nCa Commentary by Tariq Saeedi, Ashgabat, 16 Sep 2008 – The 9-13 of Turkmenistan has occurred. Terrorism – the evil of our times – has struck Turkmenistan.
On 13 September 2008, the law enforcement agencies fought a bloody battle with a large gang of well trained and heavily armed drug dealers. The gang was finally suppressed but the toll was heavy: According to independent estimates, some 18 officers and troops may have lost their lives.
The office of the prosecutor general of Turkmenistan is investigating the case. In ordinary circumstances, nCa doesn’t comment on cases that are under investigation. However, these are not ordinary circumstances.
Terrorism has cast its ominous shadow on a peace-loving nation, a nation that always goes out of its way to promote stability and harmony in the entire Central Asian region.
There is just one point we would like to emphasize: Unless the evidence suggests otherwise, it would be important to consider whether some foreign country or countries were involved in the incident in any way whatsoever.
One can rightly ask as to why some foreign country or countries should be suspected of involvement in this mess.
Here are some pointers:
- Looking at the number of casualties on the government side, it is easy to deduce that the gang of drug dealers was exceptionally large. Drug dealers in such large numbers will not band together unless induced by some power that has the motive and the means to do so.
- Why would drug dealers take up arms against the government, knowing that ultimately they are no match for the state firepower, without assurance of support from some external power?
- Training and arming a large group of people requires massive logistics and resources that are not available ordinarily in Turkmenistan.
- The central agency of a big power is well known for its cozy connection with the drug world. The same agency is known for using the drug money for financing some of its operations.
Some questions to ask are:
- Is there any country that feels particularly frustrated by the gas deals that Turkmenistan signed recently with Russia and China?
- Is there any country or countries that would benefit from terror and disorder in Turkmenistan?
- Is there any country that routinely spreads disorder and chaos around the world, the most current examples being Bolivia and Venezuela?
- In addition to a big power, is there any country zealously supported by that big power, which is angry on cancellation of some contracts? The country that could be angry on cancellation of contracts may also be the country in want of cheap gas.
These are just some of the reasons for suspecting foreign involvement in the 9-13 of Turkmenistan.
Additionally, one should also keep in mind the following:
- The cultural centre of a certain foreign embassy in Turkmenistan has lately been asking strange questions from the young people frequenting their premises. Some of the questions are: What kind of change would you like in your country? What aspects of the government policy you don’t like? What kind of changes does your society need?
- Lately a phenomenon of spreading rumours methodically is discernible. It is the system that was devised in Belgrade and repeated elsewhere.
- During the last year or so Turkmenistan has emerged as regional leader in anti-narcotic drive, as is evident from the reports of UNODC and other agencies. However, some country or countries would like to create an impression to the contrary because that would give them an opening for advancing their own agenda.
The investigators may like to keep returning to the key question: Which country or countries stand to benefit from chaos in Turkmenistan?
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