Turkmen Dissidents Seek International Support to Unseat President

Exiles and dissidents, terming their native Turkmenistan "one of the most repressive countries in the world," laid out steps for "overthrowing" its chief after gathering with advocates in Vienna in June. These steps, though, presume support from multinational institutions. After a meeting co-sponsored by the International Helsinki Federation and Moscow's Memorial Human Rights Center, a "round-table" of Turkmen dissident groups laid out a plan for a new Turkmenistan – and asked agencies from other countries to effect that plan.

The blueprint produced by the June 10 meeting calls for free and fair elections, the release of specific political prisoners, and a broad expansion of rights to speak and assemble. Unlike earlier such calls, though, the list carries the imprimatur of the International Helsinki Federation, which hosted the meeting. With federation director Aaron Rhodes declaring his support for a "Helsinki Commission of Turkmenistan in exile," the document serves as a unified opposition agenda in Central Asia's most autocratic state. But instead of trying to organize dissent within the country, the activists have applied "international" standards to declare Niyazov "illegitimate." The dissidents lay out a plan for a new state that abides by the Turkmen constitution but operates under international auspices.

The main document calls for free expression, inspection of prisons and hospitals by international rights workers, investigation into claims of torture and an end to Niyazov's year-old fees on marriage between natives and immigrants. The dissidents want vetting of the National Security Agency (KNB, as the Turkmen abbreviate it) and reparations for people whose homes were destroyed by "state reconstruction programs." Such steps would logistically require outside help. Other steps, like a ban on child labor in farming and a return of religious and civic organizations, would require external legal and political muscle. Rather than calling for a revolution, the document proposes to end Niyazov's lifetime presidency through international pressure. Its last recommendation proposes to make "international human rights obligations