Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ASHGABAT571
2008-05-05 13:35:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Ashgabat
Cable title:
TURKMENISTAN: POOR GO THROUGH DUMPSTERS LOOKING
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UNCLAS ASHGABAT 000571
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EFIN SOCI TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: POOR GO THROUGH DUMPSTERS LOOKING
FOR ITEMS -- INCLUDING FOOD -- IN ASHGABAT
UNCLAS ASHGABAT 000571
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EFIN SOCI TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: POOR GO THROUGH DUMPSTERS LOOKING
FOR ITEMS -- INCLUDING FOOD -- IN ASHGABAT
1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.
2. (SBU) Many post personnel live in so-called
marble-covered "elite" apartment buildings on prestigious
Archabil Avenue. The Berzengi neighborhood, located in the
south of Ashgabat with a postcard-view of the Kopetdag
Mountains, is known as a wealthy neighborhood. Ashgabat
residents say that some of the homeless animals in the
neighborhood were dumped there on purpose by their owners,
who felt sure that their pets would be taken care of by rich,
sympathetic (and often foreign) Berzengi residents. However,
Ashgabat's poorer citizens are also lured to Berzengi -- but
by the promises held in its garbage cans. On weekends -- in
all kinds of weather and at all times of day and night --
post personnel have seen individuals arrive by automobile, by
bicycle, and on foot to poke through the garbage using
plastic glove-covered hands or homemade tools fashioned out
of wires and wooden handles once used for some other purpose.
3. (SBU) One woman that EmbOff often sees at the dumpsters
said that she hasn't worked for six years after being in an
accident. She searches for bottles and plastic sheeting that
she sells by the kilogram. She also looks for children's
shoes and even bread. To explain her activity she said, "You
have to find a way to make it." EmbOff has seen the
administrator of a neighboring building yelling at this woman
from her late-model Japanese sedan, scolding her for
searching through the garbage of the building for which she
holds responsibility.
4. (SBU) COMMENT: Turkmenistan's changing economic
realities may force people to find more creative ways -- such
as dumpster diving -- to survive. Some post personnel have
noticed lately that many of these individuals have begun
showing up increasingly in the early morning, in order to
avoid neighborhood residents who yell and unsympathetically
humiliate them during their search for food and a source of
income. END COMMENT.
CURRAN
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EFIN SOCI TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: POOR GO THROUGH DUMPSTERS LOOKING
FOR ITEMS -- INCLUDING FOOD -- IN ASHGABAT
1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.
2. (SBU) Many post personnel live in so-called
marble-covered "elite" apartment buildings on prestigious
Archabil Avenue. The Berzengi neighborhood, located in the
south of Ashgabat with a postcard-view of the Kopetdag
Mountains, is known as a wealthy neighborhood. Ashgabat
residents say that some of the homeless animals in the
neighborhood were dumped there on purpose by their owners,
who felt sure that their pets would be taken care of by rich,
sympathetic (and often foreign) Berzengi residents. However,
Ashgabat's poorer citizens are also lured to Berzengi -- but
by the promises held in its garbage cans. On weekends -- in
all kinds of weather and at all times of day and night --
post personnel have seen individuals arrive by automobile, by
bicycle, and on foot to poke through the garbage using
plastic glove-covered hands or homemade tools fashioned out
of wires and wooden handles once used for some other purpose.
3. (SBU) One woman that EmbOff often sees at the dumpsters
said that she hasn't worked for six years after being in an
accident. She searches for bottles and plastic sheeting that
she sells by the kilogram. She also looks for children's
shoes and even bread. To explain her activity she said, "You
have to find a way to make it." EmbOff has seen the
administrator of a neighboring building yelling at this woman
from her late-model Japanese sedan, scolding her for
searching through the garbage of the building for which she
holds responsibility.
4. (SBU) COMMENT: Turkmenistan's changing economic
realities may force people to find more creative ways -- such
as dumpster diving -- to survive. Some post personnel have
noticed lately that many of these individuals have begun
showing up increasingly in the early morning, in order to
avoid neighborhood residents who yell and unsympathetically
humiliate them during their search for food and a source of
income. END COMMENT.
CURRAN