Tag Archives: Turkmenistan

UN chief’s visit disappoints human rights activists

ALMATY, JUNE 15 2017 (The Bulletin) — UN Security general Antonio Guterres completed a tour of all five Central Asian states, his first since taking the job six months ago, although human rights activists complained that he had taken too soft a line on a regional crackdown of journalists and dissenters.

Mr Guterres’ main message was that the governments of the region need to remain engaged with international organisations to reach their full potential.

“Kazakhstan has been a symbol of dialogue, a symbol of peace, a symbol of the promotion of contacts between cultures, religions and civilizations; and with its presence in the (UN) Security Council, an extremely important dimension in mediation, in relation to conflict,” he said in Astana.

In Ashgabat, a few days later, after attending a counter-terrorism conference Mr Guterres, a former Portuguese PM and UN high commissioner for refugees, took a tougher line on rights.

“Upholding the rights of freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in this region are fundamental to countering the threat that violent extremism poses,” he said.

Even so, with media freedoms and human rights on the retreat in the region, after a series of arrests of journalists and a crackdown on workers’ unions, activists accused Mr Guterres of going soft on the issue in favour of developing nodes of engagement.

Hugh Williamson, director of the Central Asia division at New York- based Human Rights Watch, said Mr Guterres had failed to meet members of local civil rights movements on his tour of the region and that describing Kazakhstan as a “pillar of stability” and Kyrgyzstan as a “pioneer of democracy” was sending out the wrong message.

“Central Asian leaders also pay close attention to what high-level visitors like Guterres focus on, also in public,” he said in a statement.

“Not only did Guterres fail to set clear expectations on human rights improvements across Central Asia, his praise for his largely authoritarian audience risks sending the message that trampling over human rights is fine.”

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

Turkmenistan increases security after threat

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JUNE 15 2017 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan has boosted its security over the past few days because it has received information that a terrorist attack against it is being planned, the local news service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. RFE/RL quoted a security official as saying that the information came from four men linked to the radical IS group who were extradited back to Turkmenistan from Turkey.

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

Turkmen Pres. Berdymukhamedov cuts subsidies to save money

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JUNE 6 2017 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov ordered his government to scrap all subsidies on household utilities, immediately drawing accusations that he was losing control of the economy.

In a surprise statement, the presidential press service said that Mr Berdymukhamedov had ordered parliament to cut the Soviet-era subsidies because they were “ineffective”.

Quoting official news sources, news agencies said that Mr Berdymukhamedov had ordered his government to cancel all subsidies except “for the most needy”.

Turkmenistan’s economy has been strained for the past three years, ever since energy prices started to collapse, and commentators said that a lack of funds and not any root and branch change of economic strategy was behind the move.

Turkmenistan holds the world’s fourth largest gas reserves. The vast majority of its foreign earnings come from selling this gas, mainly to China. The drop in gas prices has hit this income stream hard and although Mr Berdymukhamedov has never admitted as such, it has dented the economy. In 2015, the Turkmen currency was devalued by a third.

At the start of this year, Turkmenistan accused Iran of not settling a debt that it said it was still and in the last few months Mr Berdymukhamedov has embarked on a series cabinet reshuffles and sackings that analysts said hinted at panic and frustration over the economic turmoil.

Under Mr Berdymukhamedov, state subsidies in Turkmenistan have gradually been eroded. The subsidies have their roots in the Soviet Union which made a point of giving electricity, heating and water virtually away for free.

Turkmenistan is trying to extend its energy customer base to India and Pakistan via the so-called TAPI pipeline, and also to negotiate a way to sell gas to Europe via the South Caucasus energy corridor.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Rail links China and Iran via Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan

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JUNE 8 2017 (The Bulletin) — Railway container services linking China with Iran via Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are due to begin this month after the sides agreed various deals in May, the Railway Gazette reported. It said that the 10,300km journey would take around 14 days rather than 40 days by sea.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Turkmenistan has imprisoned Gulenists, says HRW

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JUNE 9 2017 (The Bulletin) — The New York-based Human Rights Watch accused the Turkmen government of illegally detaining and imprisoning 18 men allegedly linked to the Gulen network that Turkish President Recep Erdogan accuses of plotting a coup.

In its report, Human Rights Watch said that the men were part of a group of 100 men arrested in September and October last year after a request from Turkey.

“The men’s families found out about the arrests in Turkmenistan only through unofficial contacts. They were allowed no contact with their loved ones until after the trial, which was closed and held at the pretrial detention centre. Four state- appointed lawyers served as the men’s defence counsel,” HRW said in its press release.

In Turkey, the security forces have rounded up thousands of supporters of the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen. In Central Asia and the South Caucasus, Turkey has asked the authorities to detain and deport people linked to Gulen, mainly in the education sector.

Gulenists travelled to these newly independent former Soviet republics in the 1990s and set up what are now some of the region’s best-regarded universities and schools.

Human Rights Watch said it had seen a summary of the verdict handed out to the men which said that the court had found them guilty of offences linked to the incitement of social, ethnic and religious hatred and also involvement in criminal organisations.

Turkmenistan has one of the worst records for human rights and free speech and is considered a secretive, closed-off country. It has not commented on the Human Rights Watch allegations.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

UN Sec-Gen visits

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JUNE 7 2017 (The Bulletin) — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres started a tour of Central Asia by flying into Kazakhstan. He was due to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organsiation (SCO) in Astana before flying to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. This is the first visit by a UN Secretary General to Central Asia since 2015.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Turkmen President sacks Supreme Court chief

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JUNE 2 2017 (The Bulletin) — Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov sacked the head of the Supreme Court, Begench Charyev, just the latest in a string of high-profile sackings that he has made this year. State-owned media did not give a reason for Mr Charyev’s sacking. He had been head of the Supreme Court since September 2013. Gylychmyrat Halliyev director of the Turkmen National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights was appointed the new Supreme Court chief.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Turkmen gas supplies to China rise

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MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan will increase gas sales to China, its main client, by nearly 10% this year, the CEO of Turkmengas, Myrat Archayev, was quoted by media as saying. Turkmenistan currently pumps 35b cubic metres of gas to China. This will rise to 38b cubic metres. Mr Archayev said gas supplies to Iran would remain at 7b cubic metres despite a row over unpaid bills.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Lonely Planet praises Turkmenistan

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MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin) — Lonely Planet, the travel guidebook publisher, listed the Darvaza Crater in Turkmenistan as one of its top 50 natural wonders of the world. Although the guidebook market has collapsed over the past decade as the internet has become all- powerful, Lonely Planet is still a strong brand and the inclusion of the flaming Darvaza Crater in the Kyzylkum desert on its top 50 list will boost its profile.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan plan to develop oil and gas fields

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MAY 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In yet another sign of improving Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan relations, the countries’ state-run energy companies pledged to jointly develop Caspian Sea oil and gas fields. It’s unclear if this deal has a practical bent to it or if it is designed simply to be an eye- catching bilateral deal.

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(News report from Issue No. 330, published on May 28 2017)