TURKMENISTAN

ECO DCCU Country Profile 2003

1998-1999,2000

Basic Country Facts

Geography/topography

Turkmenistan is the second largest state in Central Asia after Kazakhstan and the most southern out of five republics of Central Asia. The country is bordered to the northwest by Kazakhstan, to the north and east by Uzbekistan, to the southeast by Afghanistan, to the south by Iran and to the west by the Caspian Sea.  Its total area is 491,200 square kilometers. The country has extensive natural gas and oil reserves. The capital of Turkmenistan is Ashgabad.

Demographics and Development Indicators

Population (2003):                                            4.8 mln.

  GDP per capita (PPP, 2001):                           USD 4,320

  Population under 15 years (2003):                    36.8%

Human Development Index value (2001):          0.748

Illicit Drug Trends

Supply Side Trends: Cultivation, Production, Supply and Trafficking

Cultivation and Production

Turkmenistan is not a major producer of illicit drugs, although small-scale opium and cannabis cultivation is thought to occur in remote mountainous and desert areas for local consumption. Most of illicit cultivation is reported to be in Akhal province on the Turkmen-Iran border and in the eastern regions of Lebab and Mary close to Turkmen-Afghan border.  

Trafficking

Since early 1990s the territory of Turkmenistan has been subject to transit traffic in drugs across the Afghan-Turkmen border. The geographic location of Turkmenistan provides for one of the most direct routes from Afghanistan to Europe. Strengthening the border control along the Iranian-Afghan border by the Iranian authorities increased the narcotic smuggling through Turkmen-Afghan border, which is the longest border with Afghanistan among the Central Asian countries (almost 800 km).

There is a smuggling route which is Caspian Sea ferryboat traffic from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan and then to Georgia, Turkey and Europe. In some cases the transit drug consignment are trafficked from Turkmenistan into Iran, thus bypassing the stringent Iranian border control measures focused mainly on the Iran-Afghan border and continue their way to Turkey.

The main trafficking routes, identified so far, lead from Serhetabad (formerly, Kushka) and Tagta-Bazar on the Turkmen-Afghan border, through the entire country, to the port of Turkmenbashy (formerly, Krasnovodsk) on the Caspian Sea, or to Turkmenabad on the Turkmen-Uzbek border. A vulnerable point for drug traffic from Afghanistan is also Imam Baba located between Serhetabad, Tagta-Bazar and Mary. This border crossing is confronted with an increasing stream of cargos and passengers, while little or poor quality technical equipment is available to the local customs. 

Prices

Coinciding with the US-led coalition military operations in Afghanistan and related decreases in trafficking, street prices for narcotics have risen dramatically. Before September 2001, heroin base narcotics sold for about US $15/gram and opium for about US $2/gram, reports suggest that these prices had increased nearly six fold by early 2002.

Drug Prices in 2002-2003

(USD)

Demand Side Trends: Drug Abuse and Related Problems

Types of Drugs Consumed

Elderly people in Turkmenistan are smoking opium, since opium use has been historically common in Turkmen society. However, data up 2003 shows an ever-increasing number of youths in the urban areas who are injecting heroin.

Prevalence

The drug abuse situation in Turkmenistan has considerably deteriorated in the past few years. Estimated drug abuse rates increased 4 fold from 13.2 per 100,000 of the population in 1995 to 52.7 in 1998. Estimates by international experts put the figure at about 13,000 drug addicts for 2002. This gives a prevalence rate of about 280 addicts per 100,000 of the population. Prevalence is concentrated in the capital of Ashgabad and the second largest city of Mary.

Demography of Abusers

Males make up 95% of all drug users. The peak age of drug use is between 31 and 35 (19%). However, drug abuse among young people also showed an increase. 

Intravenous Drug Use (IDU) and HIV/AIDS

Turkmenistan enjoys one of the lowest HIV/AIDS prevalence in the world today. With a population of almost five million, only two cases of HIV/AIDS were officially registered in 2001.

While officials report that 98% of the heroin users smoke the narcotic, a growing increase in injecting drug usage makes the potential risk of HIV/AIDS spread real.

Counter-efforts

Domestic Drug Control Framework

National Legislation

According to the data available up to the end of 2003, Turkmenistan has not yet adopted a comprehensive drug and precursors control legislation.  Much current health sector legislation in Turkmenistan dates from the time of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Government of Turkmenistan is working to finalize laws on narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances within the framework of a National Action Plan on Drug Control for 2001-2005. 

Over the past two years government of Turkmenistan has adopted a new law on AIDS and initiated an HIV/AIDS strategic planning process jointly with the UN. 

National Drug Control Institutions

A State Coordinating Commission on Drug Control was established under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan in the end of 1996. Its main task is to coordinate the efforts of law enforcement agencies and other organs in countering the drug problem. The State Commission has a special role in identifying and implementing drug control strategies. The main counterparts of the State Commission in law enforcement are the Police, Customs and the Ministry for National Security. The commission maintains working contacts with the Ministry of Justice and the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Countering Cultivation, Production, Supply, and Trafficking

Eradication

Each spring the law enforcements conduct its “Black Poppy” operation, a limited aerial inspection and poppy eradication operation that targets remote areas. There is another eradication programme for cannabis which is carried out in September.

