TURKMENISTAN: TURKISH ASSISTANCE PROMOTES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001630 SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2019 TAGS: EAID PREL SOCI TU TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: TURKISH ASSISTANCE PROMOTES AGRICULTURE AND TOURISM REF: ASHGABAT 1183 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Sylvia Reed Curran. Reasons 1.4 (B) a nd (D). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) has a wide range of programs in Turkmenistan, including healthcare, education, law enforcement, agriculture, and tourism. The TIKA Turkmenistan country representative described the agriculture and tourism projects as the most successful, and the ones that he would focus on in the coming year. The agency has long-standing working relations with some Turkmen Government ministries, which could be TIKA's value added in a joint program with other donors. END SUMMARY. 2.(U) The Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency has been operating in Turkmenistan since 1993. In 2009, three-fourths of its activities were in the area of developing social infrastructure, including education, healthcare, and law enforcement, according to a summary of activities distributed by TIKA. One of TIKA's primary methods of assistance is to send specialists from Turkmenistan to Turkey for training. In 2009 TIKA sent 133 doctors, farmers, and policemen to Turkey for training and internship programs ranging from one week to two months. ¶3. (C) When TIKA Country Representative Kemal Ozcan met with Poloff on December 16, he highlighted the agriculture and tourism projects over TIKA's social infrastructure efforts. He said that a poultry project that brought 22,500 hybrid eggs to the S.A. Niyazov Farmer's Union, incubated them, and then vaccinated the chickens had been the most successful TIKA project in 2009 because it fulfilled goals on multiple levels. It coincided with a need to take preventive measures against avian flu. It also fulfilled TIKA's goal of improving social conditions for the Turkmen people by lowering the price of chicken and eggs. Ozcan also described a project, in cooperation with the Turkmenistan Ministries of Agriculture and Nature Protection, to teach Turkmen how to grow pistachio nuts, almonds, and walnuts. According to Ozcan, this project fulfilled one of TIKA's goals of assisting Turkmenistan to develop sources of wealth other than natural gas. He noted that Iran has a developed pistachio growing industry and suggested that Turkmenistan also has conditions suitable for producing pistachios. Ozcan added that this project was a way "to help Turkmen help themselves" and that "it is better to teach someone to fish, than to give him a fish." ¶4. (C) Ozcan noted that tourism was the priority for TIKA projects in 2010. He said that Turkmenistan was looking for a model for its tourist industry, and Turkey would like to fill that role. President Berdimuhamedov's trip to Antalya in August to visit tourism infrastructure was part of this effort (reftel). Ozcan said that TIKA conducts tourism projects in both Avaza and Ashgabat, but gave the impression that he thought Ashgabat offered better prospects. TIKA has a center in Ashgabat to teach about the tourism industry and how to improve standards of service. Graduates from this center's programs are eligible to go to Turkey on internships. Ozcan indicated that this center would be the base of the 2010 tourism-related projects. ¶5. (C) TIKA implements its projects without the involvement of other donors, according to its country representative. He affirmed that TIKA would be happy to cooperate with other embassies or international organizations on assistance projects, but would want to be sure that TIKA was an equal partner in any such cooperation. TIKA does not want to simply donate equipment; it also wants to share Turkish ASHGABAT 00001630 002 OF 002 expertise. Ozcan described TIKA's good working relationships with Turkmen ministries, especially the Ministry of Education. TIKA provides funding for Turkmen-Turkish schools and the Turkish program at the Azadi Institute of languages, for example. It sends 100 students from the Central Asian region to Turkey for a month in the summer to study culture and history, and to do an internship program. Ozcan noted that there are limits to the level of government trust, however, and the Ministry of Health, for example, insists on choosing which doctors will travel to Turkey for training. ¶6. (C) COMMENT: Ozcan's focus on the agricultural and tourism projects was at odds with the reported funding of the 2009 activities, which was much more heavily tilted toward the education, health, and law enforcement spheres. Perhaps funding levels do not reflect the areas in which TIKA actually gets the most traction with the Turkmen government. If other donors engaged in joint projects with TIKA, the sum might be greater than the parts, especially in a challenging area such as education where the Turks have well-established contacts with the Ministry of Education and a much lower language barrier. However, Ozcan seemed sensitive about making sure that TIKA would receive proper credit for its expertise, and that sensitivity could make agreements about joint projects difficult to reach. END COMMENT. CURRAN