HELSINKI FEDERATION REPORT DETAILS TURKMENISTAN RIGHTS ABUSES
Ken Stier: 4/28/04

An April report on human rights conditions in Turkmenistan suggests the international community can exert pressure on Ashgabat to ease up on its totalitarian practices by playing on the country’s "dependence" on energy exports. Political analysts, however, doubt that such a strategy can be effective, given the recent consolidation of Russian-Turkmen relations, in particular an expansive energy purchase deal.

The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, in a report titled "Turkmenistan: The Making of a Failed State," detailed a wide array of rights abuses committed by President Saparmurat Niyazov’s administration. It said Niyazov presided over "repressive state machinery" that had "demolished all attributes of a democratic state."

In terms of religious life, Turkmenistan was among the world’s most "restrictive countries," the report said. The government took a similarly hostile stance towards the non-governmental sector. "Only a small number of NGOs operate in semi-secrecy," the report said. "They are under constant risk of harassment from security services and [NGO activists] live in permanent danger of imprisonment."

For those running afoul of Turkmen authorities, "torture and ill-treatment of detainees is more the rule than the exception," the Helsinki Federation report maintained.

In seeking to promote improvement in Turkmenistan’s human rights behavior, the report urged the international community to pursue a policy of engagement, rather than of isolation. "Turkmenistan’s dependence on the export of petroleum and gas offers opportunities for international pressure on the country’s repressive regime," the report concluded.

Several Turkmenistan experts interviewed by EurasiaNet did not share the Helsinki Federation’s view that energy policy could be used to compel Turkmenistan to improve its rights record. The expansion of Russian-Turkmen economic relations over the past year goes a long way towards shielding Niyazov from such pressure, they contend.

The most significant deal between Russia and Turkmenistan is a 25-year gas purchase agreement that could net Moscow upwards of $350 billion and Ashgabat $150 billion over the life of the pact, said Najia Badykova, a former Turkmen government foreign trade expert. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The purchase agreement, concluded during visit Niyazov made to Moscow in April 2003 and buttressed by a broad bilateral economic cooperation pact signed in February in Ashgabat, means steadily deepening Russian influence in Turkmenistan, says Badykova. It also reflects Niyazov’s political dependence on Russia and gives Moscow a vested interest in the political status quo, added Badykova, a former Fulbright scholar and currently a research associate at George Washington University. "Russia can not and does not want to bring democracy to Turkmenistan," she said. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive].

For Moscow, there is a geopolitical element to its expansion of ties with Turkmenistan. "They [Russian leaders] understand Turkmenistan is in an important place in Central Asia….and there are no Americans [US military bases] there, it’s like an empty place," Badykova said.

Historically, human rights considerations have never figured prominently in Moscow’s foreign policy calculus. Even if they did, however, some experts question whether changes in energy policy could influence rights practices in Turkmenistan. "Not only is Russia unconcerned about human rights [in its relation with Turkmenistan], it vastly prefers to deal with a dictatorship – it’s easier," said Daniel Kimmage, Central Asian analyst for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. "Besides, there is absolutely no precedent for using hydrocarbon sales as a way to pressure regimes – how effective were the sanctions against Iraq?"

International attention on Turkmenistan’s human rights record surged in the wake of a crackdown following a supposed assassination attempt against Niyazov in November 2002. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Niyazov has largely brushed off criticism from international organizations, including the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), as well as that voiced by individual states, including the United States.

"It’s not good for Turkmenistan to be condemned by the UN and the OSCE, it’s not good for its economic well-being or anything else," says Aaron Rhodes, executive director of the Vienna-based International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights. "The problem is that it’s not really that bad for it either. ... There is not much evidence of Russia using its economic relationship with Turkmenistan as a lever to encourage better human rights policy."

Russia and its allies did not join these condemnations. "Niyazov is aware he is in a bad situation; it’s really important for him to have Russia’s support now," says Badykova.

Editor’s Note: Ken Stier is a freelance journalist who has reported from throughout the Caucasus and Asia.

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Posted April 28, 2004 © Eurasianet
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