TURKMENISTAN: FANFARE (AND NO WOMEN IN SIGHT) AS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000040 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/IR AND SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/07/2020 TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI ECON EPET IR TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: FANFARE (AND NO WOMEN IN SIGHT) AS AHMADINEJAD ATTENDS PIPELINE OPENING REF: A. ASHGABAT 6 ¶B. ASHGABAT 7 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Sylvia Reed Curran. Reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Turkish diplomats and a UN agency head who attended the official events organized for the visit of Iranian President Ahmadinejad to Turkmenistan on January 5 and 6 gave their observations in conversations with Iran Watcher. Muzaffer Gultekin, the Turkish Charge, and Selim Topcu, Consul, had both taken the specially-arranged night train to the border town of Serakhs to attend the inauguration of the Dovletabad-Serakhs-Khangiran pipeline on January 6 (the Turkish ambassador is currently away and did not attend). Topcu was also present at the welcoming ceremony for President Ahmadinejad, and both had attended the official dinner that evening, the night before the pipeline opening. They described the pipeline opening as "full of fanfare," with thousands of students having been bused in for the occasion and Turkmen and Iranian flags everywhere. (NOTE: The Uzbek ambassador, who also attended, estimated that there were 15,000 children present. END NOTE.) The event reportedly included large television screens and a telephone hook-up between a Turkmen official in Dovletabad and an Iranian in Khangiran. The Turkmen called out, "Bismallah al-rahman al-rahim (in the name of God, the merciful and the compassionate),we are ready to pump gas, are you ready to receive it?" FEMALE GUESTS ABSENT ¶2. (C) Both Gultekin and Topcu noted that the Iranian and Turkmen presidents "looked happy together" at the pipeline opening, although they had apparently hardly spoken a word to each other, despite being seated side-by-side (along with interpreters) at the official dinner the night before. (COMMENT: This is unusual behavior for these formal dinners. Usually, President Berdimuhamedov spends a lot of time chatting with his guest(s),even if it is through interpreters. There are also usually a number of toasts, something that would not have happened in this case. END COMMENT.) Gultekin commented that with the exception of one Iranian television reporter accompanying Ahmadinejad's delegation, she had been "the only woman there for the entire two days, at either the dinner or the ceremony." (COMMENT: Normally, half the wait staff at these dinners is female, including the twin young ladies who exclusively wait on Berdimuhamedov and his honored guest. END COMMENT.) Even the government officials, thousands of students brought in for the pipeline opening, and the Turkmen in traditional dress representing the five provinces, had not a single woman among them. She also said that the absence of any European diplomats (Ref B) at the pipeline opening was particularly noticeable, and that the Islamic Development Bank, which is partially financing the Atrak-Gorgan railway project (Ref A), had "quite a presence" at the event. OUT IN THE COLD...FOR HOURS ¶3. (C) Ercan Saka, the UNODC representative in Ashgabat, who also attended both the dinner on January 5 and the pipeline opening, said that the opening was "very professionally-done and well-organized." He observed that the Iranian delegation looked almost "unkempt" and "unimpressive" (and not just because they weren't wearing neckties, he said) standing up near the sharply-dressed Turkmen officials. He added that he was shocked at seeing that the thousands of students brought in for the event, wearing the customary white shirts and ties, had no jackets or coats in the freezing weather in the middle of the desert. They had to "stand there for hours." He said the students all looked "cold and uncomfortable," huddling together for warmth as the guests waited for three hours for the two presidents and their entourages to arrive. ¶4. (C) COMMENT: This was the first official Turkmen event we had heard of with no women in attendance. It is unclear ASHGABAT 00000040 002 OF 002 whether they were excluded for protocol purposes or for some other reason. Particularly strange is the absence of the female members of the government: Parliament Chair Akja Nuberdiyeva (officially, the second ranking person in the government, after the President) and Deputy Chairman for Culture and Press Maysa Yazmuhamedova. Usually, all nine Deputy Chairmen, plus Nurberdiyeva, accompany Berdimuhamedov at these events. With the reported inclusion of a 15 thousand students, it would appear to be possibly one of the largest such events ever organized for a visiting head of state. This indicates the significance Turkmenistan attached to the spectacle of launching this second Turkmenistan-Iran pipeline. END COMMENT. CURRAN