Does Turkmenistan really need specialists?
Nurly’s original post in Russian 12.06.07, Translated by Merdjen
The Niyazov regime made a great number of our fellow citizens leave Turkmenistan for various reasons. I will not try to list them, as we all know the cause anyways. Many of those expats were specialists and professionals, who were self-confident and who found jobs in other countries. I hope as time goes by that empirical data on that issue would be published; and we will get to know the real statistics of Turkmen migration for the post-soviet period.
This flow out of population and experts surely made an impact on the current situation in human capacity building. Even though new government does not openly discuss that, this issue is more often raised in mass media sources.
TNK-BP’s vice-president Yevgeny Astakhov and executive director German Han had a meeting with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. TNK-BP voiced plans to start preparing highly skilled specialists at the request of the Turkmen side, the guest said. Yevgeny Astakhov also said that the company is studying the possibility to open its office in Ashgabat and to invite a delegation of Turkmen specialists to the fields developed by the company to acquaint them with the company’s latest technologies (Turkmenistan.ru, 29/06/2007).
Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov received the board chairman of Stroytransgaz company, Victory Lorens, who said that Stroytransgaz was ready to provide assistance in preparation of highly qualified specialists at any Russian high educational establishments. He also stated his company’s intention to participate in a tender on construction of the Caspian pipeline, the Turkmen State News Agency (TDH) reports (Turkmenistan.ru, 01/07/2007).
Based on official news, country extremely needs qualified specialists in the area of education, oil and gas industry, science, etc. Professional training of considered number of people (without background) will take at least 5-6 years. Foreign staff, who work in Turkmenistan, is not interested in human resources preparation and will keep gained experience to themselves. As Russian proverb says “rescue of drowning people is the work of their own hand”. In order to assist Turkmenistan in standing next to the developed countries, rationally, comeback of local experts, who are abroad, would beneficial contribution.
However no one asks them back. Emigrant subject is still on agenda of official dialogue. I think that one could find large number of people who would want to return and facilitate own country to get out of the human capacity crisis. Yet numerous barriers for comeback exist out there – country entry visa, “black list” and still unannounced and so anticipated political amnesty, etc. Many of those specialists settled down abroad pretty well and proved again that work ethic and purposefulness are not alien to them. Our former fellow citizens acquired solid international professional background and speak 3 or more languages fluently, additionally to their prestigious education. One opinion prevails about it – large number of emigrants will not return to Turkmenistan.
Might present authorities be waiting for counter action? Maybe they are not even hoping for someone to respond to their call? I’m certain that Turkmen people want and can’t wait to reunite. I have a question to you, dear blog readers: if all living conditions and jobs will have improved in Turkmenistan, would expats come back?
on July 17th, 2007 at 6:40 am
Eventhough there are some people who left the country under tough conditions, i thnik we should move forward with those who are here, and who were here through thick and thin. ?t will definately take some time until we get highly qualified professional people, but every society has to go through that. Bringing back specialists from abroad might not be an answer, as they will try to rush the process and fix everything in a day. Now we are paying our dues, and later we will enjoy the goods… ? have utmost faith in that…
on July 17th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
To Begenc,
Thank you for the comment. My point is - highly qualified people are available now, some of them ready to come back. Most of them never lost the touch with Turkmenistan and love the motherland the same as the people who is inside. We are not enjoying goods now, and will not enjoy them later, if we don’t improve education and training and will keep pushing away educated citizens abroad.
on July 17th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
Of course, there should be done professional development training within the country, but it is also important to create regulations, space and conditions for those who want to come back and use their potential in contributing to country’s development. I agree that it is a matter of time. Certainly, there is no one answer, but intergrating those strategies and cooperating under shared committment to improve quality of people’s life could be good way as many other.
Then, how to keep qualified people, who are here in the country, at the jobs, at the placements they received training at? Many people are not as motivated to stay when they have now more skills to get better jobs, often outside of the country or not on local community level. What makes them leave and community loose these experts who were part of this human capacity building plan? Are those reasons higher salaries, better working conditions, more opporunities to grow professionally and personally?
on July 18th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
We are in the right track, slowly but steadily moving forward. Rome was not built in a day. Most importantly we need mentality change, and that comes only with time. A thorn pops out of the body when its ready, no point whatsoever rushing it and putting a needle inside. Patience, faith, and loving your people… We must first get there in our minds and hearts, the rest is easy.
on July 18th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
Wait wait.. I dont understand this.. What is the point of saying “Rome was not buily in a day”?..
