Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ASHGABAT798
2008-06-26 12:26:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Ashgabat
Cable title:
TURKMENISTAN: DIPLOMATIC CORPS WITNESSES
how-toVZCZCXRO3786 PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHVK RUEHYG DE RUEHAH #0798/01 1781226 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 261226Z JUN 08 FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1042 INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 3938 RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 1755 RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 1622 RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL PRIORITY 2191 RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 1427 RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0794 RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 2623 RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000798
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN; DRL
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: DIPLOMATIC CORPS WITNESSES
DESTRUCTION OF TURKMENBASHY PRISON
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000798
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN; DRL
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: DIPLOMATIC CORPS WITNESSES
DESTRUCTION OF TURKMENBASHY PRISON
1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.
2. (SBU) SUMMARY: In a public relations move, not
coincidentally taking place during the visit to Turkmenistan
of a European Union human rights delegation, the Government
of Turkmenistan on June 25 invited members of the diplomatic
corps and participants of a UNODC-sponsored Caspian Sea
Initiative counternarcotics conference to Turkmenbashy to
observe the demolition of a World War II-era prison. An
official claimed the prison's well-publicized destuction was
part of President Berdimuhamedov's effort to make
Turkmenistan more humanitarian. However, participants,
noting the facility's close proximity to a major oil refinery
and speculating that the facility was being torn down to
promote the refinery's expansion, suggested that the move
might have been sparked by more than one motivation. END
SUMMARY.
3. (SBU) On June 25, Turkmenistan's government invited the
diplomatic corps and participants of UNODC's Caspian Sea
Initiative counternarcotics conference on a public relations
jaunt to the Caspian Sea port of Turkmenbashy to witness the
destruction of a prison. Foreign guests were flown at the
government's expense to the port city, where they were bussed
to a World War II-era prison that one mid-level official said
had been built by Japanese prisoners of war in the early
1940s. The old brick-construction prison, which looked like
an old movie set, was nestled among pipes streaming from the
adjacent Turkmenbashy oil refinery. Senior Turkmen
representatives from the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of
Internal Affairs, Ministry of National Security, local and
provincial police, and the newly-established counternarcotics
agency were present. All four Turkmen television stations
and at least one Turkish television station were represented,
as well as Turkmen and Turkish print media.
4. (SBU) The Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs read a
short statement in which he indicated that the prison had
originally been the town jail, and had more recently been
used as a pre-trial detention center. At maximum capacity,
the facility had held 690 prisoners. Now, the prison was no
longer needed because, he claimed, Turkmenistan's crime rate
declined in 2007 by 12 percent. (NOTE: Crime statistics are
not publicly available. END NOTE.) He said the prison was
being destroyed in connection with President Berdimuhamedov's
program of "humanitarization" of Turkmenistan.
5. (SBU) Foreign visitors were then invited to tour the
first floor of two connected buildings that were used to hold
prisoners. The larger part of the building was comprised of
large rooms equipped with windows, sinks and basic toilets.
The smaller half of the building was one story, and partially
subterranean. It was comprised of four larger, open-air
"holding cages" -- perhaps for short-term detention. There
were also eight small, windowless isolation cells. Dust was
everywhere, and it appeared that the facility had not been
used for some time.
6. (SBU) After all the guests had returned to their seats
under an elegant tent structure, James Callahan, a senior
representative of UNODC in town for the counternarcotics
conference, was asked to do the honors of tapping a
ceremonial hammer on a pad that set a wrecking block in
motion. The block knocked in the first section of wall on
the prison. A team of construction workers then set to work
in their Komatsu and Caterpillar bulldozers, and, using steel
cables that had been installed along the length of the larger
building, began to pull down additional sections of the wall.
