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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Turkmenistan
Index
The Treaty on Joint Measures signed by Russia and Turkmenistan in July
1992 provided for the Russian Federation to act as guarantor of
Turkmenistan's security and made former Soviet army units in the republic
the basis of the new national armed forces. The treaty stipulated that,
apart from border troops and air force and air defense units remaining
under Russian control, the entire armed forces would be under joint
command, which would gradually devolve to exclusive command by
Turkmenistan over a period of ten years. For a transitional period of five
years, Russia would provide logistical support and pay Turkmenistan for
the right to maintain special installations, while Turkmenistan would bear
the costs of housing, utilities, and administration.
More recent agreements between the two countries have strengthened
their military alliance. In August 1992, accord was reached on the
deployment of Russian border troops in the republic for a five-year
period, with an option to renew for another five years. In September 1993,
Turkmenistan agreed to assume all costs of maintaining forces on its soil
following a five-year period of shared financing. This agreement granted
Russia the right to maintain air force and air defense systems with
limited control by Turkmenistan. It addressed the continuing majority of
Russians in the command structure by permitting Russian citizens to
perform military duty in Turkmenistan and by making allowance for the
training of Turkmenistani officers in Russian military schools. At the CIS
summit held in Ashgabat in December 1993, the military alliance between
the two countries was affirmed, and provisions were made for the
participation of 2,000 Russian officers in Turkmenistan in the development
of the national armed forces.
Despite the Russian Federation's deep involvement in Turkmenistan's
military and pressures to do so, the republic has not joined the CIS
collective security agreement. However, regional conflicts have led
Turkmenistan to deviate from its posture of avoiding multinational
commitments. The republic joined Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in drawing up a
draft agreement on joint border defense along the Amu Darya. In addition,
Turkmenistan has indicated willingness to cooperate in limited ways in a
CIS-sponsored Central Asian Zone that would integrate military units of
Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, part of Kyrgyzstan, and possibly Turkmenistan, and
provide joint response in cases of aggression by a southern neighbor
against any member. In May 1994, Turkmenistan became the first Central
Asian member nation of the Partnership for Peace, the NATO initiative
offering limited participation in the Western military alliance in return
for participation in some NATO exercises. As a result, Turkmenistan has
pursued the possibly of training its officers with the military cadre of
NATO member nations. The Russian monopoly on military training was broken
by a 1994 agreement by which Pakistan would train Turkmenistani air force
cadets.
When the Ministry of Defense was formed, most ethnic Turkmen appointees
were former communist party and government officials, illustrating the
lack of Turkmen senior officers. The first minister of defense, Lieutenant
General Danatar Kopekov, had been chairman of the Turkmenistan State
Security Committee. In 1994 the chief of staff and first deputy minister
of defense was Major General Annamurat Soltanov, a career officer who had
served in Cuba and Afghanistan; another deputy minister of defense, Major
General Begdzhan Niyazov, had been a law enforcement administrator prior
to his appointment. Russian commanders included Major General Viktor
Zavarzin, chief of staff and first deputy commander of the Separate
Combined-Arms Army of Turkmenistan, and commander of the Separate
Combined-Arms Army of Turkmenistan and deputy minister of defense
Lieutenant General Nikolay Kormil'tsev. Russian Major General Vladislav
Shunevich served together with Turkmen Major General Akmurad Kabulov as
joint commanders of the border troops in the Turkmen Border Guard.
Data as of March 1996
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