Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ASHGABAT122
2008-01-24 09:11:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Ashgabat
Cable title:
TURKMENISTAN'S PRESIDENT CREATES NEW
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UNCLAS ASHGABAT 000122
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, INL/AAE
DUSHANBE ALSO FOR DEA
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL SNAR TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN'S PRESIDENT CREATES NEW
COUNTERNARCOTICS AGENCY
UNCLAS ASHGABAT 000122
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, INL/AAE
DUSHANBE ALSO FOR DEA
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL SNAR TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN'S PRESIDENT CREATES NEW
COUNTERNARCOTICS AGENCY
1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.
2. (U) During a January 18 meeting of Turkmenistan's
National Security Council, President Berdimuhamedov signed a
decree establishing a new State Agency for Combating
Narcotics. The president said that he had made this decision
"to step up efforts against trafficking in drugs,
psychotropic substances, and precursors, and to ensure the
implementating of Turkmenistan's international commitments to
combat narcotics trafficking. The president appointed Murat
Yslamov, previously head of the State Counternarcotics
Commission and Chairman of the Department under the
Presidential Administration for Analysis of the Activities of
Law Enforcement and Military Agencies. In reporting the
president's decision, Turkmenistan's state media noted that
officials had agreed to establish a national body for
combating drug trafficking during the January 9 visit of UN
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Antonio
Maria Costa (septel).
3. (U) The move was not a surprise. The president had first
mooted the idea of establishing a counternarcotics agency
during a January 11 cabinet meeting. He had noted that
combating narcotics trafficking will be a government
priority, and suggested that both law enforcement agencies
and social organizations should be involved in this fight.
At the January 11 meeting, he had instructed that public
organizations under the umbrella of the national "Galkynysh"
("Revival") movement should play a larger role in fighting
drug demand and trafficking. (NOTE: The "Galkynysh"
movement includes public organizations such as the Democratic
Party, the Women's Union, trade unions, youth unions, and the
Veterans' Union. END NOTE.)
4, (SBU) COMMENT: Since it will take several weeks before
Turkmenistan's new State Agency for Combating Narcotics will
take shape, it is not immediately clear how the State Agency
will overlap and interface with other law enforcement
agencies, the old Counternarcotics Commission, and social
organizations. Some have suggested that it might take on a
function similar to drug control agencies in other Central
Asian countries, which primarily have an intelligence and
investigative role. However, the president's call for
greater involvement by social organizations -- a major step
forward from the role Turkmenistan traditionally has assigned
even its quasi-official "NGOs" -- seems to hint that the
agency could be more than that and demonstrates
Berdimuhamedov's recognition that anti-drug education for
youth and other at-risk groups is essential if the government
is to succeed in getting Turkmenistan's growing narcotics
problem under control before it is too late. END COMMENT.
HOAGLAND
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, INL/AAE
DUSHANBE ALSO FOR DEA
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL SNAR TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN'S PRESIDENT CREATES NEW
COUNTERNARCOTICS AGENCY
1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.
2. (U) During a January 18 meeting of Turkmenistan's
National Security Council, President Berdimuhamedov signed a
decree establishing a new State Agency for Combating
Narcotics. The president said that he had made this decision
"to step up efforts against trafficking in drugs,
psychotropic substances, and precursors, and to ensure the
implementating of Turkmenistan's international commitments to
combat narcotics trafficking. The president appointed Murat
Yslamov, previously head of the State Counternarcotics
Commission and Chairman of the Department under the
Presidential Administration for Analysis of the Activities of
Law Enforcement and Military Agencies. In reporting the
president's decision, Turkmenistan's state media noted that
officials had agreed to establish a national body for
combating drug trafficking during the January 9 visit of UN
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Antonio
Maria Costa (septel).
3. (U) The move was not a surprise. The president had first
mooted the idea of establishing a counternarcotics agency
during a January 11 cabinet meeting. He had noted that
combating narcotics trafficking will be a government
priority, and suggested that both law enforcement agencies
and social organizations should be involved in this fight.
At the January 11 meeting, he had instructed that public
organizations under the umbrella of the national "Galkynysh"
("Revival") movement should play a larger role in fighting
drug demand and trafficking. (NOTE: The "Galkynysh"
movement includes public organizations such as the Democratic
Party, the Women's Union, trade unions, youth unions, and the
Veterans' Union. END NOTE.)
4, (SBU) COMMENT: Since it will take several weeks before
Turkmenistan's new State Agency for Combating Narcotics will
take shape, it is not immediately clear how the State Agency
will overlap and interface with other law enforcement
agencies, the old Counternarcotics Commission, and social
organizations. Some have suggested that it might take on a
function similar to drug control agencies in other Central
Asian countries, which primarily have an intelligence and
investigative role. However, the president's call for
greater involvement by social organizations -- a major step
forward from the role Turkmenistan traditionally has assigned
even its quasi-official "NGOs" -- seems to hint that the
agency could be more than that and demonstrates
Berdimuhamedov's recognition that anti-drug education for
youth and other at-risk groups is essential if the government
is to succeed in getting Turkmenistan's growing narcotics
problem under control before it is too late. END COMMENT.
HOAGLAND