TURKMENISTAN: UNODC SEEKING U.S. SUPPORT FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 000338

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INL AND SCA/CEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/12/2019
TAGS: SNAR UZ PGOV PREL TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: UNODC SEEKING U.S. SUPPORT FOR
CROSS-BORDER COORDINATION PROJECT AT FARAP

Classified By: Charge Richard Miles, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Project
Coordinator for Turkmenistan, Ercan Saka, met with Politial
Officer yesterday seeking financial support from INL for a
proposed project at Farap, on the Uzbek border. Under the
proposal, which has a budget of one million USD and is
divided into two phases, Saka envisions several major
activities aimed at strengthening border control along
Turkmenistan's main crossing to Uzbekistan. It mirrors
UNODC's earlier cross-border project at Imam-Nazar, on the
Afghan border, much of which was also supported with USG
(INL) funding. (NOTE: US-CENTCOM is currently building a new
border crossing station at Farap, similar to a facility
constructed at Imam-Nazar. The Farap station is expected to
be completed in May. END NOTE.)


2. (C) According to Saka, the project had an initial budget
of USD 300,000, but the Turkmen authorities put forward a
number of other activities they wished to include as part of
it, particularly training programs, making the undertaking
much more costly. Saka has thus far secured financial
backing from the Turkish Government of USD 150,000. Turkey
has reportedly promised to double that amount if UNODC
obtains financial support for at least half of the total
projected cost. The project would introduce modern
interdiction methods, such as risk management, provide basic
training on cross-border coordination to officials at the
checkpoint, provide technical and training needs assessment,
and establish a regular means of contact with Uzbek border
authorities.

TURKMEN RELUCTANT TO COLLABORATE WITH THE UZBEKS


3. (C) Saka said that, in contrast to Turkmen officials'
attitude towards working with Afghan officials on the Imam
Nazar project, the Turkmen have been reluctant to commit to
activities with Uzbek officials that involve
information-sharing and other collaboration on border
controls. In Saka's words, the Turkmen are more "ill at
ease" towards the Uzbeks, whereas their interest in promoting
stability in Afghanistan was a major impetus to working with
officials from that country, as well as the fact that
Afghanistan's population includes nearly four million ethnic
Turkmen. He said the Turkmen are proud of the fact that the
Afghan Turkmen have traditionally stayed away from
Afghanistan's internal struggles and have little or no
connection to the Taliban. Only recently, he said, following
President Berdimuhamedov's visit to Tashkent in February,
Turkmen officials have shown more willingness to commit to
activities with the Uzbeks. During the President's visit,
several bilateral agreements on border security were signed.

INCOMPLETE SEIZURE DATA


4. (C) Saka said that Turkmen authorities have still not
provided UNODC with their complete seizure statistics for
2008, only for the first six months. He has told SCNS that
going ahead with the project at Farap will be contingent on
their full disclosure of that information to his agency. He
said that counter-narcotics officials, including Serdar
Batyrov, the Acting SCNS chief, are reluctant to "stick their
necks out" at the moment, fearing a reprimand or removal from
the President, and thus have refused to provide the
information.


5. (C) COMMENT: Narcotics trafficking is a regional, not
local or national problem, and will only be effectively
countered through cross border cooperation among the states
that are part of the Afghan opiate transshipment route.
UNODC has been effective in promoting counter-narcotics
cooperation and training in Central Asia, and Post supports
its proposed project at Farap. END COMMENT.
MILES