I have some objections both the main article and the comments you guys have posted..
First off, I smell big sarcasm in the topic “Does TM really need specialists?”. And the article flows with buzz words of economic development, prosperity, social welfare, education and training etc..
Second, Begenc: bringing your own national Turkmen or TM-raised ethnic professionals from abroad will NOT result in a failure or they wont try to fix things overnight! If so, then why do you study abroad at all? Then TM should not make use of your skills at all under any circumstance, as you most probably are a student abroad.
Third, Merdjen: your comment includes nothing but ‘good wishes of an old wiseman’.. what I would wanna read is something instructive and constructive.. and I bet so does everyone else following this blog..
These are my objections.. now let me come to what I have to say..
First, Yes, Rome might not have been established overnight. Though you can NOT compare the conditions and social atmosphere Rome and today’s world is in for many reasons.. Rome has been the leading empire in its era and was the only one putting the standards and experimenting the try-and-failure of what we have taken for granted today. But today? what about today? there is no single word or idea not implented or said..
how about following in the footsteps of wordly known models?
Second, thereis a commonly used wording — globalization. I believe many people think it means just a freer world. But what does it really mean? Might this buzzworrd have something to say it provided wider access of not only goods, services, information (internet), information and communication, but also a quicker spread of socializing through netwroks and most importantly ideas. Just like any commodity, you can import/export ideas or models with certain fundamentals. France, for example, has gone through the process of seculiarism 300 years ago, while many countries are still discussing it. Or, industrial revolution has taken place at least 250 years ago and today technology is even cloning humanbeing.
In the era of mercantilists, first Adam Smith and then Ricardo stated that specializing in the area where a country has an absolute/comparative advantage and trading with the rest of the world for the rest of necessities will increase productivity and efficiency. These are basic economic principles, indeed. What TM could do is to focus on its advantagous sphere with very specialized experts. That be the oil most presumably.. That requires highly skilled new generation of engineers or specialists, economics and finance guys alike..
But how?.. First, you can import required technology from the West. But how about the unique knowledge and skill required to run and proceed the technology?.. Apparently, then the new teens have to be trained and educated where those skills could be gained.
Investment.. investment.. essential item in every area.. where should the investment be made?.. heavy industry, light industry, agriculture, oil or new marble buildings?.. I know these are what might come to one’s mind immediately! But how about investing in human capital?.. A simple question to you guys: how many million dollars a new building costs in Ashgabat? Then put it this way: how many talented young scholars could be educated in the Ivy-League or equivalent schools of the West with the same amount of money?..
Human capital is the most productive capital which can be converted into any area after investment is made.
Specialize in something, do it better than everyone else, increase efficiency. With the incoming wealth, go ahead with investment in areas where you think is necessary. Sounds nice, right?
on July 19th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Mr. Anna,
Sorry, but your comment was so long and boring, i couldnt read it till the end. Your article seemed like you wanted everyone to know how smart you are (show off), and guess what, you succeeded. What a smart man… WOW
on July 19th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Let’s make an original posts about it. Merdjen, Begenc, Anna if you want to be an authors of our blog and to post your articls, dont hesitate to contact with Neweurasia Turkmenistan bridge-blogger: abdulgamid@googlemail.com. I will log in you and you will be published and famous.
on July 20th, 2007 at 12:26 am
Begenc - your approach makes it on this blog an interpersonal discussion, which doesnot serve for the purpose of the blog, I suppose..
you wrote in your first comment that “you were paying dues”… well, who oews that? why are you paying dues of others?.. no point in being sentimental and putting it in emotional terms and calling it ‘paying dues’..
your approach is a lot similar to this one: “Ah, had Adam not eaten that apple in the heaven, I wouldnot be struggling on the earth now”..
Everyone would be glad to get comments from different readers posted out here..
on July 20th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Dear Anna,
thank you for comments! *) Article’s author is Nurly, and you can find original in Russian here http://ru.turkmenistan.neweurasia.net/?p=21#comments
I would be very happy to discuss human capacity building (or human capital) with you, because i believe that is very significant component to be developed and invested in for Turkmenistan or anywhere else.
First question that Nurly asked in this post was about each reader’s personal desire to come back or not to Turkmenistan.
Sure, Abdulgamid, I’d love to work with Anna, Begend and maybe Nurly, who is original author of this article, on another post on what are alternative approaches could be for better development.
