Tag Archives: Turkmenistan

Turkey needs to do more to protect Turkmen exiles, say human rights groups

NOV. 2 2021 (The Bulletin) — Thirty-three human rights groups signed a petition calling on the Turkish government to provide more protection for Turkmen exiles in Turkey after what it said had been a spate of attacks against them. Turkmen diplomats have refused to extend passports and other documents in Turkey forcing expats to break migration rules. They have also said that the Turkmen government has stepped up its harassment of exiled Turkmen.

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— This story was published in issue 506 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on Nov. 4 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Turkmenistan extends Covid lockdown

NOV. 1 2021 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan, one of the only countries in the world to claim that it hasn’t had a single case of the coronavirus, said that it was extending its lockdown measures. A lockdown that closed shops, restaurants and bars was imposed in August and was supposed to run until the end of October. This has now been officially extended until mid-November.

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— This story was published in issue 506 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on Nov. 4 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Turkmen foreign minister flies to Kabul for Taliban meeting

OCT. 27 2021 (The Bulletin) — Turkmen officials were preparing to fly to Kabul after the Taliban government said that it supported its moves to build a gas pipeline, dubbed TAPI, across the country.

The project is important to Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov because he wants to diversify Turkmenistan’s gas clients away from an over-reliance on China. The Western-backed government in Afghanistan had supported the TAPI plans but there were some concerns that the Taliban, which took control of Afghanistan in August, might ditch it. 

Turkmen officials, though, have taken a comparatively soft line towards the Taliban since they took power, opening up lines of communications and sending aid. Now, it seems, the Taliban have decided to back TAPI.

In a statement, the acting Taliban minister for mines and petroleum, Mohammed Issa Akhund, said that the project would now go ahead, although he didn’t give dates.

“We have been working hard for some time and we are ready to take pride in starting work on the TAPI project,” he said.

The pipeline is slated to carry 33b cubic metres of gas across Afghanistan to Pakistan and India from Turkmenistan’s giant Galkynysh field once it is completed, an ambitious plan by Turkmenistan to turn itself into the region’s main gas exporter. 

Under the current plans, Afghanistan would keep about 5% of the gas supplies and also earn hundreds of millions of dollars in transit fees.

Separately, the Taliban government also said that it will pay Uzbekistan millions of dollars in fees it owes for electricity purchases. Like Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan has looked to engage with the Taliban government in Afghanistan since it took control of the country, hosting its officials in Termez and sending envoys to Kabul.

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— This story was published in issue 505 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on Oct. 28 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan agree border deal

OCT. 25 2021 (The Bulletin) — On a visit to Ashgabat, Kazakh Pres. Kassym Jomart Tokayev said that he signed several agreements that delimitinated Kazakhstan’s shared border with Turkmenistan. The Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan border has been a source of tension in previous years. Mr Tokayev also said that he had also signed an agreement over fishing rights in the Caspian Sea with Turkmen Pres. Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.

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— This story was published in issue 505 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on Oct. 28 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Worried about the Taliban, Tajikistan mobilise entire army

DUSHANBE/JULY 22 2021 (The Bulletin) — Tajikistan mobilised its entire army and put it on “high alert” for the first time since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union as worries intensified about a move north into Central Asia by the Taliban.

Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan also mobilised their armies and Russia said that it was sending extra military hardware to its base in Tajikistan. 

Media quoted a military source in Tajikistan as saying that the Taliban now controls around 80% of Afghanistan’s border with Tajikistan. It has pounced on Afghan government military weakness since the US started to withdraw its forces in May.

In a statement, the Tajik ministry of defence said that it had ordered the mobilisation of all its 100,000 regular soldiers, and another 130,000 reservists. Inspecting some of these forces in Dushanbe, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon said that the Tajik military had to be ready to defend its borders.

“The situation in neighbouring Afghanistan, especially in the northern regions bordering with our country, remains very difficult and uncertain. The situation is getting more complicated day by day and even hour after hour,” he said.

