Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – August 25, 1992

I did the work until half past ten in the morning. We went to [Mehrabad] airport to welcome Mr. [Safar Murad] Niyazov, the President of Turkmenistan. The welcome ceremony was held. After the interview, we went back to the office together. We had private negotiations, which were mostly about their contract with Russia. He presented a report on the military contract and gave us a copy of the text of the contract; He is worried that he has offended us.

He said that 1,000 airplanes and 2,000 tanks have been assigned to Turkmenistan, but the pilots, who are mostly Russian, are not very reliable, and recently they took 50 airplanes to Russia without permission. Because the command [of the Air Force] is shared for five years. There are about 140,000 soldiers, mostly Russian officers and Turkmen soldiers. They have not yet reached an agreement regarding the twenty-five thousand border guards. All its headquarters forces are also Russian and Turkmen rank and file. He said that a village where most of the people are Persians [and Shiites] want to name their village after me. He wrote a letter about this, I agreed.

In the official negotiations, general issues were discussed and the commissions were entrusted with partial negotiations. The Speaker of the Kyrgyz Parliament came and asked for help for flood and earthquake damages and their economic problems. They have many problems. He predicted that they will experience unrest in the future.

We went to Saadabad for lunch and had lunch with Turkmen guests. While having lunch, we discussed the political and economic situation and the sale of their gas. They are very worried about Russia. There is a possibility of the military returning to power in Russia and causing trouble for the republics. They say that the Russians and others scare them from developing relations with Iran. Hello Mr. [Boris] Yeltsin, [President of Russia] announced and said that the Russians offered to join "Eco".

After the break, we held the second negotiation session. Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Roads and Transport, Oil and Energy gave reports on negotiations and agreements. We went to the airport together. We had a negotiation along the way. At the airport, after the joint interview and farewell ceremony, I returned to the office and participated in the meeting of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution. The regulations of the Applied Scientific University were approved. At night, I greeted the leader by phone; They came from Mashhad and will return tomorrow.