Turkmenistan is planning to open a naval academy:
At the State Security Council meeting, the President of Turkmenistan and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the country, Army General Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov signed a decree "On establishment of the Naval Institute under the Ministry of Defense of Turkmenistan."
As the Turkmenistan.rucorrespondent reports from Ashgabat, the President of Turkmenistan instructed Minister of Defense Yaylym Berdiev to carry out work to prepeare the design of the new institute building and identify its location....
As is known, in accordance with the new Military Doctrine, Turkmenistan officially declared about the creation of the naval base for the purpose of "reliable protection of the sea border and for effective struggle against smugglers, terrorists and other criminal elements."
So presumably, a navy is to follow? And they also will likely need foreign help to train the cadets; will be very interesting to see who that will be...
Joshua Kucera, a senior correspondent, is Eurasianet's former Turkey/Caucasus editor and has written for the site since 2007.
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