TURKMENISTAN: MEREDOV ADDRESSES OVERFLIGHT AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ASHGABAT 000560

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/28/2019
TAGS: PREL MOPS TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: MEREDOV ADDRESSES OVERFLIGHT AND
OTHER KEY ISSUES WITH DAS KROL

ASHGABAT 00000560 001.2 OF 003


Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Richard Miles for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: DAS Krol met with Deputy Chairman and
Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov on April 23 on the sidelines
of the Turkmenistan government's two-day energy security
conference. Meredov expressed his appreciation for U.S.
comments on the conference draft, and said the government
might publish a chairman's statement outlining the ideas
raised at the conference instead of a document that might be
too difficult to coordinate among all participants. On the
issue of overflight limits, he promised to "take care of" the
$30,000 back overflight fee claim as well as the attached
April 27 deadline for pament of thei amount. He stated that
U.S. medevac flights would not be hindered. Finally, he said
he would instruct Turkmen air authorities to meet with the
U.S. defense attache. However, Meredov argued that the
Turkmenistan government cannot give the United States a
higher blanket overflight limit than 1,600 because the
country has a limited capacity to support such air flight
patterns in a safe manner. Meredov was responsive to the
suggestion that taking concrete steps to improve the
country's human rights record would lay positive groundwork
for a presidential visit to Washington, but did not mention
any specific steps that were planned in the near term. END
SUMMARY.


2. (C) On the margins of the April 23 opening session of
the Ashgabat conference on energy security, Deputy Assistant
Secretary George Krol met with Deputy Chairman and Foreign
Minister Rashid Meredov at Meredov's request. Meredov
apologized for not being able to meet Krol the day before, as
had originally been arranged. Meredov explained that he had
gotten tied up meeting with various dignitaries who were
attending the conference.

ON THE CONFERENCE CLOSING STATEMENT


3. (C) Meredov thanked Krol for U.S. comments on the draft
conference statement. He recognized the United States had
given the Turkmen draft serious consideration and appreciated
the points the United States had made. He was concerned,
however, that he would have difficulty in the short time left
before the end of the conference in negotiating a document
acceptable to all participants based on the U.S. draft. He
thought there would be debate about the voluntary principles
the United States had suggested, even though Turkmenistan
found them compelling. Krol acknowledged the problem and
suggested to Meredov that he consider issuing a simple
chairman's statement that would have no binding character.
It should simply state the various ideas raised during the
conference and suggest on behalf of the chairman that they be
taken up in future sessions. Meredov readily agreed this was
the very approach he was considering. Meredov indicated that
he would make a few adjustments to the Turkmen draft to take
out the reference to conventions and issue it as a chairman's
statement that would not necessarily reflect an agreed
statement of results.

OVERFLIGHTS


4. (C) Krol raised the issue of overflights, noting
Assistant Secretary Boucher's previous discussion with
Meredov on the subject. Krol said that Turkmen Airways'
apparent ultimatum to shut down Turkmen air space on April 27
if the United States did not pay $30,000 in back fees could
seriously harm U.S.-Turkmen relations and send a confusing
signal from the Turkmen leadership to the new American
Administration. The United States would view the Turkmen
Airways decision as a decision of the Turkmen leadership.
Furthermore, denial of air space would affect the situation
in Afghanistan negatively and raise concerns about
Turkmenistan's commitment to stability in Afghanistan. Krol
made a special plea for how this would affect necessary
medical evacuation flights from the theater.

ASHGABAT 00000560 002.2 OF 003




5. (C) In response, Meredov assured Krol that Turkmenistan
would not close off Turkmen air space to the United States on
April 27. He committed to telling Turkmen Airways this
cannot be done. He added that he would take care of the
$30,000 claim. It should not be a problem. He said he also
spoke to the air authorities to meet with the U.S. defense
attache to discuss the issues and resolve them.


6. (C) On the broader issue of raising the overflight
ceiling above the 1,600 limit previously allowed, Meredov
argued that technical issues prevented Turkmenistan from
significantly raising the ceiling of U.S. flights. He
claimed the United States is the only country for which
Turkmenistan has given blanket overflight clearance. All
others must request clearance by notes. Technically
speaking, he said Turkmen air controllers and equipment can
only handle a limited number of flights overall per year. He
did not cite the overall figure as he was not sure of it, but
he said he had little power to force the air traffic
controllers to exceed their limits, which are based on
personnel and technical limitations. They simply did not
have enough air traffic controllers or equipment to greatly
expand their handling of overflight requests. Going beyond
the limit could create unacceptable safety concerns. Krol
asked whether focus on training or new equipment could help
expand the capacity of the Turkmen air control system to
accommodate more flights. Meredov did not exclude the
possibiity that this could help, but noted it would take
time. He suggested, however, that our experts could discuss
the matter with Turkmen air authorities.


7. (C) He repeated that Turkmenistan had no political aim
in limiting the number of overflights. It was simply a
technicality driven by a lack of capacity. He indicated that
once the United States surpassed its number of blanket
overflights, it would have to make individual overflight
requests by diplomatic note like every other country. He
noted that if Turkmenistan were to raise the U.S. overflight
ceiling, it would have to take overflights away from other
requesters. He explained that Turkmenistan did hold several
hundred overflights as a reserve, in case of emergencies. He
assured Krol that Turkmenistan would never deny overflight
clearance to medical evacuation flights and would turn around
clearance for such requests "within 30 minutes."

A BERDIMUHAMEDOV VISIT TO THE U.S.


8. (C) Krol indicated that the U.S. in principle would look
forward to a visit from President Berdimuhamedov at the
appropriate time, probably much later in the year. It would
be most important thought to prepare for such a visit well in
advance, especially the background. Here Krol noted growing
negative attention to Turkmenistan's human rights record on
the Hill and among human rights organizations. Concrete
improvements in this area could pave the way for a successful
presidential visit and a less contentious atmosphere.
Meredov readily agreed Turkmenistan needed to do more to
improve its record for its own sake and not just to prepare
for a visit. Although some steps had been taken with the
International Red Cross's possible prison visits and training
of prison officials, the process would be slow. It would be
hard to change the mentality of the organs that are the most
regressive. Still, he said Turkmenistan would continue to
work on the human rights issues.


9. (C) Meredov indicated that the work of his own schedule,
so deeply connected to Berdimuhamedov's made it highly
unlikely he could find time to visit Washington himself. He
encouraged a meeting on the margins of an international
meeting. Meredov would welcome high-level visitors such as
the Secretary any time, including on trips to or from
Afghanistan. Meredov said he would welcome guest lecturers
from the U.S. to speak at the Ministry of Foreign Affair's
diplomatic academy. He wanted to expose these future Turkmen

ASHGABAT 00000560 003.2 OF 003


diplomats to different points of view on international
relations. He understood the U.S. funded a speaker's program
and hoped Turkmenistan could get more speakers, especially
for the diplomatic academy.


10. (U) DAS Krol cleared this cable.
MILES