DRAFT COUNTRY PROFILE 1999 - 2000

TURKMENISTAN 

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 population of Turkmenistan based on a 1998 estimate is 4.779 million. The capital of Turkmenistan is Ashkhabad.

(I)            Cultivation and Production

Turkmen law enforcement officials claim that there is no cultivation of opium and cannabis in the country. Due to its mountainous terrain, vast deserts and lack of water, Turkmenistan is not suitable country for the cultivation of drug containing crops. However, the opium cultivation occurs in remote mountain and desert areas; there are no statistics on the extent of such along the Iranian border in the Ahal Province, which includes Ashgabat and the eastern regions of Lebap and Mary Provinces. There is some processing of opium gum and poppy extract for domestic consumption. “Black Poppy”, an eradication operation is conducted annually by the Turkmen law enforcement agencies.   

(II)       Illicit Drug Trafficking

Turkmenistan has the longest joint border with Afghanistan among the republics of the former USSR. The country is facing a growing domestic drugs problem and has emerged as a significant transit country for narcotic drugs and precursors. Strengthening the border control along the Iranian/Afghan border by the Iranian authorities increased the narcotics smuggling through Turkmen/Afghan border. Majority of the population of Turkmenistan lives along the border areas and are thus inter-related and speak the same language. The population at the Iranian border in the Scarc and Gerkala districts also lives very close to the Turkmen border. With their limited human and financial resources and inadequate technical facilities, it is difficult for the Turkmen authorities to monitor the state borders effectively. The most vulnerable checkpoints are along the border with Afghanistan and the amount of drug seized in this area is very high. As the drug business is very lucrative, people get involved easily and try to smuggle drugs through the most unprotected borders.

Up to now, the Border Control Agency of Turkmenistan has seized 12,000 tonnes of drugs. If the illegal crossing of the border by a drug-smuggler or by group of them using horses or motorbikes was the most frequent in past, now the situation has undergone considerable changes. The frontier troops actions on curbing the armed drug smuggling (up to 50 armed clashes in a year) forced them to smuggle drugs into Turkmenistan through the international border checkpoints. More than 80% of drugs were seized in 1998 – 1999 by the State Frontier troops of Turkmenistan jointly with the State Customs, National Security Committee and Ministry of Interior at the international border checkpoints. Azerbaijan, Russia, Germany, Austria, and the USA were the planned countries-destinations.

“Zulfagar pass” (boundary between Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan) is the special area of the anti-smuggling fight. More than six tones of narcotic drugs were seized there in 1999. Current statistics indicate that the significant increase in the amount of heroin being seized by Turkmen security services.

Drugs are concealed in big train containers, trucks, lorries, fuel tanks, suitcases with binary bottom, etc. Swallowing and concealment of drugs inside body or in body cavities by the drug smugglers including women have become more frequent especially at the joint border of Turkmenistan with Iran and Uzbekistan.  

After Iran and Turkey strengthened their borders a new route emerged: nowadays narcotics are transshipped to Europe across the Caspian Sea on the Turkmen ferry from Turkmenbashi port to Astrakhan. As reported by the UN ODCCP Office for Central Asia, 225 kg of heroin were found on the ferry in early 2000.

Turkmenistan is also used as a transit point for the diversion and smuggling of chemicals for illicit drug manufacture in Afghanistan. A total of 41 tonnes of acetic anhydride destined for Afghanistan were seized by Turkmen authorities during the first six months of 1998. The heroin flow is on the steady rise. At the end of 1997, nearly 2,000 kg of heroin on its way to Western Europe through Turkey was seized by the Turkmen security service.

Turkmen law enforcement officials believe that Turkmenistan’s popularity as a transit country will increase as time passes. New road crossings are being developed at Turkmenistan’s borders with Afghanistan and Iran. The number of international flights is increasing to Istanbul, Karachi, Tehran, Frankfurt and London. Direct air routes link Ashgabat with Moscow, Dushanbe, Tashkent and other cities of the former USSR. There is a steady increase in truck transport to Europe. A railway line connecting Turkmenistan and Iran opened in 1996. The bus and truck traffic from Iran to Turkmenistan is heavy. All this assists legal trade as well as the smuggler. 

