TURKMENISTAN: MFA PROTESTS IRANIAN ACCUSATION OF

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 000401 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL IR TI TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: MFA PROTESTS IRANIAN ACCUSATION OF HAMPERING AID ¶1. (U) According to press reports, the Iranian press attache in Dushanbe announced on March 26 the arrival of 28 tanker trucks of fuel oil and diesel fuel as part of a larger tranche of humanitarian aid Iran was delivering to Tajikistan, which had been sent during the winter to help the Tajiks survive the unusually harsh weather. In his statement, he also noted that because of unspecified "problems of transit" across the territories of states located between Iran and Tajikistan, the government of Iran had not been able to deliver this aid in a timely fashion. Neither Turkmenistan nor Uzbekistan, the countries of land transit that would fit this description, were specifically mentioned. ¶2. (U) Nevertheless, the Turkmen MFA issued a tersely worded refutation of the Iranian attache's allegations, describing his statement as "absolutely not conforming to reality." The MFA statement also described the Turkmen largesse of its own humanitarian aid to Tajikistan during the winter, and chastised Iranian diplomats for making such "groundless and biased remarks that do not conform to the high level of Turkmen-Iranian relations." ¶3. (SBU) COMMENT: It is likely that the Iranian trucks transporting the fuel from Iran were caught up in the scuffle and resultant sit-in protest that Iranian drivers undertook at the Turkmen border in February, after one Iranian trucker complained about truckstop facilities and was beaten by Turkmen security personnel. The MFA's disproportionate reaction is further evidence of Turkmenistan's brittleness in foreign relations. END COMMENT. HOAGLAND