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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Turkmenistan
Index
Of the 108,000 uniformed soldiers and officers and 300 units of the
former Soviet armed forces that were in Turkmenistan in April 1992, nearly
50,000 personnel and thirty units were withdrawn or disbanded within the
following year. By 1993 the republic's armed forces comprised around
34,000 active-duty personnel attached primarily to the army and air force.
At that point, the reduced force operated 200 military units while seventy
remained under Russian control. Turned over to Turkmenistan's command were
one army corps directorate, two combined arms units stationed at Gushgy
and Gyzylarbat, several air defense and air force aviation units,
technical support and logistical units, and virtually all the armaments
and other military property. The armed forces are divided into four
branches: the army, air force, and border guards. The government has
announced plans to establish a naval force on the Caspian Sea.
Army
The army, which had been reduced to about 11,000 personnel by 1996, is
organized into one corps headquarters, three motorized rifle divisions,
one artillery brigade, one multiple rocket launcher regiment, one antitank
regiment, one engineer brigade, and one independent helicopter squadron.
There are also signal, reconnaissance, and logistics support units. The
three motorized rifle divisions are based at Ashgabat, Gushgy, and
Gyzylarbat. The army's inventory includes about 530 M-72 main battle
tanks, 338 armored infantry fighting vehicles, 543 armored personnel
carriers, 345 pieces of towed artillery, sixteen self-propelled guns, 114
multiple rocket launchers, sixty-three mortars, fifty-four antitank guns,
and fifty air defense guns.
Air Force
Turkmenistan's air force has four regiments with 2,000 men and 171
fighter and bomber aircraft, of which sixty-five are Su-17s. The main air
force base is at Gyzylarbat. In 1994 the organization of the air force
remained contingent on further negotiation on disposition and control of
former Soviet units. Pending such negotiation, the Ministry of Defense of
the Russian Federation maintained one air force and one air defense group
in Turkmenistan. In the meantime, air force readiness was hampered by the
resignation of most Russian pilots in the early 1990s and a shortage of
trained Turkmen pilots.
Border Guards
About 5,000 personnel serve in the Turkmenistan Border Guard, which is
commanded jointly by Turkmenistan and Russia. The Border Guard Command was
established in 1992 to replace the Soviet-era Central Asian Border Troops
District of the Committee for State Security (KGB) of the Soviet Union.
The border guards patrol the wild, mountainous Afghan and Iranian
frontiers, which total 1,750 kilometers and are rated the most sensitive
borders of the country. The guards have small arms and some armored
personnel carriers; experts evaluate them as an effective border force.
Matériel Supply
In the mid-1990s, Turkmenistan lacked adequate matériel and
technical support for its armed forces. However, a protocol with the
Russian Arms Company (Rosvooruzheniye) provided for delivery of
much-needed arms to Turkmenistan's military in 1995-96 in return for
natural gas. Under this agreement, Turkmenistan was to supply 6 billion
cubic meters of gas annually to the Russian Natural Gas Company (Gazprom)
for sale to industries that will fill arms orders for Turkmenistan.
Rosvooruzheniye also was to transfer 30 percent of this revenue to
hard-currency accounts in Turkmenistan.
Recruitment and Training
The 1992 constitution provides for universal conscription of males for
service in the national armed forces. The period of regular service is
eighteen months for army draftees and one year for those with higher
education. Draft deferments from active military duty are granted only to
individuals involved in seasonal animal herding. A presidential decree of
July 1992 allowed two-year alternative service at a state enterprise for
conscripts in certain categories, but this decree was nullifed in December
1994.
Conditions of service seriously deteriorated in the years immediately
following independence. Large numbers of Turkmen were absent without leave
from units outside and within Turkmenistan, hazing and fighting on ethnic
and regional grounds were common among conscripts, instances of
insubordination and failure to comply with orders increased, and relations
between the Russian officer corps and Turkmen troops were strained to the
breaking point. In recent years, discipline has been strengthened somewhat
by improved working conditions, amnesty for some cases of absence without
leave, the removal of political organs from the armed services, and
increased opportunities for service within Turkmenistan. In addition,
legislation has improved pensions given to career personnel in the
Ministry of Defense, the Committee for National Security, the Border
Guard, and the Interior Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, when
men reach the age of fifty-five and women the age of fifty.
All of the personnel except officers in the armed forces are
conscripts, more than 90 percent of whom are Turkmen. By contrast, about
95 percent of the officer corps is made up of Slavs. After many Russian
officers had left Turkmenistan under the negative conditions of the early
1990s, others were prevented from leaving by a September 1993 agreement
giving Russian citizens the option of fulfilling their military obligation
in Turkmenistan, swearing allegiance to either state, or transferring to
any region of Russia after five years of service in Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistani officers are trained in military educational
establishments of the Russian Federation's Ministry of Defense, while
Russian officers in Turkmenistan train draftee sergeants and specialists.
Some limited training is provided in the military faculty established at
Turkmenistan State University. Turkmenistan has sent about 300 of its
officers to training schools in Turkey, but it declined an offer from
Pakistan's general staff to provide officer training in Pakistani war
colleges.
Data as of March 1996
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