Thanks to Nurly, his post brought this discussion and diversity of opinions
on July 20th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
Thanks Merdjen. There is another post in russian section of Turkmen blog, which continues this interesting theme raised by Nurly.
on July 22nd, 2007 at 8:48 am
http://turkmenim.net
just for interested people…
on July 23rd, 2007 at 9:49 am
?u temany? a?agyna uzyn-uzyn ýazyp bilerdim. Ýöne men ?u wagt spesialist hökmünde Türkmenistany? da?ynda bir ýerde i?leýärin we wagtym az.
on July 24th, 2007 at 12:19 am
Merdjen - I bet this place is getting narrow to fit the topic.. Human Capital in TM..
although answer to the question on individual basis as “who will return back home?” might be relevant, but surely does not lie at the core of the subject.. the intention most likely is to figure out how the human capital capacity will develop..
Let me keep it short and brief.. Yes, we need specialists more than ever at this point in history.. because, we are no longer a USSR country (1920s-1990).. we are no longer moving from one place to another (1800-1900s).. we are no longer under threat of external attacks (1800 and before etc).. It is the moment of economic prosperity.. and it is only Turkmen people who will do that.. not aliens..
These days, there are two major sources of human capacity building, based on my personal observation.. First, Turkmen students studying abroad are gaining vast human capital (HC).. Second, those local employees working with or under the command of aliens, be it a technical/engineering company or a social foundation/organization…
The latter is bearing fruit really slowly.. and is at a very short limit.. It does not make sense to rely on that..
But the first one, young scholars studying abroad are getting trained quite well.. some have dropped out of college, but some have emerged into really good levels.. in the UK, USA, Turkey and Russia..
those are mostly bright young minds where they would be employed the best abroad at this point..
why should they bother to return home?..
now the government is slowly getting ready to send scholars/professionals to Russian higher educational institutions mainly to oil and gas related departments.. well.. thats a good news.. but only as good as Winston Churchill’s description of democracy in “democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried”..
I think training our young professionals in Russia is not the best decision for two very simple reasons
First, we were a part of USSR, didnt we learn all it took to be professionals then?.. In other words, we were with them.. there were no barrier to access of what was known in Russia to Turkmen people or, say, Georgians alike. But the technical capacity, the technology level was INsufficient even to the Russian themselves.. and that’s why they are not the best today.. [compare it with the west or far east like Japan]
Second, Russians themselves are anyways learning from the West.. So, why should we learn from some country who are also learning what we want them to teach us?.. How about going to the main source directly just like Russia is doing and filling our bowls?.. Today, Khodorkovsky, or Yukos, is boasing to have become the first company/multinational in the whole Russia that adopted Western style management.. Yukos is the leading company in oil.. yes, all of its stakes have been confiscated by the state and Mr Khodorkovsky has been jailed.. but the point remains the same..
In brief, learning what we need from Russia is really not a good decision.. Some might say there is a language advantage.. I would only find it as an excuse of a lazy workman..
Let me wrap the topic before it gets really long.. HC is building up mainly abroad.. and it shoud be that way.. They might work internally or abroad.. either way will benefit the country to the best of prognosis..
If they stay out for example, they might come to a level to lead a good lobby abroad.. To give examples, take Armenians who have such strong diaspora in the US.. Los Angeles.. or, take Jews who have the greatest power in the Jewnited States.. oops sorry United States.. more Jews are living in the US than in Israel.. or take Turks who have 2 million living in Germany and that many in Belgium and Netherlands.. last but not least, take Pakistanis in Norway.. there is a small Pakistan in Norway today..
No worry for those not returning in the short run… there is a free market today in the world where you can market your skills to the best use… countries still with the understanding of feodalism cannot have a higher say.. and will definitely lose their bright minds to their best fit abroad.. that is called common sense..
After all, having a relative abroad with a flourishing future would be a good extension, indeed.. correct?
on July 24th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
To all readers, who left a comment: thank you for participating in the discussion!
To Anna: I am planning to write specific topics about the emigration from Turkmenistan (waves, reasons, communities abroad , etc) later on. Current article was just a beginning of the discussion about the human capital that already left the country , their intentions of staying abroad or returning to Turkmenistan, and how officials are ignoring this issue. Hopefully, we will discuss topics like the competitive advantage and human capital in upcoming bloggs.
Thank you all again!
on July 24th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
sounds good.. it would be good to hear what others have to say as well.. me would be flattered to share what I feel like with other fellow blog readers..
bless you..