Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ASHGABAT328
2008-03-12 03:13:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Ashgabat
Cable title:
TURKMENISTAN: LACKING DIPLOMATIC STATUS, EUROPA HOUSE NOT
VZCZCXRO2208 RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHVK RUEHYG DE RUEHAH #0328/01 0720313 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 120313Z MAR 08 FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0413 INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 3486 RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1304 RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1171 RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 1740 RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 2303 RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000328
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EUR/ACE
AID/W FOR EE/EA
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID EU TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: LACKING DIPLOMATIC STATUS, EUROPA HOUSE NOT
THE PARTNERSHIP THAT GOVERNMENT EXPECTED
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000328
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EUR/ACE
AID/W FOR EE/EA
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID EU TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: LACKING DIPLOMATIC STATUS, EUROPA HOUSE NOT
THE PARTNERSHIP THAT GOVERNMENT EXPECTED
1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.
2. (SBU) SUMMARY: On April 9, the European Union is scheduled to
officially open a "Europa House" to support its programs and
projects in Turkmenistan. Due to European Commission member states'
concerns about Turkmenistan's human rights record, however, the
Europa House has not accepted the diplomatic status that the
Government of Turkmenistan wanted to give it as a bridge to a
planned permanent mission by 2009. Instead, the Europa House's
resident coordinator will not have decision-making authority, and
the center will only provide logistical support for visiting
missions and operate an information resource center in a hotel on
the outskirts of Ashgabat. The government of Turkmenistan
complained about the low status of the center to a visiting EU
delegation in December 2007, but EuropeAID, to whom the center is
subordinate, remains opposed and the resident European Ambassadors
seemingly are unable to influence what the EU-TACIS advisor called a
"crazy situation." END SUMMARY.
3. (SBU) USAID Country Representative met on February 15 with new
Europa House Coordinator, Emilio Valli, to learn more about its
planned activities in Turkmenistan. As an indication of the status
it expected the center to take on, the government of Turkmenistan
provided space for the center in the Mizan Hotel, across the street
from the premier President Hotel, in the fashionable outskirts of
Ashgabat. Like its counterparts in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, the
Europa House in Ashgabat will support European Union programs and
projects. It will provide technical support in the planning and
programming phase as well as during implementation. The center will
also increase awareness among the general public and government
institutions alike about the EU, its policies and activities. The
center's official opening will take place on April 9, in conjunction
with the visit of a delegation headed by the "troika" of EU Foreign
Ministers and the Coordinator for External Affairs.
FOREIGN MINISTER UNHAPPY WITH CENTER'S LOW STATUS
4. (SBU) In a phone call later that day, the EU's long-time Advisor
to the National Coordinating Unit, for years the de facto EU
representative in Turkmenistan, told USAID Country Representative
that the Europa House's launch was a "crazy situation." He
explained that the European Commission's members were divided on
future policy towards Turkmenistan. Although the EC's external
relations department favored full diplomatic status for the Europa
House until a permanent delegation is established in 2009,
EuropeAID, to which the Europa House is subordinate, did not. As a
result, the center's Italian coordinator does not have diplomatic
status, which will limit his stature and access to government
officials in this protocol-obsessed culture.
5. (SBU) The advisor said that the host government had complained
about the situation to a visiting EC delegation in December 2007.
Government officials reportedly told the delegation that it did not
want the center if it did not have diplomatic status and called the
center a "waste of grant funding." In particular, the Foreign
Minster was not happy with the center's perceived low status, and
the European resident ambassadors don't know what they can do in
order to remedy the situation. German Ambassador Hans Mondorf
recently told a group of like-minded ambassadors the situation was
such a "shameful mess" that he refused to brief them on it. Stating
that he himself would have demanded diplomatic accreditation or
resigned, the EU advisor said that the coordinator had not protested
loudly because he did not want to jeopardize his job. Adding insult
to injury, an advance mission had hired an ethnic Russian as the
coordinator's deputy without the coordinator's involvement, which
the EU advisor suggested was an enormous strategic blunder.
6. (SBU) COMMENT: It remains to be seen how much this situation
will affect the European Union's relationship with the host
government or its programs. A more telling indicator might be the
potential departure of the abovementioned long-time EU advisor. As
long as he remains in Ashgabat, he will continue to be able to take
ASHGABAT 00000328 002 OF 002
advantage of his direct access to high-level government officials.