Earlier this month, hundreds of Afghan government soldiers fled across the Uzbek and Tajik borders to escape the Taliban which now controls most of the northern section of Afghanistan, including the important border crossings into Central Asia, for the first time.

Also in Tajikistan, media said that Russia was sending an extra 17 BMP-2s to its base. The BMP-2 is a cross between an armoured personnel carrier and a tank that Russian infantry favour when deploying into battle. The Kommersant newspaper also reported that Russia had offered the US use of its base as a listening post to spy on the Taliban in Afghanistan. 

Elsewhere in Central Asia, news leaked out of Turkmenistan of a road accident that killed 30 soldiers when, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a military convoy collided with a truck and another vehicle. The RFE/RL source said the scene was “horrible”.

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— This story was published in issue 493 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on July 22 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Turkmen police kidnap doctor, says HRW

JULY 21 2021 (The Bulletin) — Human Rights Watch, the New York-based lobby group, accused the Turkmen government of the illegal abduction of  Kursanai Ismatullayeva, a doctor, a few days after the European Parliament discussed her case for wrongful dismissal from a clinic near Ashgabat in 2017. Philippe Dam, the HRW Central Asia director, said that Turkmenistan had a “horrific” record of abducting people who tried to expose government corruption.

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— This story was published in issue 493 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on July 22 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Turkmenistan plans to change status of cotton processing plants

JULY 20 2021 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan is planning to change the status of its cotton processing plants in Mary, one of its bigger cities, and elsewhere in the country to open joint-stock companies, media reported. It is not clear why the Turkmen government wants to make the change, although the Trend news agency said that it was an important step towards modernising the plants and attracting investment.

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— This story was published in issue 493 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on July 22 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

World Bank drops dodgy Turkmen economic data from global report

JUNE 15 2021 (The Bulletin) — The World Bank called out the Turkmen government for publishing misleading economic data and dropped its global economic outlook report.

This is the second time that the World Bank has dropped Turkmenistan from its bi-annual Global Economic Prospects report, and its damaging assessment of the quality of Turkmen data will reinforce Turkmenistan’s reputation as a difficult place to do business.

The only other country excluded from the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects report, published this month, was Venezuela.

“Due to lack of reliable data of adequate quality, the World Bank is currently not publishing economic output, income, or growth data for Turkmenistan and República Bolivariana de Venezuela,” it wrote in a footnote. “Turkmenistan and República Bolivariana de Venezuela are excluded from cross-country macroeconomic aggregates.”

The footnote is identical to one included in the January edition of the report. 

Turkmen opposition groups have said the country is suffering an economic crisis, with inflation spiralling out of control and food queues lengthening. Not that you would realise this from the official data which paints a rosy picture.

In 2020, though, the IMF refused to include Turkmenistan in its Growth Outlook report because of poor data quality. Most economists have also predicted Turkmen GDP growth to be around 1% this year, compared to a Turkmen government estimate of 5.9%.

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— This story was published in issue 48 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 16 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Berdymukhamedov celebrates paying off China debt

JUNE 11 2021 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan has paid off its debt to China, Turkmen Pres. Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said at a government meeting. Mr Berdymukhamedov said that by paying off the Chinese loans, Turkmenistan had increased its independence. China has been criticised for forcing loan recipients into debt traps. Turkmenistan took the loan, reportedly around $8b, from China to pay for the construction of its Galkynysh gas project and for a gas pipeline running to China.

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— This story was published in issue 48 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 16 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Berdymukhamedov wants to sell more ice cream to China

JUNE 5 2021 (The Bulletin) — Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov ordered his government to increase ice cream exports to China. Turkmen state-owned media reported Mr Berdymukhamedov as saying that Turkmenistan had exported 400 tonnes of ice cream to China in 2020.

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— This story was published in issue 487 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 9 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021