TURKMENISTAN/UZBEKISTAN BORDER: ON THE ROAD WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000415

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/IR AND SCA/CEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/02/2019
TAGS: IR PGOV PHUM PREL TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN/UZBEKISTAN BORDER: ON THE ROAD WITH
IRANIAN TRUCKERS

Classified By: DCM SYLVIA R. CURRAN. REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (C) More than 40,000 Iranian truckers travel to or
through Turkmenistan each year, the majority passing in
either direction through the Farap border crossing on the
Uzbek border. As night falls, dozens of drivers congregate
at cafes and parking lots, or on the side of the road on
either side of the wobbly pontoon that connects the banks of
the Amu Darya River and closes to truck traffic at 7 pm.
Iran Watcher had occasion to speak to several of them during
a visit to Farap on March 31.

"WHY DOES AMERICA HAVE A PROBLEM WITH IRAN?"


2. (C) One elderly rig operator from Teheran was parked just
past the border crossing after carrying goods from Iran to
Tajikistan and then stopping in Bukhara for a load of cotton
on the way back. All of his children have emigrated from
Iran, he said: Two sons left for the United States and reside
in the Washington area; another two are in Canada, and two
daughters reside in Europe. "Why," he said, "does America
have a problem with Iran? We're good people -- Americans are
good people. There are no problems between us." When asked
about the presidential elections in June, he went on to
predict "with 90% certainty", that Mir-Hussein Mousavi will
prevail, and cited, in his view, the compatibility between
Mousavi and President Obama as negotiating partners. He said
that Iranians like Mousavi, whom they admire for his
understanding of the economy and, during his tenure as Prime
Minister, for protecting the country during the Iran-Iraq
War. "Mousavi," he said, "is a reasonable person. He is
well-educated, and thoughtful. He and Obama will understand
each other." He called President Ahmadinejad, "a good man,",
but "a very poor diplomat." He said that he, "talks too
harshly and, as a result, cannot help Iran improve its
relations with the world. He just makes things worse."

ETHNIC TURKMEN SHARE THEIR VIEWS


3. (C) In the evening at a cafe favored by Iranian drivers,
we met up with four ethnic Turkmen from the northern province
of Golestan who had been on the road for two weeks carrying
pre-fabricated houses to a Chinese construction site in
Turkmenistan. Ramin, an affable, 40-year old member of the
group and father of four from a village near Gorgan, said
about the elections: "We don't plan to vote. We never do.
They (the authorities) don't care about us, so why should we
care about the election?" He said that the Turkmen
population and other members of Iran's Sunni minority are
disenfranchised, noting that Turkmen children are forbidden
to speak, much less study, the Turkmen language at school. He
recounted an irregularity during the parliamentary elections
in Iran last year when, he said, the authorities disqualified
the Turkmen candidate for his district and replaced him with
an ethnic Persian. People in the district even appealed to
Grand Ayatollah Sistani to reinstate the candidate, he said,
but to no avail. That experience, he said, has left Turkmen
even more disillusioned than they already were.


4. (C) He said that Iran's Sunnis resent the religious and
cultural domination of Iran's Shia government, and pointed
out what he views as major cultural differences between the
two groups: He said the Nowruz holiday is not particularly
important to the Turkmen or other Sunni communities. Rather,
for them, he said, Eid-el-Fitr (marking the end of Ramadan),
and Kurban Bayram (end of the month of Hajj) have special
significance. Consequently, neither he nor anyone else in
the group was bothered at having spent the Nowruz holidays
away from Iran and their families. Another member of the
group, Taj-Mohamed, referred to Nowruz as a "Shia holiday."
When Iran Watcher pointed out that its origins are
Zoroastrian and pre-date Islam, he retorted, "Well, this
government has made it into a Shia holiday." He added,
"Turkmen men sometimes marry Persians," he said, "but we
never allow them to marry our daughters."
He said that Turkmen face discrimation in everything from
holding public office to government jobs. In the diplomatic
corps, he said, there are no ethnic Turkmen. "Not even in

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Central Asia, where we speak the same language. The only
people they send here are FARSI speakers." He said that his
uncle holds a doctorate in political science and applied to
the MFA, but was passed over in favor of less qualified
ethnic Persians.


5. (C) Another Turkmen driver, Naz-Mohamed, said that he
hoped the U.S. will re-engage with Iran, and that the Iranian
people are also very hopeful that they will. He said that
the Iranian government, on the other hand, opposes it,
because improved relations with U.S. and more contact between
the U.S. and Iranian people could ultimately erode the
regime's authority. He said he personally hoped that the
U.S. and Iran will resume relations and the sanctions will
end. "Economically," he said, "the sanctions make everything
more expensive: If I need an American-made part for my
truck, I have to buy it through Dubai, which doubles the
price." He said with impatience, "When he was running for
president, Obama said that, if elected, he would begin
negotiations with Iran. So what is he waiting for?"


6. (C) COMMENT: The border area at Farap provides regular
and constant opportunties to talk with a sector of Iran's
population with whom U.S. diplomats normally have little
contact: None had ever applied for a U.S. visa or had much
contact with Americans, although several older members of the
group fondly recalled the days when their country was "full
of Americans". Everyone we encountered was very friendly,
hospitable, and appeared comfortable talking openly, in
contrast to locations such as the truck stop in Berzengi,
near Ashgabat, where Turkmen police have a visible presence.
We plan to check in periodically in Farap to canvass the
views of this group of Iranians. END COMMENT.
MILES