If he indeed departs for another post in the coming months, as he
has regularly hinted (and reiterated in the phone call with USAID
Representative),the EU member states could find themselves in a
considerably weakened collective position due to the non-diplomatic
status of the EU representative. This could increase the efforts of
individual states to push forward with their own bilateral agendas,
such as Germany and its Central Asia Strategy. END COMMENT.
HOAGLAND
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EUR/ACE
AID/W FOR EE/EA
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID EU TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: LACKING DIPLOMATIC STATUS, EUROPA HOUSE NOT
THE PARTNERSHIP THAT GOVERNMENT EXPECTED
1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.
2. (SBU) SUMMARY: On April 9, the European Union is scheduled to
officially open a "Europa House" to support its programs and
projects in Turkmenistan. Due to European Commission member states'
concerns about Turkmenistan's human rights record, however, the
Europa House has not accepted the diplomatic status that the
Government of Turkmenistan wanted to give it as a bridge to a
planned permanent mission by 2009. Instead, the Europa House's
resident coordinator will not have decision-making authority, and
the center will only provide logistical support for visiting
missions and operate an information resource center in a hotel on
the outskirts of Ashgabat. The government of Turkmenistan
complained about the low status of the center to a visiting EU
delegation in December 2007, but EuropeAID, to whom the center is
subordinate, remains opposed and the resident European Ambassadors
seemingly are unable to influence what the EU-TACIS advisor called a
"crazy situation." END SUMMARY.
3. (SBU) USAID Country Representative met on February 15 with new
Europa House Coordinator, Emilio Valli, to learn more about its
planned activities in Turkmenistan. As an indication of the status
it expected the center to take on, the government of Turkmenistan
provided space for the center in the Mizan Hotel, across the street
from the premier President Hotel, in the fashionable outskirts of
Ashgabat. Like its counterparts in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, the
Europa House in Ashgabat will support European Union programs and
projects. It will provide technical support in the planning and
programming phase as well as during implementation. The center will
also increase awareness among the general public and government
institutions alike about the EU, its policies and activities. The
center's official opening will take place on April 9, in conjunction
with the visit of a delegation headed by the "troika" of EU Foreign
Ministers and the Coordinator for External Affairs.
FOREIGN MINISTER UNHAPPY WITH CENTER'S LOW STATUS
4. (SBU) In a phone call later that day, the EU's long-time Advisor
to the National Coordinating Unit, for years the de facto EU
representative in Turkmenistan, told USAID Country Representative
that the Europa House's launch was a "crazy situation." He
explained that the European Commission's members were divided on
future policy towards Turkmenistan. Although the EC's external
relations department favored full diplomatic status for the Europa
House until a permanent delegation is established in 2009,
EuropeAID, to which the Europa House is subordinate, did not. As a
result, the center's Italian coordinator does not have diplomatic
status, which will limit his stature and access to government
officials in this protocol-obsessed culture.
5. (SBU) The advisor said that the host government had complained
about the situation to a visiting EC delegation in December 2007.
Government officials reportedly told the delegation that it did not
want the center if it did not have diplomatic status and called the
center a "waste of grant funding." In particular, the Foreign
Minster was not happy with the center's perceived low status, and
the European resident ambassadors don't know what they can do in
order to remedy the situation. German Ambassador Hans Mondorf
recently told a group of like-minded ambassadors the situation was
such a "shameful mess" that he refused to brief them on it. Stating
that he himself would have demanded diplomatic accreditation or
resigned, the EU advisor said that the coordinator had not protested
loudly because he did not want to jeopardize his job. Adding insult
to injury, an advance mission had hired an ethnic Russian as the
coordinator's deputy without the coordinator's involvement, which
the EU advisor suggested was an enormous strategic blunder.
6. (SBU) COMMENT: It remains to be seen how much this situation
will affect the European Union's relationship with the host
government or its programs. A more telling indicator might be the
potential departure of the abovementioned long-time EU advisor. As
long as he remains in Ashgabat, he will continue to be able to take
ASHGABAT 00000328 002 OF 002
advantage of his direct access to high-level government officials.
If he indeed departs for another post in the coming months, as he
has regularly hinted (and reiterated in the phone call with USAID
Representative),the EU member states could find themselves in a
considerably weakened collective position due to the non-diplomatic
status of the EU representative. This could increase the efforts of
individual states to push forward with their own bilateral agendas,
such as Germany and its Central Asia Strategy. END COMMENT.
HOAGLAND