Am 13. Juni 2023 fand in Aschgabat ein UNODC-Workshop zur Sensibilisierung für grenzüberschreitende Bewegungen von Terroristen in Zentralasien statt. Der Botschafter der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in Turkmenistan, Michael U. Bierhoff begrüßte die Gäste und die Teilnehmer des Workshops in seiner Rede:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am very much pleased to be here with all of you today and welcome you also from my side, as German Ambassador to Turkmenistan, to this workshop. Enhancing Border management and Security in response to Terrorism Threats in Central Asia is a project of UNODC that brings us together here, and I am particularly happy that the German Federal government has decided to support this project, which focuses on Afghanistan‘s neighboring States most vulnerable to Terrorist Travel, as there are in the first line, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

As the project title indicates, these countries are under a constant threat from terrorists, possibly crossing borders, most of them radical Islamist fighters, trained in Afghanistan. Their fanatic goal is to overthrow the existing order and establish by force an Islamic Caliphate in Central Asia and the whole region around. So we need countries like Turkmenistan to be prepared in order to be able to counter those threats, and we offer our support to them.

This workshop in Ashgabat is an important step for the relevant national agencies of Turkmenistan to get more familiar with strategies and techniques to make their border security more effective. Turkmenistan is well aware of the importance of border security and has been working for years with international partners such as UN, EU, OSCE and IOM to improve its capacities. But that has not been enough. The UNODC project must be considered as complementary to all those activities.

I very much welcome that the workshop today and tomorrow deals with very practical issues like data collecting techniques, use of biometrics and ways of monitoring possible terrorist cross border movements. I believe that this workshop presenting a variety of tools, can help Turkmenistan‘s authorities to strengthen their capacities against regional and international terrorism.

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Schließen

Once again, it is a great pleasure to see this great effort from all sides here today, and to give the German government‘s support to that. The challenge of terrorism we are facing in this region, is huge, so it is worthwhile putting all our efforts into the fight against it and helping provide the people of Turkmenistan and other neighboring countries with the life in peace and security, they deserve.

Thank you.