05.01.2021

Statement by the Prove They Are Alive! Campaign

Yazgeldy Gundogdyev, Former High Ranking Official and a Victim of Enforced Disappearance in Turkmenistan, Dies in Custody after 18 Years of Incommunicado Detention.

The Prove They Are Alive! campaign has learned from a trustworthy source that a former high-ranking Turkmen government official, Yazgeldy Gundogdyev, died in custody on December 28, 2020. Gundogdyev, 64, was former Head of the International Department of the Presidential Administration and the former Head of Administration of Dashoguz province. He passed away after almost 18 years of being held incommunicado in the Turkmen prison system. During all these years, he had no contact with the outside world, including his family, lawyers, medical care providers, or international monitors.

16.12.2020

Akhal-Teke

An unacknowledged second wave, secret police at funerals, and congratulations from the Taliban. This and more in our weekly Turkmenistan briefing.

Turkmenistan is talking about hosting an international conference next year on ongoing research into the coronavirus pandemic.

The government will have no useful insights to offer on tackling the infection itself, whose presence in the country it steadfastly denies, but it has honed expertise in other areas, such as repression, obfuscation and ineptitude.

RFE/RL’s Turkmen service, Radio Azatlyk, provided a harrowing update on the situation in a December 7 report. Many clinics are unable, the broadcaster reported, to deal with the large influx of people showing symptoms… >> подробнее

13.12.2020

Bruce Pannier

The 12th of December is a holiday in Turkmenistan known as Neutrality Day, with this year marking 25 years since the UN officially recognized the authoritarian Central Asian state as a neutral country.

Turkmen officials - particularly President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov - prefer these days to use the term «positive neutrality,» and it is a big deal in Turkmenistan.

It is enshrined in the country's constitution, for example in Article 2, where is states: «The permanent neutrality of Turkmenistan shall be the basis of its national and foreign policy.» And in Article 68, where it says: «The president of Turkmenistan shall be the head of the state and executive power, the highest official of Turkmenistan, acting as guarantor of...state independence and the status of permanent… >> подробнее