Seizures

The seizures made in Turkmenistan indicate to a massive illicit traffic in drugs and precursors through the country. In 2000 Turkmenistan ranked 6th for amount of opium seized worldwide (2,300 kg of opium).

The control of production and transit of precursors and chemicals used in the illicit manufacture of drugs is a rapidly increasing problem in Central Asia, including Turkmenistan.  Between 1995 and 2000 more than 198 tons of acetic anhydride were reported to have been seized in Turkmenistan. The chemicals are likely produced in other countries, such as India, and shipped through Turkmenistan for eventual use in production labs in neighboring countries, particularly in Afghanistan.

Demand Reduction and Rehabilitation

Treatment and Rehabilitation

Medical treatment of drug abuse in Turkmenistan is far from covering the needs. About 17% of the drug addicts are on compulsory medical treatment in medical institutions or in place of confinement. The Ministry of Health operates six drug treatment clinics located in the capital of Ashgabad and each of the country’s five provinces, where narcotics users receive confidential treatment.

NGOs have also been active in HIV prevention with high-risk groups like prisoners and sex workers.

International Cooperation

International Conventions

In 1996 Turkmenistan has signed and ratified the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and its 1972 Protocol, the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, the 1988 UN Convention against Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.

Multilateral Agreements and Programmes

Turkmenistan is party to numerous regionally-based drug control agreements organized through ECO, OSCE, UNDP, UNODC and other organizations. Regional efforts have sought to deal with a set of problems common to countries in the region, including a lack of basic resources to institute effective drug control programmes; the links between drugs, organized crime, and international terrorism; and the destabilizing effects of the drug trade on each country’s economy and security. 

On May 4, 1996, the five Central Asian states signed a Memorandum of Understanding on sub-regional drug control cooperation, which was also joined by Russia and the Agha Khan Foundation in January 1998 and by Azerbaijan in September 2001.

In 2000 the "Six Plus Two" group (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Iran, China as well as the Russian Federation and the USA) with the support of UNODCCP established a Working group to strengthen drug control cooperation among the countries bordering on Afghanistan to enhance their interdiction capacities in the form of the so-called “security belt”. In September 2000, the "Six Plus Two" group, with ODCCP’s assistance, elaborated and approved a Regional Action Plan for countering the Afghan drug threat.

In October 2000 a Declaration on the Priorities for Cooperation to Counter Drugs, Organized Crime and Terrorism was adopted by the Central Asian countries at the International Conference on Enhancing Security and Stability in Central Asia: an Integrated Approach to Counter Drugs, Organized Crime and Terrorism, jointly organized by ODCCP and OSCE in Tashkent.

In December 2001 UNODCCP presented a Regional Programme comprising a strategic framework and the ongoing and pipeline projects at the “Bishkek International Conference on Enhancing Security and Stability in Central Asia: Strengthening Comprehensive Efforts to Counter Terrorism”, jointly organized by ODCCP and OSCE. The participants of the Conference endorsed the Declaration and Programme of Action to counter terrorism, which emphasized additional needs of the Central Asian states in technical and financial assistance.

In September 2002 the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) set up an agency to combat drug trafficking in Central Asia, to pursue joint measures in investigating drug-related crime and to promote drug abuse prevention activities.

Turkmenistan has also been part of “Operation Containment”, a regional effort launched in 2002 and led by the United States’ Drug Enforcement Agency (USDEA) to interdict drugs flowing out of Afghanistan. As part of this program, the USDEA has proposed to create a “Sensitive Intelligence Unit” in Turkmenistan to coordinate intelligence-gathering with neighboring states. 

The government of Turkmenistan permitted the initiation of a UNODC/UNAIDS project for the prevention of drug abuse, AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases among youth. UNODC has also provided some assistance to Turkmenistan, which focused mainly on the strengthening of local capacities in drug control.

Bilateral Agreements and Programmes

      In July 2003 Turkmen delegation including the deputy head of Customs organization visited Iran. During the visit the Turkmen official had a meeting with Secretary General of Iran’s Drug Control Head-Quarters. They discussed ways of bilateral cooperation in drug demand and supply reduction.       

Sources and Publications used in preparing this profile:

1. Annual Report of International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) for 2002

2. Provisional Country Profile prepared by ECO DCCU. October, 2000

3. International Narcotics Control Strategy Report for 2002 prepared by US State Department

4. Illicit Drug Situation in the Regions Neighboring Afghanistan and the Response of the ODCCP. October 2002

5. Report of the Regional Conference on Drug Abuse in Central Asia: Situation Assessment and Responses (June 26-28, 2003). UNODC, December 2002

6. Report on drug situation in Turkmenistan up to 2003 prepared by UNODC country office in Ashgabad/Turkmenistan  

7. Media sources

8. ECO DCCU Mission Report. Tehran, 2000

9. ECO DCCU Mission Report. Tehran, 2003

10. Global Illicit Drug Trends for 2003 prepared by UNODC. New York, 2003

11. ECO Country Profiles. 2003

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