TURKMENISTAN: HARASSED AUTHOR STILL WRITING...BUT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001621

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN; DRL/IRF

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/15/2019
TAGS: PHUM SCUL KIRF PGOV TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: HARASSED AUTHOR STILL WRITING...BUT
FOR WHOM?

Classified By: Charge Sylvia Reed Curran, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY. Award-winning Turkmen author Rakhim Esenov
continues to write, although there is little chance that his
latest literary works, based on the lives of Soviet Turkmen
heros, will be published any time soon. He continues to
suffer from government harassment, such as telephone
monitoring, airport searches and residence checks. He sees
little difference between policies under Niyazov and
Berdimuhamedov, which have produced a generation of
ill-educated university graduates that he described as
"zombies." Despite the difficulties, he has a sense of
mission about his efforts to inform the present and future
generations of Turkmen about their country's past. END
SUMMARY.


2. (C) On December 15, poloff met with writer Rakhim Esenov
to discuss the Turkmen government's suppression of his work,
as well as the general lack of freedom of expression in the
country. The 81-year old writer, who received a Freedom to
Write award from the PEN American Center in 2006, continues
to write every day, commenting that "one cannot stop
working." He has completed his memoirs, as well as a
historical novel about Nedirbay Aytakov, the first chairman
of Soviet Turkmenistan's Central Committee. He is currently
working on a book about Gaygysyz Atabayev, the most famous
Soviet Turkmen revolutionary, considered during the Soviet
era to be the founder of the Turkmen republic. Both of these
figures were killed during Stalin's purges, but later
rehabilitated by Soviet authorities, only to again be
"erased" by Niyazov. About his book the "Crowned Wanderer,"
which was banned under Niyazov because it accurately
described the historical Turkmen figure Bayram Khan as a Shia
Muslim, instead of a Sunni as Niyazov insisted, Esenov said
Bayram Khan's religion was a historical fact, which could not
be changed.


3. (C) Concerning his personal circumstances, Esenov noted
that the government continues to persecute him, monitoring
his telephone and reading his mail. His daughter, who acted
vigorously on his behalf during his 2004 arrest, making the
rounds of international organizations and embassies to enlist
their support, receives bi-monthly visits from "municipal
officials" checking on her continued residence. During one
such visit, the officials admitted to her husband that they
worked for the security ministry. Esenov himself receives
such "routine" visits, although he said none of his neighbors
do. He also complained that, when he returns from annual
trips to Moscow for medical treatment, officials at the
airport search him "from head to toe" and go through his
belongings. Esenov said he travels to Moscow for medical
treatment because he was afraid if he sought medical
treatment in Ashgabat, he might become a victim of foul play.
The most recent airport incident was on September 13, when
officials seized copies of four of his Soviet-era historical
novels that had recently been republished by Moscow
publishers. He carried with him a total of ten books, three
sets of a trilogy and one copy of a separate novel. After 50
days, only two sets of the trilogy were returned to him.
Esenov said someone in the government, probably in the
security ministry, "stole" the remaining volumes. He felt
that all of this persecution was meant to provoke him.


4. (C) Esenov acknowledged that there was no chance for his
works to be published currently in Turkmenistan. Turkmen
officials are "very far from that." He compared the
officials responsible for evaluating cultural works with
dockworkers being asked to evaluate perfumes. The problem
goes back to the Niyazov era, when the former president said
that he "did not need people smarter than himself," and that
it was "hard to work with smart people." As a result, the
respected, professional, scholarly officials left the
government, either to work in private business or to leave
the country. Esenov pointed out that the same person who was
in charge of censorship in Soviet Turkmenistan, Kakabay

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Atayev, still holds the position of Chairman of the Committee
for Keeping State Secrets. Despite the demise of Niyazov and
rise of Berdimuhamedov, "nothing changed." Esenov
acknowledged that some reasonable changes involving pensions,
ten-year school curriculum, and internal movement were
introduced by Berdimuhamedov. However, Esenov did not
consider these to be genuine reforms, but rather simply
rational actions that had to be carried out, "as obvious as
eating breakfast in the morning." As for the future of
Turkmen literature, Esenov stated that none of the current
Turkmen writers can produce such books such as he and other
Soviet-era writers wrote. The impact of university education
under Niyazov -- two years of course work and two years of
practical work -- created a generation of "zombies," and now
they are coming to power.


5. (C) COMMENT: Clearly a product of his time, Esenov
bemoaned the degradation of education and manipulation of
history that has taken place in post-Soviet Turkmenistan.
His current writing projects about Soviet Turkmen
revolutionary heros, historical figures that were anathema
under Niyazov, have little chance of being published under
the current regime. Still, Esenov carries on, convinced of
the importance of documenting a history that is completely
unknown to the generation of Turkmen coming of age after
independence. Unlike his Soviet era works, which apparently
still have a readership in Russia, it's unclear who will ever
have an opportunity to read these latest works. END COMMENT.
CURRAN