Many changes have occurred in Turkmenistan since 2006, when the title of president passed from Saparmurat Niyazov — known as Turkmenbashi or leader of the Turkmen — and the first president after independence from the Soviet Union, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. At a 7 December 2009 lecture at the Kennan Institute, Richard Miles, retired U.S. Ambassador and recent Charge d'Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Turkmenistan, offered his personal observations on the domestic realities of Turkmenistan as well as its relationship with the United States.

Under Niyazov, Turkmenistan was highly isolated from the rest of the world. Niyazov did not travel abroad often and did not allow many Turkmen students to obtain higher education abroad. When Berdimuhamedov assumed the presidency in 2006, however, the country began to change. Berdimuhamedov reopened theatres and other cultural institutions, enabled the internet, and allowed more students to study abroad. According to Ambassador Miles, Berdimuhamedov himself is fond of traveling outside Turkmenistan for state visits. Furthermore, he is expecting visits from Russian President Medvedev, Iranian President Ahmadinejad, and Chinese President Hu.

According to Ambassador Miles, there are three key issues in the U.S.-Turkmenistan relationship: energy, geopolitics, and human rights. These topics are explored in detail in the Annual Bilateral Consultations (ABCs) that the U.S. has proposed to Turkmenistan. The ABCs for Turkmenistan is composed of five baskets: political issues, security, the human dimension, economy and economic development, and energy. "My hope is that as we keep working with the government of Turkmenistan on the issues, we will continue to make progress," stated Ambassador Miles, adding, "Turkmenistan is moving forward in its own unique way."

Energy
Turkmenistan possesses many natural resources, including enormous deposits of natural gas and oil. Chevron currently has rights to an off-shore bloc, and other western energy companies have expressed interest in Turkmenistan's energy sector. Russia and Iran are important markets for buying these resources, and with the opening of the Turkmenistan-China pipeline, gas supply to China will also be an important outlet for Turkmen gas.

Geopolitics
The U.S. considers Turkmenistan a country of high geostrategic value because of its littoral border with the Caspian Sea and territorial borders with both Iran and Afghanistan. Although Turkmenistan espouses a policy of permanent neutrality, it currently allows the U.S. to fly planes over its territory on humanitarian grounds. In addition, there is a "gas-and-go" station at Ashgabat airport for U.S. planes. However, Turkmenistan is not yet part of the Northern Distribution Network (NDN), i.e. a network of alternative land routes into Afghanistan. The U.S. would like to include Turkmenistan in the NDN to transport non-lethal material overland to Afghanistan.

Human Rights
Ambassador Miles listed religious freedom, human trafficking, and political prisoners as several of the human rights issues the U.S. is working on with Turkmenistan. Some amnesties are granted every year, but they are for common criminals and not political prisoners, whose existence the Turkmen government outright denies. However, Turkmenistan is very hospitable to the myriad of international rights organizations working there, and has its own governmental Commission on Human Rights and Democracy, which has frequent seminars and meetings in cooperation with the OSCE, the International Organization for Migration, the UN and other international Organizations.


By Larissa Eltsefon
Blair Ruble, Director, Kennan Institute