(III)     Drug Abuse

Opium was traditionally smoked, brewed or processed into a beverage for celebrations, medicine or daily use by Turkmen tribal groups. According to the Turkmen Ministry of Health, the number of drug addicts has increased dramatically in recent years. 4,087 drug users were registered in 1996. This figure increased to 5,809 in 1997. 20 000 drug abusers are registered in the country, of which more than 3 800 people are treated in the hospitals. 1 The increasing incidence of drugs being smuggled into the country from Iran and Afghanistan fuels domestic drug abuse.

Around 80% of the registered drug users and addicts use opiates and 20% use hashish. Although there are no reliable figures available, health authorities are sure that the use of heroin is increasing rapidly. The demographic structure of opiate users has also changed with the number of young users growing considerably. A study conducted by the UNDCP Office in Ashgabat shows that in urban areas over the past generation, there has been a steady increase in users who inject drugs. But in the countryside, injection is minuscule.

(IV)     Fight Against Illicit Drug Trafficking

In 1996, Turkmenistan acceded to the 1961 UN Single Convention and its 1972 Protocol, the 1971 UN Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and 1988 UN Convention. Turkmenistan’s Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding on combating illegal drug trafficking and abuse with its Central Asian neighbors (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan). In July 1999, Turkmenistan has also signed Tashkent Declaration of the “Six plus Two” group, composed of the states bordering Afghanistan as well as Russia and USA, which agreed, inter alia, on strengthening coordinated measures to combat illicit drug trafficking.    

A State Coordination Committee on Drug Control was established with the decree of the President at the end of 1996 under the jurisdiction of the Cabinet of Ministers. It is comprised of the heads of thirteen governmental departments/authorities, which include different law enforcement agencies, e.g. State Border Guards, Ministry of Interior, National Security Service, Customs and representatives of the Ministries of Health and Education. This Committee, initially created with very limited resources, now has its own funds and exists on the confiscated funds of criminal groups. A National Drug Intelligence Center was established in 1999 in order to house a database that can be accessed by any governmental drug control organization. A National Drug Analytical Unit is to be set up in the Ministry of Interior.

            A new criminal code, which allows death penalty for drug trafficking came into force in January 1999. The President has also issued a decree about the national drug control programme for the years of 1998-2000.

    Drug Seizures in 1996 – 1999 (KG)*

 * Annual Report 1999 ODCCP Regional Office for Central Asia

Opium is the most common of the opiate drug seized in the country. As reported by the Turkmen Border Guard Agency, the smuggling of heroin through Turkmenistan is on the rise. Smuggling of precursor chemicals from Europe to Afghanistan and Pakistan via Turkmenistan is also on the rise. 41 tonnes of acetic anhydride were confiscated in 1998.

In January 2000, 6111 kg of opium and 665 kg of heroin have been destroyed by the State Drug Control Commission of Turkmenistan. In the first three months of 2000, the Customs Committee confiscated around 2 tonnes of different kinds of drugs. Over the same period, the Ministry of Interior registered 559 drug related crimes.

(V)            Treatment and Rehabilitation

Treatment of drug addicts was put under the auspices of psychiatric hospitals. No sophisticated anti-drug campaign or educational program currently exists.

Sources and publications used in preparing this Profile:

1. Summary Record of the ECO-DCCU Task Force Meetings. Tehran, 26 – 28 February 2000.

 2. Report on the ECO-DCCU Mission to the DCCU focal points in the ECO Member States, April –  May 2000.

 3. UN ODCCP. Central Asia – Review 2000.

 4. Annual Report 1999 ODCCP Regional Office for Central Asia.

[Home]    [Feedback]