Turkmen Leader Wants "Apolitical" Ties With Washington

29-Jun-07

Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov’s call for politics to be kept off the agenda as his country moves towards a rapprochement with the United States is being interpreted as a sign he is reluctant to embark on democratic reforms.

On June 25, at a meeting with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Evan Feigenbaum, Berdymuhammedov said Turkmen-American relations should not be politicised, while calling at the same time for an expansion in business, educational and cultural ties.

The diplomatic dialogue between the two countries has become much more active this year. Admiral William Fallon, the commander-in-chief of Central Command, visited Turkmenistan in early June, and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher paid a visit in April. Prior to that, the Turkmen president had talks with Steven Mann, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, and State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

Until now, Turkmen-US cooperation has been economic – Parker Drilling is developing oilfields in western Turkmenistan – and educational, through programmes taking Turkmen military and police personnel to study in the US, and offering English courses at American colleges to small groups of schoolchildren.

NBCentralAsia analysts say Berdymuhammedov’s remarks reflect a wariness about the possibility that the US will demand democratic reforms.

Vyacheslav Mamedov, leader of the Civil Democratic Union of Turkmenistan, an émigré group, interprets the president’s statement to mean “there will be no political reforms in the near future”.

“What Berdymuhammedov means by ‘politics’ is international pressure to democratise Turkmenistan and stop the persecution of dissidents,” said Mamedov.

He added that the US administration is likely to agree to keep politics off the agenda and concentrate on educational and cultural projects instead, since it is interested in gaining alternative levers of influence in Central Asian to weaken the region’s dependence on Russia.

Political scientist Mars Sariev is certain that Berdymuhammedov will continue the policy of “limited cooperation” confined to neutral topics, and that it is premature to predict a substantial expansion in relations.

An NBCentralAsia observer based in Ashgabat agrees with this view, saying Berdymuhammedov’s reluctance to seek a political rapprochement with the United States is motivated by a fear that the Turkmenistan’s citizens, who have been isolated for so many years, might be infected with the “spirit of freedom” from the West.

“All the TV channels and newspapers are constantly trying to persuade us that ‘their’ [western] democracy is alien to us,” said the observer.

(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)