Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ASHGABAT1066
2008-08-15 13:33:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Ashgabat
Cable title:  

TURKMENISTAN: GTZ LEGAL REFORM SEMNAR FEATURED ON

Tags:  PGOV PHUM EAID KDEM TX 
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ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 151333Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
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UNCLAS ASHGABAT 001066 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM EAID KDEM TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: GTZ LEGAL REFORM SEMNAR FEATURED ON
FRONT PAGE OF TURKMEN NEWSPAPER

REF: A. 07 ASHGABAT 1079

B. ASHGABAT 0436

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 001066

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM EAID KDEM TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: GTZ LEGAL REFORM SEMNAR FEATURED ON
FRONT PAGE OF TURKMEN NEWSPAPER

REF: A. 07 ASHGABAT 1079

B. ASHGABAT 0436


1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.


2. (SBU) The typical front page of the official Neutralniy
Turkmenistan newspaper features the activities of President
Berdimuhamedov, including Cabinet of Ministers' meetings and
the president's meetings with foreign dignitaries. The front
page of the August 15 edition of the paper also had an
article on a seminar run by the German Organization for
Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and featured interviews with two
of the project leaders. Eurasian legal reform experts from
GTZ were in Ashgabat to help GTZ representatives here conduct
a three-day seminar that began on August 13. Professor Rolf
Knieper, a longtime interlocutor of the Turkmen government
who has been directing GTZ's efforts to encourage the
government to constructively revise its criminal code,
criminal procedures code, and civil code, was a key
consultant and participant in the seminar. Additional
experts who participated in the seminar were Bremen Chief
Court Justice Rudiger Tonnes, GTZ Project Manager Jens Deppe,
and GTZ's Regional Coordinator for Turkmenistan, Hans Ulrich
Im.


3. (U) As noted in reftels, GTZ signed an MOU with the
government in January that marked Turkmenistan's inclusion in
GTZ's Support to Legal and Judicial Reforms in Central Asia
program. Under the auspices of this program, GTZ is working
with legal specialists from a variety of ministries via a
series of seminars that seek to sensitize the Turkmen side to
the areas of the national criminal and civil codes that need
revision in order to bring them into conformance with
international treaties and conventions to which Turkmenistan
is a party.


4. (SBU) This particular seminar's goal was to foster
dialogue between the parties, and hopefully bring government
representatives and international legal experts closer to
finding common ground, so that the path to revising
Turkmenistan's criminal codes leads to legislation much
closer to established international standards. GTZ has
another seminar planned for September, in coordination with
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The seminar will focus on
themes related to international, private and public law. GTZ
also has programs underway that will focus on issues such as
human capacity and regional water management. A seminar on
international water management practices is already planned
for the fall.


5. (SBU) COMMENT: It is a big deal that the state-controlled
media so prominently featured this conference. It is not
unusual for there to be articles on constitutional reform or
other issues that quote Turkmen officials and praise the
policies of the president. But even those articles tend to
be inside the paper, rather than on the front page. This
article is a first. It shows that the government feels there
is real benefit to its cooperation with foreign partners in
this area, and it is serious about attempting reform. END
COMMENT.
CURRAN

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