TURKMENISTAN: INFORMATION ON SECURITY DIALOGUE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 001406 SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/CEN; PRM E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR MASS TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: INFORMATION ON SECURITY DIALOGUE REF: STATE 112900 Classified By: Charge Sylvia Reed Curran, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) In response to reftel inquiry about a U.S. security dialogue with Turkmenistan, while there is no formal dialogue, the USG does operate a military to military contacts program administered by U.S. Central Command. This program is essentially a list of events each fiscal year that different U.S. military agencies want to execute with the Turkmenistan Ministry of Defense, State Border Service, State Counternarcotics Service, and to a lesser degree with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Military visits fall loosely under this program. Visits by U.S. military leadership, e.g., the CENTCOM Commander or other military officials, most closely resemble a "dialogue" in our bilateral military-to-military relationship. ¶2. (C) Additionally, there is an annual action officers working group, in Ashgabat, attended by representatives of the GOTX agencies mentioned above. The intent of this event is to discuss the next year's plan, and to get input from the Turkmen side for the plan. Results from this meeting have been uneven, sometimes beneficial, sometimes unproductive. A follow-up meeting is held in Tampa, the Consultative Staff Talks, in which a more formal plan is discussed, taking into account the interests expressed at the working group meeting. Currently, the nature of exchanges at these events could not be characterized as a dialogue. CURRAN