Tag Archives: Turkmenistan

Turkmen leader wins another seven years in power

FEB. 12 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov won a presidential election in Turkmenistan with 97.7% of the vote, improving, even, on the 97.1% he won in 2012.

This is Mr Berdymukhamedov’s third presidential election victory in Turkmenistan. He has ruled since 2007 and this latest win gives him another seven years in power.

Critics have said that the election was fraudulent and that Mr Berdymukhamedov did not face any real opposition as the candidates running against him all supported his policies. Turkmenistan was officially a one- party state until 2012 when the first multi-party elections were first run. In essence, though, they have been show-elections with Mr Berdymukhamedov set up to win.

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(News report from Issue No. 317, published on Feb.17 2017)

Turkmenistan increases electricity production

FEB. 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan has increased its electricity production by 7.4% so far this year compared to the same period in 2016, media reported quoting government officials. This is important because Turkmenistan sees electricity as a second major export after gas and has been investing heavily in infrastructure. It has also said that it wants to export electricity along a route built adjacent to the TAPI pipeline that will pump gas to Pakistan and India. This will rival the World Bank-backed CASA-1000 electricity power line being built from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

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(News report from Issue No. 317, published on Feb.17 2017)

Turkmens prepare for election

FEB. 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — People in Turkmenistan prepared to vote in a presidential election set for Feb. 12 that observers said incumbent president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov would win easily. Human rights and free media activists in Europe and the US have used the election to highlight what they have said is a lack of basic human rights in Turkmenistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 316, published on Feb. 10 2017)

Turkmen official GDP growth seems steady

FEB. 8 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmen TV said that economic growth in Turkmenistan had fallen to 6.2% in 2016, down from 6.5% in 2015. Growth of 6.2% would still mark a major achievement for Turkmenistan which is reliant on gas sales for its revenues. Political observers have often challenged the veracity of the official data coming out of Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan holds a presidential election this month that incumbent president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov is set to win.

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(News report from Issue No. 316, published on Feb. 10 2017)

Freedom House says rights in Central Asia and the South Caucasus worsened in 2016

JAN. 31 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In its annual report mapping out the status of just how free people are to express themselves, the US-based NGO Freedom House said that in 2016 the countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus cracked down on civil liberties.

Freedom House rates Georgia as the best place for civil liberties in the region, with a “Partly Free” status. It also gave this ranking to Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. The others were ranked “Not Free” with Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan listed as two of the most repressive regimes in the world.

“Apparently unnerved by the repercussions of a lengthy slump in oil prices, the rulers of Azerbaijan and the Central Asian states used tightly controlled constitutional referendums to extend their rule into the future,” Freedom House wrote.

The Freedom House assessment of civil rights broadly mirrors the assessment of human rights groups who have been warning of worsening conditions in the region.

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(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

Turkmenistan arms Caspian Sea patrol boats

FEB. 1 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Eurasianet website reported that Turkmenistan has deployed new French missile systems on its two new Turkish-made patrol boats in the Caspian Sea. The countries that border the Caspian Sea — Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan — are still squabbling over just how to divide it up. Tensions have previously flared up.

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(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

Turkmenistan-led TAPI project is delayed, says Pakistan

JAN. 26 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Completion of the $10b Turkmenistan-lead TAPI gas pipeline that will pump gas from eastern Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India via Afghanistan has been delayed by a year to 2020, Pakistani media said quoting ministry officials. They said that the delay had been caused because it had taken longer than expected to pull together the finance for the project.

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(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)

Diplomatic spat brews over rail link between Tajikistan and Turkmenistan

JAN. 25 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s foreign minister issued a statement complaining about a press release by Tajikistan which said that it wanted to build a railway link to Russia that bypassed Turkmenistan and instead traversed Uzbekistan. The Turkmen statement said that Tajikistan’s press release had been unethical. Uzbek-Tajik relations have improved markedly since the death in September of former Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov. The Turkmen diplomatic note is a reminder the ties between Central Asian countries are often strained and fractured.

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(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)

Turkmenistan continues gas bill negotiations with Iran

JAN. 26 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan said that it was prepared to enter negotiations with Iran over a disputed gas bill of $1.8b, although it still retains the right to take the dispute to an international court. Turkmenistan cut off gas supplies to Iran last month after accusing it of not paying debts it said had built up from 2007/8. The row has surprised observers who have watched Turkmenistan-Iran relations improve.

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(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)

Ex-security chief in Turkmenistan dies in jail

JAN. 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tirkish Tyrmyev, the former head of Turkmenistan’s National Security Committee, has died in prison, the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. RFE/RL said that Tyrmev had been sent to prison in 2002 for abuse of power. It also said that shortly before he was due to be released in 2012, a court extended his sentence by seven years for apparently attacking a prison guard. Turkmenistan is one of the most secretive country’s in the world and has a poor human rights record.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)