TURKMENISTAN: THE SOVIET GULAGS AND THEIR IMPACT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001015

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/05/2018
TAGS: PREL SOCI TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: THE SOVIET GULAGS AND THEIR IMPACT
ON MODERN TURKMENISTAN

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Sylvia Reed Curran for reasons 1.4 (B)
and (D).


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The Soviet "GULAG" system of work camps
targeted the intelligentsia and those promoting an ethnic
Turkmen identity during the 1930s through 1950s. Although
little is known about the exact number of Turkmen affected,
Stalin's purges undermined what educated population existed
in the country, opening the way for Niyazov to easily further
decimate the remnants of this group during his presidency.
While President Berdimuhamedov is seeking to rebuild
Turkmenistan's academic culture, the lack of a viable
intellectual tradition is making his job tougher. END
SUMMARY.

STALIN SENT MANY PEOPLE TO WORK CAMPS-- EVEN FROM TURKMENISTAN


2. (U) During the Stalin era, thousands of people were
executed or died as a result of forced hard labor at work
camps, most of which were located in Kazakhstan and Siberia.
Like other Soviet republics, Turkmenistan suffered under
brutal crackdowns against the intelligentsia, and those
wishing to promote a more cohesive Turkmen identity in
Central Asia. Although a minority of the population was
targeted, they were often the most educated.


3. (U) There were two time periods during which people were
rounded up and taken to work camps. The first was from 1931
to 1937. A number of individuals taken during this time
period were held until after Stalin's death in 1953. The
second time period was 1949 to 1950, which was often more
brutal than the first period, according to family accounts.

PERSONAL ACCOUNTS TELL OF FAMILIES DESTROYED BY THE GULAGS


4. (C) This history is not part of the history books,
leaving only stories passed-down within families. One woman
told us the story of her family during the Stalin era. Her
family is ethnic Turkmen, and her grandfather,
great-grandfather, and all of her great-uncles were taken to
work camps. Her grandfather was taken during the first
period, briefly released for treatment and then forced back
to the work camps until 1954 -- approximately a twenty
year-period.


5. (C) The prisoners' family was well-off and had
connections to high-ranking people in tsarist Russia -- the
great-grandfather sent all of his sons to Russia to the
Imperial Schools to be educated. The family lived in the
Mary/Merv area and, in the 1930s, all the men were arrested.
This left the women to support their families. All of their
property was confiscated, including land, valuables, and
money. Our interlocutor stated that her family was not
involved in any opposition activity. They simply said things
that were not complimentary towards the new government and
were arrested. Embassy local staff have noted that many
arrests were based on false charges, especially in cases
involving the intelligentsia.


6. (C) The male members of the family who were arrested
ranged in age from their 30s to their 60s. The family has no
idea where the great-grandfather passed away. He died while
in the work camps. The other men were old when released.
Our interlocutor's grandfather passed away within two years
of his return. The youngest of the arrested brothers, a
doctor who treated many of the work camp laborers while he
was there, was the last to pass away. After the men were
finally released, the family was left with nothing and moved
to Ashgabat to start over where nobody knew their history.

THREE GROUPS SERVED AS TARGETS TO BE ARRESTED


7. (SBU) Few people outside of the affected families
discuss these events today. In Turkmenistan, there were

ASHGABAT 00001015 002 OF 002


three types of people who were targeted:

-- The well-off, many of whom had ties to the former regime.

-- Those who promoted an ethnic Turkmen rather than a Soviet
identity. They threatened the "Russification" campaign
designed to promote a united Soviet Union.

-- Individuals who allegedly were actively participating in
political activities outside of the approved and sponsored
groups under the Soviets. As one employee stated, any
alleged political activism that was confirmed by three or
more people was enough for the NKVD, the predecessor of the
KGB, to arrest that individual.

After 1954, persecution of these groups eased, especially
against the intelligentsia. Towards the end of the Soviet
era, Turkmenistan's intelligentsia began to rebound with the
development of an achievement-based academic system.

THE INTELLIGENTSIA WAS UNDERMINED AND HELPED OPEN THE WAY FOR
NIYAZOV


8. (SBU) Niyazov's regime had a definite anti-intellectual
bent. His policies that decreased opportunities for and
years of education had a negative effect on Turkmen society
and created a generation of undereducated youth. In the
early 2000's, Niyazov dissolved Turkmenistan's Academy of
Sciences, arguing that the Academy's intellectuals were doing
research with no practical value. This move started the
former president's own depredations against Turkmenistan's
intelligentsia and academic system, which led to the
"Turkmenization" of the state employment and education
systems and the virtual dismantlement of the
achievement-based academic system that Turkmenistan inherited
from the Soviet era. After the attack on the motorcade in
2002, Niyazov purged most of the government of its non-ethnic
Turkmen professionals, who were also members of the
intelligentsia.


9. (SBU) COMMENT: Between the depredations of the Stalin
era and those under Niyazov, Turkmenistan has been left with
a weakened intelligentsia or academic culture tradition.
This has left the country poorly equipped to meet many of the
challenges of the 21st Century. While the new president
seems to realize the need to reestablish an academic culture
-- and has already done much to try to address the country's
shortcomings in this regard, including creation of a Supreme
Council of Science and Technology and re-establishment of
graduate-level programs -- he is doing so with few indigenous
traditions that he can emulate. It will take years to
reverse the effects of the bad policies of the Niyazov era.
END COMMENT.
CURRAN