7. (SBU) COMMENT: The event appears to have been designed
to demonstrate Turkmenistan's progress on human rights reform
ASHGABAT 00000798 002 OF 002
while an EU human rights delegation was in town. While the
prison's destruction may demonstrate, to some extent, human
rights reforms, the facility's decrepit appearance and
location in the midst of aging but operational oil refining
equipment makes it seem equally likely that the old prison
had to be removed to make room for new refinery construction.
END COMMENT.
HOAGLAND
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN; DRL
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: DIPLOMATIC CORPS WITNESSES
DESTRUCTION OF TURKMENBASHY PRISON
1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.
2. (SBU) SUMMARY: In a public relations move, not
coincidentally taking place during the visit to Turkmenistan
of a European Union human rights delegation, the Government
of Turkmenistan on June 25 invited members of the diplomatic
corps and participants of a UNODC-sponsored Caspian Sea
Initiative counternarcotics conference to Turkmenbashy to
observe the demolition of a World War II-era prison. An
official claimed the prison's well-publicized destuction was
part of President Berdimuhamedov's effort to make
Turkmenistan more humanitarian. However, participants,
noting the facility's close proximity to a major oil refinery
and speculating that the facility was being torn down to
promote the refinery's expansion, suggested that the move
might have been sparked by more than one motivation. END
SUMMARY.
3. (SBU) On June 25, Turkmenistan's government invited the
diplomatic corps and participants of UNODC's Caspian Sea
Initiative counternarcotics conference on a public relations
jaunt to the Caspian Sea port of Turkmenbashy to witness the
destruction of a prison. Foreign guests were flown at the
government's expense to the port city, where they were bussed
to a World War II-era prison that one mid-level official said
had been built by Japanese prisoners of war in the early
1940s. The old brick-construction prison, which looked like
an old movie set, was nestled among pipes streaming from the
adjacent Turkmenbashy oil refinery. Senior Turkmen
representatives from the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of
Internal Affairs, Ministry of National Security, local and
provincial police, and the newly-established counternarcotics
agency were present. All four Turkmen television stations
and at least one Turkish television station were represented,
as well as Turkmen and Turkish print media.
4. (SBU) The Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs read a
short statement in which he indicated that the prison had
originally been the town jail, and had more recently been
used as a pre-trial detention center. At maximum capacity,
the facility had held 690 prisoners. Now, the prison was no
longer needed because, he claimed, Turkmenistan's crime rate
declined in 2007 by 12 percent. (NOTE: Crime statistics are
not publicly available. END NOTE.) He said the prison was
being destroyed in connection with President Berdimuhamedov's
program of "humanitarization" of Turkmenistan.
5. (SBU) Foreign visitors were then invited to tour the
first floor of two connected buildings that were used to hold
prisoners. The larger part of the building was comprised of
large rooms equipped with windows, sinks and basic toilets.
The smaller half of the building was one story, and partially
subterranean. It was comprised of four larger, open-air
"holding cages" -- perhaps for short-term detention. There
were also eight small, windowless isolation cells. Dust was
everywhere, and it appeared that the facility had not been
used for some time.
6. (SBU) After all the guests had returned to their seats
under an elegant tent structure, James Callahan, a senior
representative of UNODC in town for the counternarcotics
conference, was asked to do the honors of tapping a
ceremonial hammer on a pad that set a wrecking block in
motion. The block knocked in the first section of wall on
the prison. A team of construction workers then set to work
in their Komatsu and Caterpillar bulldozers, and, using steel
cables that had been installed along the length of the larger
building, began to pull down additional sections of the wall.
7. (SBU) COMMENT: The event appears to have been designed
to demonstrate Turkmenistan's progress on human rights reform
ASHGABAT 00000798 002 OF 002
while an EU human rights delegation was in town. While the
prison's destruction may demonstrate, to some extent, human
rights reforms, the facility's decrepit appearance and
location in the midst of aging but operational oil refining
equipment makes it seem equally likely that the old prison
had to be removed to make room for new refinery construction.
END COMMENT.
HOAGLAND