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Viewing cable 10ASHGABAT6, IRAN/TURKMENISTAN: AHMADINEJAD TO VISIT

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
10ASHGABAT6 2010-01-04 12:38 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Ashgabat
VZCZCXRO0169
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHAH #0006 0041238
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 041238Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4001
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 6073
RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 0001
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 4315
RHMCSUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
UNCLAS ASHGABAT 000006 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/IR AND SCA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: IR PGOV PREL TX
SUBJECT: IRAN/TURKMENISTAN: AHMADINEJAD TO VISIT 
TURKMENISTAN ON 5-6 JANUARY 
 
1. (SBU) Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will visit 
Turkmenistan on January 5-6, and will be the guest of honor 
at the official opening of the joint 65-kilometer 
Dowletabat-Serahs-Khangiran gas pipeline. His last visit to 
Turkmenistan was in July 2006, when he met with former 
Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov. 
 
2. (SBU) The Turkmen press has not offered many details about 
Ahmadinejad's schedule, however Iranian news sources indicate 
that in addition to the pipeline inauguration, the Iranian 
president will attend a groundbreaking ceremony for the 
Atrak-Gorgan railway project -- reportly being carried out by 
a number of Iranian contractors -- and will also meet with 
businessmen and other members of the Iranian expatriate 
community in Turkmenistan. The two presidents will reportedly 
also enter into a series of MOUs relating to expanded 
cultural, technical and economic cooperation. 
 
3. (SBU) COMMENT: From most accounts, Ahmadinejad and Niyazov 
had a "friendly" relationship, notwithstanding the Iranian 
president's reportedly disparaging remarks about his 
impression of Ashgabat when he visited in 2006.  At the time, 
he apparently characterized it to Niyazov as, "still looking 
very much like a village, despite your obvious efforts to 
make it beautiful." In recent years, the relationship between 
the two countries has had its ups and downs, including during 
the winter of 2008, when Turkmenistan stopped gas exports to 
Iran for three months, citing "technical reasons," as well as 
an incident two years ago when Iranian patrol boats shot and 
killed an ethnic Turkmen fisherman in the Caspian Sea, which 
sparked violent protests in the Turkmen community in Iran and 
the arrest of about 300 demonstrators.  Given the premium 
that Berdimuhamdov places on high-level visits -- the Chinese 
and Russian presidents have each visited multiple times 
during the past year and a half -- Ahmadinejad's visit cannot 
help but improve Iran's standing with the Turkmen leadership. 
 END COMMENT. 
CURRAN