Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ASHGABAT94
2009-01-21 12:52:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Ashgabat
Cable title:  

TURKMENISTAN: UNODC PROMOTES CROSS-BORDER

Tags:  PGOV PREL SNAR TX 
pdf how-to read a cable
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ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 211252Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2173
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4719
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 2967
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000094 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN AND INL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/20/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL SNAR TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: UNODC PROMOTES CROSS-BORDER
COOPERATION WITH AFGHANISTAN, LOOKS AHEAD TO IRAN

REF: 08 ASHGABAT 1378

Classified By: Charge Richard Miles, per reasons 1.4(B) and (D).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000094

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN AND INL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/20/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL SNAR TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: UNODC PROMOTES CROSS-BORDER
COOPERATION WITH AFGHANISTAN, LOOKS AHEAD TO IRAN

REF: 08 ASHGABAT 1378

Classified By: Charge Richard Miles, per reasons 1.4(B) and (D).


1. (C) SUMMARY: During an introductory meeting with the
Charge, the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime (UNODC) office in Turkmenistan described his continued
efforts to promote bilateral counter-narcotics and border
security cooperation between Turkmenistan and neighboring
countries. He said that it is complicated not only by a lack
of political will, but also the minimal information sharing
within and between the various agencies of the Turkmen
government. UNODC's projects to date have focused on
Afghan-Turkmen cross-border cooperation, after which they
hope to turn their attention to similar issues between
Turkmenistan/Iran and Turkmenistan/Uzbekistan. END SUMMARY.

RAISING TURKMEN CONSCIOUSNESS ABOUT DRUG PROBLEM


2. (C) In a meeting with the Charge on 14 January, Ercan
Saka, UNODC Turkmenistan's Project Coordinator, outlined his
mission's goals and the many challenges involved in
coordinating counter-narcotics projects in Turkmenistan. He
said that it was only in the past two years that
Turkmenistan's government, which he called "in denial," has
really acknowledged the country's drug and organized crime
problems. He has devoted much of his effort to raising the
awareness of the drug issue, which is also a regional problem.


3. (C) Saka described his follow-up work at the Imam Nazar
(Afghan border) crossing station, recently rebuilt with USG
(CENTCOM) funding. Before the reconstruction project, he
said, Imam Nazar had "no infrastructure whatsoever: No
electricity, no water, not even a road." UNODC is now
focused, he said, on follow-up work and border security
training projects with the Turkmen government. He would like
to encourage a long-term arrangement between the Turkmen and
Afghan governments for counter narcotics intelligence and
cross-border cooperation. One of the chief frustrations he
faces is the government's tendency to treat all such matters
as a "national secret." In his efforts to bring all of the
various agencies together, he said, he emphasizes to the

participants that international experience has shown that
close cooperation between government agencies is the best
recipe for success in counter narcotics.

URGING TURKMEN TO DEVELOP CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION WITH
AFGHANS


4. (C) Saka says that he continues trying to push the
Turkmen to develop cross-border cooperation with the Afghans.
He said that when he arranged the first ever cross-border
meeting between Turkmen and Afghan border and law enforcement
officials in October (Reftel),the Afghan side was very
enthusiastic, but the Turkmen reaction was one of caution.
He plans to hold a high-level meeting in Ashgabat in March,
and will also invite representatives from other governments
in the region, including Uzbekistan and Iran. He hopes that
these exchanges will result in the creation of a permanent
bilateral meeting process on border security issues, and that
"border liaison offices" will be created on both sides.

OBSTACLES IN WORKING WITH TURKMEN AGENCIES


5. (C) Saka detailed some of the difficulties he had faced
in working with the Turkmen government on counter-narcotics
issues. He believes that President Berdimuhamedov
understands the severity of the country's drug problem, but
that the necessary "political will" is not present in all
parts of the government. He said that the government had
committed itself to supporting two UNODC projects, but then
made the projects part of their own budget rather than
providing the funds to UNODC as promised. Although the
President created the State Counter-Narcotics Service (SCNS)
last year, conflicts still exist between the Ministry of the
Interior and the SCNS.


6. (C) Saka has now turned his attention to the Farap
(Uzbek border) crossing point, which he describes as a

ASHGABAT 00000094 002 OF 002


"bottleneck" for the region's international trade and
transit. The Turkmenistan government had pledged to
contribute USD 1,000,000 to developing the station, whose
construction is being funded and carried out by U.S. CENTCOM,
but later changed their offer to one of "in kind" support
rather than cash. After Farap, Saka would like to focus his
attention on the Iranian border, through which at least 50
percent of the Afghan opiates enter Turkmenistan.


7. (C) The Turkmen government only recently started sharing
their seizure statistics with UNODC, which now receives
information about all seizures over 1 kg. He said that UNODC
plans to convene a follow-up meeting in Baku in April to
implement the strategy paper that was drawn up at the Caspian
Sea Initiative meeting that was held in Ashgabat in June last
year, with representatives from all five Caspian Sea states.
Like so many others, businesspeople and international
technocrats alike, Saka lamented the lack of internet in
Turkmenistan, and how this complicates his work and the
sharing of information with the government.


8. (C) BIO NOTE AND COMMENT: Saka, a Turkish national with
a background in law enforcement, has been with the office in
Turkmenistan for 18 months, and prior to that served in Latin
America with the World Customs Organization (WCO). He is
energetic, personable, and unfailingly in good spirits, which
is admirable given the challenges of his work. END BIO NOTE
AND COMMENT.
MILES