Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ASHGABAT644
2009-05-22 12:44:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Ashgabat
Cable title:  

TURKMENISTAN: BERDIYEV RELEASED FROM DETENTION,

Tags:  PHUM PGOV TX 
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PP RUEHAG RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHAH #0644/01 1421244
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 221244Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2849
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
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RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 5212
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 2952
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 2817
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL PRIORITY 3456
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 3565
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA PRIORITY 0062
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 1446
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000644 

SIPDIS

SCA/CEN; DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2019
TAGS: PHUM PGOV TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: BERDIYEV RELEASED FROM DETENTION,
BUT PROVIDES FEW DETAILS

REF: A. 08 ASHGABAT 01472

B. ASHGABAT 00598

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

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000644

SIPDIS

SCA/CEN; DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2019
TAGS: PHUM PGOV TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: BERDIYEV RELEASED FROM DETENTION,
BUT PROVIDES FEW DETAILS

REF: A. 08 ASHGABAT 01472

B. ASHGABAT 00598

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


1. (C) SUMMARY: Post learned on May 13 that Bazargeldy
Berdiyev had been released from Ministry of National Security
(MNB) detention on that day. Berdiyev has been seeking
compensation from the government for violations of his and
his wife's rights during the 1990s (Ref A). Poitical Officer
met on May 14 with Berdiyev and his wife, but was unable to
learn much about his treatment while in detention. The
Berdiyevs claim that a letter, taken from Berdiyev during his
detention, was a statement from the Government of
Turkmenistan acknowledging that it owed the family
significant financial compensation for property loss and for
the injuries the Berdiyevs suffered in the 1990s. Given
inconsistencies in the information previously provided by the
Berdiyevs, and their apparent obsession with obtaining the
money they claim they are supposed to receive, it is not
clear that the Berdiyevs are providing Post with complete and
fully accurate information about their case. END SUMMARY.

BERDIYEV RELEASED FROM DETENTION


2. (C) Political Officer met with Bazargeldy Berdiyev and
his wife Ayjemal on May 14 to try to confirm the details of
his four day detention (Ref B) and release. Although a
meeting had been requested with Mr. Berdiyev, upon arrival,
he brought Political Officer into Mrs. Berdiyeva's bedroom --
her physical disabilities keep her in bed the majority of the
time -- and he took a seat behind Political Officer. Mr.
Berdiyev spoke slowly and slurred his words at times, as if
he did not want to move his jaw, and walked with a slight
limp. He also became confused frequently when showing
Political Officer a variety of documents. (NOTE: When
Political Officer met with Mr. Berdiyev last year, she
recalled he spoke in a somewhat slurred fashion, but she did
not recall him limping or demonstrating overt physical
impairment. END NOTE.)


3. (C) Mrs. Berdiyeva provided a few additional details
about her husband's detention and about the status of the
family's efforts to acquire financial compensation from the
Turkmen Government. Mr. Berdiyev, however, was withdrawn and

when directly asked to provide any details regarding what had
happened to him, he would only say that on the morning of May
9, he left the family home to get medicine for his wife and
to make copies of a letter the family received in March from
the Prosecutor General's Office. As he left a neighborhood
pharmacy, he was thrown into a car by several men. He said
the March letter was taken from him during his detention. He
appeared to be uncomfortable and distressed speaking about
his detention and was largely silent for the duration of the
meeting.


4. (C) Mrs. Berdiyeva explained that the family received
the letter, signed by First Deputy Prosecutor General
Amanmurad Halliyev, on March 16. The letter, she claimed,
contained language in which Halliyev acknowledged that the
Government of Turkmenistan, in accordance with the request of
the UN Human Rights Council, would pay the family $2.787
million in compensation for the family's loss of property and
for moral damages suffered in the 1990s. She said the letter
indicated that the money would be made available at a Turkmen
Government bank, but it did not specify the bank or provide
further account information or other details.


5. (C) She also changed some details of her overall story
during the meeting. In December 2008, she had told Embassy
staff that the family had received a letter from a UN office
in Geneva that asked the Government of Turkmenistan to

ASHGABAT 00000644 002 OF 002


compensate the family. However, the family failed to
accommodate Post's repeated requests to see a copy of the
letter, offering various excuses for why the letter was not
available. During the May 14 meeting with Political Officer,
Berdiyeva admitted that the family had not received this
letter. In fact, Berdiyeva revealed that she was a former
employee at the Ministry of Health when Berdimuhammedov was
Health Minister, and suggested that she had personal contacts
who now worked in the Presidential Administration. She said
that in December 2008, a former colleague contacted her and
reported having seen a letter that a UN agency sent to
President Berdimuhammedov. The letter reportedly contained
recommendations for the resolution of multiple specific human
rights cases, including Berdiyeva's.

ATMOSPHERICS ON THE FAMILY


6. (C) The Berdiyevs live on the bottom floor of one of the
Soviet-era high rise apartment buildings. They have enclosed
a porch area and parking area with iron security bar fencing.
A recent year Mercedes sedan was parked within. Mr.
Berdiyev volunteered that he is "a trader" who used to own a
store of his own. Now the store is gone, but he still
conducts business out of his basement. The apartment was
large, with at least six or eight rooms, although sparsely
furnished, in the Turkmen tradition. Expensive Turkmen
carpets covered the floors of every room.


7. (C) COMMENT: Political Officer was able to confirm that
Berdiyev was detained and had been released. There were no
obvious signs that he had been mistreated. While Post finds
his claim of detention plausible, we are concerned that
elements of the Berdiyevs' overall stories do not match up
and contain major gaps. It has become more obvious to us
that there are details -- and potentially personal
connections -- that they do not want the U.S. Embassy to know
about, and some details that they have fabricated in the
past. The other disconcerting element of this story is that
the Berdiyevs are singularly and almost obsessively focused
on getting hold of the significant financial compensation
they believe they have a chance of obtaining. They have
shown no interest at all in any guidance or offers to apply
for assistance to get them to an international treatment
center specializing in victims of torture. However, it may
be that they view the compensation in part as their own
earned wealth, and want to make their own personal choices
for treatment, no matter the cost. END COMMENT.
MILES