awareness of environmental concerns. The primary audience for the new centers was youth and retirees; Ibragimov claimed that young people had used the center in Ashgabat to complete research for their university degree projects. On the other hand, Ibragimov admitted to accompanying CAO that the centers have been unable to establish Internet accounts because the state telephone company had stopped granting them. It took Ibragimov a year to register the U.S.-OSCE grant for the centers, despite his close connections to its parent organization, the Ministry of Nature Protection. Despite these problems, Ibragimov was confident he can promote his aims more effectively in the long term as a semi-governmental organization. AMERICAN CORNER THRIVING -------------- ¶7. (U) The delegation proceeded to the building housing the American Corner for the rest of the day's events. Embassy staff and American Corner Director Albina Burashnikova reviewed the Corner's monthly schedule with the officials. (Embassy representatives stressed to Corner staff the need to print such schedules in Russian and English, or Turkmen if possible). Neither the accompanying hakim officials nor the MFA escort had ever been to an American Corner; they looked around the center thoroughly and read the posters on the walls (with translation by Burashnikova and embassy staff). Two of the local officials asked whether the Corner offered basic English classes and expressed surprise when Burashnikova told them such courses, plus exchange programs, library and English language resources, were free and open to all members of the public. ¶8. (SBU) NOTE: The officials' presence made the usually calm and teacherly Burashnikova somewhat nervous, but she later told CAA she thought it would prove useful by demystifying the Corner. One hakimlik official offered that he had a son currently serving in the army; CAO encouraged him to tell his son about the Corner when he completed his military service in several months. END NOTE. Seamstresses Project -------------- ¶9. (U) Democracy Commission grantees Guncha and Gozel Muradalieva of the Mary Seamstresses Association were confident that a visit by government officials would not endanger them or the project. They agreed to host the delegation as planned, along with the host government guests. A couple of delegation members stayed behind in the American Corner to speak to the FLEX alumni there while others visited the seamstresses; the official government retinue had split up to observe both U.S. groups. Gozel Muradalieva, a Counterpart-trained grants trainer, helped her daughter-in-law Guncha organize the seamstresses project, which provides vocational and small business administration training to several dozen hearing-impaired women. The delegation viewed two rooms equipped with sewing equipment, and visited the gathered students in their tiny "classroom." The students were ecstatic at the visit, speaking through a sign-language interpreter and asking about exchange opportunities with like-minded hearing impaired Americans. One of the hakim officials and the MFA representative observed this interaction and chatted with CAO about sign language; the hakim ASHGABAT 00000168 003.2 OF 004 official expressed surprise that Russian could be communicated through hand signals (Note: As far as embassy is aware, Turkmen has not yet been translated into sign language. End Note.) EXCHANGE PROGRAMS -------------- ¶10. (U) After the seamstresses, the delegation had lunch with 15 alumni of the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) Program (for high-schoolers),Teaching Excellence and Achievement (TEA) Program (for humanities teachers),International Visitor Leadership (IVLP) Program (a professional exchange),and Ben Franklin Transatlantic Fellows Program (for young adults). The FLEX students described the clubs and courses they ran at the Corner and the community projects they have initiated, inevitably returning to their goal -- to continue their education, typically back in the United States. Some expressed frustration at the limited opportunities for educational advancement in-country. Many FLEX-ers had been required to repeat their U.S. high school year in Turkmenistan upon their return, because Turkmenistan currently did not recognize U.S. coursework. ¶11. (SBU) The adult alumni included the director of a local independent school, accredited by Turkmenistan's Ministry of Education, which was administering post's ACCESS English Language Microscholarship Program. The school provides some of the clubs and extracurricular activities found at a typical U.S. school, but which are unheard of at local state schools. Many of the school's teachers and students frequent the Corner. (Note: Embassy Ashgabat's ACCESS program targets students 12-14 years old in order to serve as a "feeder" program to FLEX and other U.S.-sponsored exchange programs. End Note.) A TEA teacher at the lunch said that she had shepherded over 30 of her students into the FLEX program recruitment process and that 12 of her students had studied or were studying in the United States through the program. The local officials stayed through the lunch but left early; the regional hakimlik's administrative officer waited until the delegation had largely departed the Corner before approaching the FLEX alumni to ask them what they had told the visiting delegation (all interaction between the delegation and alumni was in English). ¶12. (U) The delegation's last stop was the Merv Resource Center, a USAID-funded resource center for women, managed by Irina Mirzoyeva. The resource center, which provides free computer access, offers civic and business training and consultations on association development and local project management, and English language training. In contrast to the gritty ebullience of the seamstresses' workshop, the Merv Center meeting began with an orderly DVD slide show about the many grants facilitated by the Center -- including programs to infuse basic health and drug prevention education into martial arts events for youth, a grant to provide rehabilitative exercise equipment in a center for the disabled, and a music festival bringing together government and community figures on the importance of arts education for youth. ¶13. (SBU) Present at the meeting were Counterpart trainees also active in the Mary civic scene, including outspoken USDA Cochran agricultural program alumna Sheker Mollayeva, consultant for the Ilkinjiler farmer's association (the association is a highly successful U.S. Government grantee.) Responding to a question from the delegation about her experience on the Cochran program, Mollayeva quickly stole the show by speaking bluntly about the need for better communication between civic actors -- farmers in particular -- and the local and regional government. She urged the embassy to expand the Cochran program and to require the program to bring mixed groups of independent farmers and local government figures in order to ensure that the lessons learned in the United States could be more easily implemented upon participants' return to Turkmenistan. Mollayeva also stated that although Turkmenistan's legal code was good, the laws were not always implemented properly (at which point our host government notetakers wrote faster),and that better host government understanding of the aims of exchange programs like Cochran would help to break down barriers to cooperation with local government officials. (Note: Post recently received a request for an agricultural exchange program from the host government, and plans an International Visitor Leadership Program on Agriculture that would involve a range of host government officials involved in developing Turkmenistan's agriculture policy. End Note. ) COMMENT ASHGABAT 00000168 004.2 OF 004 -------------- ¶14. (SBU) Post's independent interlocutors and exchange program alumni proved capable, creative and even outspoken during arguably one of the highest profile ever official USG visit to Mary. In more than one case during the visit, locals took the risk of exposing their activities to host government officials in order to foster dialogue -- and, they hoped, eventual cooperation -- between the private and public sectors. Mary's new regional leadership, meanwhile, appeared open to -- and sincerely interested in -- the delegation's suggestions of increased partnership, and emphasized its desire for a strong, sustained long term relationship with the embassy. End Comment. ¶15. (SBU) Prospects for improvement in this context feel real. In particular, this visit reinforced our view that Deputy Hakim Ahmedova has potential to be a real positive force in partnership for future collaboration, assuming acquiescence from Ashgabat once the new president is formally inaugurated. That said, the old-style gumshoe shadowing of the Embassy group throughout its long Mary day is a stark reminder of how low the Turkmenistan bar is currently set. BRUSH