TURKMENISTAN: REMOVING SATELLITE DISHES -- BAD

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 000561 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EEB, DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2018 TAGS: PGOV ECON SOCI TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: REMOVING SATELLITE DISHES -- BAD IDEAS ARE BEST FORGOTTEN REF: A. ASHGABAT 431 ¶B. ASHGABAT 544 Classified By: CDA Sylvia Reed Curran for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet. ¶2. (SBU) Since President Berdimuhamedov's late 2007 decision that privately-owned satellite dishes should be removed from the outside of apartment buildings in an effort to beautify the city, nervous residents have wondered what this would mean for them. Satellite TV (and it's access to foreign news (mostly Russian) and entertainment) is an addiction for many Turkmen. People worried that their access would be restricted and/or the price (for what had been free TV, except for the cost of the satellite dish) would sky rocket. Now, due to push back from the public, that decision has been rescinded. The building administrator of an elite apartment building, which had held a town meeting on the satellite dish issue (Ref. A),told EmbOff (who is also a building resident) that the mayor's office had called off the removal. Clearly relieved that this issue was now over, the administrator said that "maybe someone complained to the president." Other guards in the building also thought that people were complaining a lot about removal of the satellite dishes, hinting that this had an impact on the decision to rescind -- or forget -- the decree. ¶3. (SBU) We had also heard from other sources that the satellite removal order had been rescinded. One well-connected landlord of Embassy-leased housing also told us that the decree to remove satellite dishes was quietly forgotten. In her opinion, a critical mass of well-connected local residents in a prestigious neighborhood insisted that the mayor's office present a plan regarding how residents would maintain their foreign channel selection, before the dishes were removed. The mayor's office realized that it could not comply with these demands and backed down. ¶4. (SBU) Less well-to-do locals have reported that for the last month or so there has been radio silence on the satellite dish issue from government officials and building administrators. Officials told one local Embassy employee over a month ago that his satellite dish had to come down immediately, but no one ever came to take it down and no more has been said about it. One person told us it is as if the decision has "faded away." ¶5. (SBU) COMMENT: There has been increasing grumbling in the population about inflation and currency rate changes, with people putting the blame squarely on the president. The satellite dish removal decision was also one of the more unpopular presidential diktats. Given the push back and the sour mood of many Turkmen, officials may have thought it would be better to relent on the satellite dishes. END COMMENT. CURRAN