Tag Archives: Turkmenistan

Editorial: Turkmen human rights

JUNE 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — It’s taken 13 years but human rights groups scored a significant victory in Turkmenistan when the authorities finally allowed Ayjemal Rejepova and her two young daughters to leave the country to rejoin their family in Europe.

Ms Rejepova’s father is Pirkuli Tanrykuliev, a former Turkmen doctor and opposition leader. He was imprisoned in 1999, released shortly afterwards and then allowed to leave the country for exile in Norway. His wife followed but his daughter was banned from joining him.

As well as being banned from travelling abroad, Ms Rejepova and her husband lost their jobs and were subject to searches and intimidation by the Turkmen security forces.

With the help of Western human rights groups, she has now succeeded in pressuring the Turkmen authorities in scrapping the travel ban. She has been brave but, as Human Rights Watch pointed out, there are thousands of other Turkmen also subject to a travel ban from Turkmenistan because of alleged offences linked to relatives. The pressure needs to be maintained.

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(Editorial from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Turkmenistan signs electricity deal with Afghanistan

JUNE 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan and Afghanistan signed a 10-year agreement for the supply of electricity, a sign of enhanced cross-border cooperation for the two countries’ power sectors. State-owned Turkmenenergo and Afghanistan’s DABS extended the current agreement to the end of 2017 and signed a new agreement, which will last until the end of 2027. Turkmenistan aims to export electricity to Tajikistan and Pakistan via Afghanistan. It holds ambitions to turn itself into a regional power generation hub.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Turkmen dissidents fly out

JUNE 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Under pressure from international human rights groups, the Turkmen government lifted a 13 year travel ban on the family of an exiled dissident. Human rights Watch said the daughter of ex-MP Pirkuli Tanrykuliev, Ayjemal Rejepova, was able to fly out of Turkmenistan. The Norway-based Mr Tanrykuliev had been a vocal government critic.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Russia defence min visits Turkmenistan

JUNE 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Sergei Shiogu, the Russian defence minister, travelled to Turkmenistan for talks with Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, opening the door to improved military cooperation. Turkmenistan has long professed a policy of neutrality and has kept a distance from Russia-led military blocks in the region. Now Turkmenistan could be looking to import military kit from Russia, according to Russian media.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Fashion firms accuse Turkmenistan of using forced labour to pick cotton

JUNE 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Several international clothing brands, including German sportswear manufacturer Adidas, Hong Kong-listed Esprit, Sweden’s H&M and Britain’s Tesco, accused Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov of presiding over a system that used forced labour to pick cotton.

The accusation shifts the focus of forced labour in Central Asia from Uzbekistan, which is already the subject of a ban imposed by most Western fashion labels, to neighbouring Turkmenistan, although campaigners have in the past also accused Kazakhstan and Tajikistan of the practice.

The system is a legacy of the Soviet Union when students, their teachers, doctors and other government workers headed out to the plantations for a few weeks in the harvest season to pick cotton.

“It has been widely reported that every year the Government of Turkmenistan forcibly mobilises tens of thousands of public-sector workers and farmers to cultivate and harvest cotton,” the letter read.

“We urge you to take urgent action to end forced labour in the cotton sector of Turkmenistan.”

The letter, published on May 25 by The Cotton Campaign lobby group, was later disseminated by Turkmen opposition websites (June 4). It mirrors other public actions taken by The Cotton Campaign against forced labour in the Uzbek cotton sector.

Sweden’s H&M, one of the biggest high street retailers in Europe, banned Turkmen cotton in December, two years after it imposed a ban on Uzbekistan.

The criticism will sting Turkmenistan. Cotton is its third biggest export, earning around $300m every year.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Russia and Turkmenistan discuss gas deal

MAY 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s gas giant Gazprom said it may resume gas imports from Turkmenistan, less than a year after bad- tempered rows over prices led to the Kremlin scrapping shipments of gas.

Alexander Medvedev, deputy chairman at Gazprom, said the parties were still in talks and it was too early to say whether a settlement can be reached.

“There is a window of opportunity. We are ready to negotiate, but, unfortunately, there is no clear road- map,” Mr Medvedev told the press.

Even just the decision to negotiate signals a U-turn by Russia and Turkmenistan over both their gas policies and relations in general.

At one point during the various arguments in 2015, Gazprom took the Turkmen government to court to try to force it to reduce gas prices.

China has become Turkmenistan’s favoured destination for its gas exports since a pipeline connection was completed in 2009.

But now, facing delays in the section of the pipeline that crosses Kyrgyzstan, China has pushed back its investment plans for the giant Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan.

This is likely to frustrate Turkmenistan, which bet heavily on China as an alternative to Russia, and could provide an opportunity to resume gas trade with Gazprom.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Refinery capacity rises in Turkmenistan

MAY 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s ministry of oil and gas said it wants to double oil refining capacity in the country over the next three years, in an effort to increase the domestic output of oil products. The ministry said it plans to increase capacity to 20m tonnes by 2020 and then to 30m tonnes by 2030. Last year, Turkmenistan missed its goal of reaching its refining capacity of 15m tonnes. It currently only process around 11m tonnes/year.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Turkmenistan to import S Korean buses

MAY 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan will import South Korea-made passenger buses, in an effort to boost economic cooperation. President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and Kim Wee- Chul, CEO Hyundai Engineering, signed the agreement in Ashgabat. In 2013, Hyundai Engineering had completed construction work at a processing plant near Galkynysh, the largest gas field in the country.

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(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Turkmenistan discusses TAPI financing

MAY 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Turkmen government said it has started negotiations with the Islamic Development Bank and other international financial institutions to open credit lines for funding the TAPI gas pipeline, which will pump gas to Pakistan and India through Afghanistan. Among potential backers, Turkmenistan has targeted Saudi Arabia and Japan. The pipeline, which will cost $10b and have a capacity of 33b cubic metres per year, is scheduled for completion in 2019.

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(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Turkmen President pardons prisoners

MAY 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov pardoned 853 prisoners to mark the Day of the Constitution. The presidential grace is a routine gesture that shows Mr Berdymukhamedov’s control over the essential institutions in the country. According to official media, around 4,000 people have been freed in the past year through presidential pardons.

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(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)