Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – May 11, 1997

After the morning prayer, on the veranda of the residence, I wrote the memoirs of the past two days. The pleasant sound of the birds and the very good weather and the view of the garden and the flowers are very delightful and poetic. At eight-thirty in the morning, Mr. Rakhmonov came. Together we went to the airport. On the way, a large crowd of people had gathered to see us off. At nine in the morning, with an official farewell, we flew toward Turkmenistan. For the welcome and farewell, they had brought all the ministers and resident ambassadors to the airport.

At ten in the morning we reached Chardzhou Airport. Mr. Niyazov and a large number of people and officials were at the airport. Girls and children were lined up to offer their welcome. At the pavilion we were briefed on the situation of the region. Then we set off toward a farm. An extraordinary crowd had gathered along the route to welcome us. Tens of thousands of people over more than 30 kilometers in the city and outside the city welcomed us with passion and smiles and shouts. I was surprised by all this crowd and the good clothes and the interesting Turkmen, Russian, and Uzbek faces, mostly women. Until two in the afternoon, when we were coming and going, we were met with this gathering along all the routes.

At the farm, a good ceremony took place: the presentation of bread and salt by the white-bearded elders, and the interesting recitation of children, and the presentation of a horse named Nowruz—which I also mounted—and the display of agricultural and handmade products and the presentation of a carpet, the scattering of flowers in front of my and Niyazov's feet by the girls, and the start of the operation of the silkworm cocoons by my and Niyazov's unraveling of them and the payment of their price, and the cutting of the threads of a single loom that had become a symbol.

At the farm too, from among the masses of wheat, two children gave a welcome recitation, and we began the harvest with sickles. My name had been engraved on the sickle. Then the two of us got on the combine and I harvested a little with the combine. Mr. Niyazov and those present were very surprised.

From there we went to the factory that converts silkworm cocoons into fiber. It is a large factory with a sixty-year history; it was built by the Russians. There too we saw the interesting weaving of silk fabrics and silk carpets. It has 22,500 employees. They had a good exhibition. They gave fabric and clothing and a carpet as gifts. There was also a welcome program and the recitation of children and the scattering of flowers by the girls.

From there we went to the bank of the great Amu Darya—Jayhun—River. We got on a small boat. We took a tour on the river for a while. It is very great; about three thousand cubic meters of water pass per second. The annual average flow is two thousand cubic meters, half of which Turkmenistan and half Uzbekistan consume.

We passed under the great bridge that the Russians built a hundred years ago for the road to China. We wanted to go to the pumping station of 500 cubic meters of water per second toward Uzbekistan; because of the lack of time we did not go. Lunch and prayers were at the Governor's Office. The variety of foods was interesting and striking.

We went to the airport and, in Mr. Niyazov's private plane, flew toward Merv. The plane is a Boeing 757, modern and ceremonial. On the way, he gave explanations about the method of land distribution and exploitation. They have about one and a half million hectares of irrigated land, and they usually give two hectares to each farming family. They do not charge anything for water and land, but they buy the produce cheaply.

At Merv Airport too there were the same programs and the people's welcome. We set off toward the village of Rafsanjan. On the way too there was the same welcome. The people of the village had gathered. We inaugurated the mosque that was built at Iran's expense, with 35 thousand square meters of land and 400 square meters of building, and Iranian tiling and Iranian carpets, named after Imam Khomeini. We were hosted, and I introduced the mosque's imam. It was arranged that they would give him his appointment and salary. A large number of the village's people are Iranian and Shia.

For the groundbreaking of the construction of the silos, which is being implemented by Iran's Construction Jihad, we went to the town of Bayram-Ali. They explained, six silos of 30 thousand tons, which together will cost 16 million dollars. It was also raining. Many people had gathered. We poured some cement at the site of the foundation reinforcement of the pillars.

We went to Merv Airport and set off toward Ashgabat. [Mr. Niyazov], on the way, asked permission to propose at the ECO meeting that the discussions not be political and be only economic; I did not agree. We talked about the division of the Caspian Sea and the issues of Turkey and Russia.

In Ashgabat, there was a magnificent welcome; with a parade and the presence of a crowd of officials and ambassadors, and for the first time they used a motorcycle escort, but they had brought too many. We went to the hotel. They have put the entire hotel at the disposal of our delegation. Messrs. [Akbar] Torkan, [Minister of Roads and Transportation], and our ambassador came. They spoke of some cases of obstruction and lack of cooperation of the Turkmen officials regarding the projects implemented with Iran and proposed new projects.

For dinner we went to another hotel. I had no appetite, but I had to taste a sample of every kind of interesting and colorful and local food; at Mr. Niyazov's insistence. Many of the food customs are similar to Iran. Before every dish, Mr. Niyazov takes several kinds of pills and capsules.

After dinner Mr. [Gholam-Reza] Aghazadeh, [Minister of Oil], came and gave a report on the successful gas and oil conference in Isfahan and the agreement with France's Total for two phases of South Pars and the agreement with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and Turkey for the passage of the Caspian oil and gas pipelines through Iran. Mr. Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, spoke by telephone. He gave a report on the Qaen earthquake. He is in the Maldives.