The U.S. Embassy in Ashgabat posted on its website (http://www.usemb-ashgabat.usia.co.at) on 20 August the text of a formal protest to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry concerning a Turkmen government order to the embassy\'s public-affairs section (formerly, part of the U.S. Information Agency or USIA) to vacate its offices, which are located in a building outside the embassy compound. According to the embassy protest, the Foreign Ministry promised to find a mutually acceptable solution for the public affairs section, so the 18 August removal order represented a violation of that pledge. The embassy argued that the public affairs section is an integral part of the U.S. mission in Turkmenistan and therefore is inviolable under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. It described the notice to vacate as a \"serious political provocation\" and added that it expects the ministry to withdraw the order. (RFE/RL)