TURKMENISTAN: WHY THINGS DON'T WORK WELL

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 000803 SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/27/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: WHY THINGS DON'T WORK WELL Classified By: CDA RICHARD E. HOAGLAND: 1.4 (B),(D) ¶1. (C) Charge met with Ministry of Foreign Affairs America's Director Serdar Bashimov the evening of June 26 after Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Rashid Mererdov once again abruptly cancelled a meeting on three urgent matters because, as very frequently happens, he was summoned to the Presidential Palace. ¶2. (C) The Charge had discussed one of the issues very briefly with Meredov at a public event on June 24, and the minister asked that the details be passed directly to him, out of system, in a non-paper, which the Embassy subsequently did on June 25. The background paper included a time line of previous discussions on the issue, including a reasonable and useful suggestion Bashimov had made. ¶3. (C) In the June 26 meeting, Bashimov was visibly shaken and briefly broke down. When he composed himself, he pleaded with the Charge never ever again to use his name in any kind of document, formal or informal, that goes to the minister. Otherwise, he said, "You won't have me to work with anymore." Apparently, Minister Meredov had given Bashimov a severe tongue-lashing for having at one point made a suggestion for a way forward on the sensitive issue. As he walked the Charge out of the ministry, Bashimov commented, "This has been the worst day of my life. Sometimes life isn't worth living." ¶4. (C) COMMENT: Several insights emerge. First, even relatively senior officials like Bashimov, who is roughly the equivalent of a U.S. assistant secretary, are not authorized to think and act without the minister's explicit consent. We know from previous experience senior officials are selective in what they pass to the minister for fear of provoking him with "bad news." That in itself is bad enough, but it brings up a larger issue. Because Minister Meredov is so often tied up with the president, he has less and less time, it seems, to be foreign minister. Since January, it has been increasingly difficult to see him, and this is true for the entire diplomatic community. When Meredov appears in public for ceremonial events, ambassadors mob him to do business they haven't been able to do otherwise. These ambassadorial mob scenes would be comical, if they weren't so alarming. In the case of our non-paper on the sensitive issue, we kept several ticks deliberately vague so that the Charge could discuss U.S. views candidly with the Minister in greater detail and propose a way forward. But we hear now Meredov has passed the paper to a functionary to craft a policy response. Because Meredov seems to have less time to be foreign minister, the government of Turkmenistan is more likely to make bone-headed decisions that we then have to attempt to walk back. END COMMENT. HOAGLAND