Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov celebrated the regional spring holiday Nowruz in Iran, meeting with Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in Tehran and presidents and senior officials from 18 other countries. Earlier, the Turkmen leader had sent Iran a gift of 1,000 tons of flour, trend.az reported, although Turkmen itself imports flour and sometimes experiences bread shortages at home. Not to be outdone, Ahmadinejad presented Berdymukhamedov with an Iranian-manufactured two-seater light sports aircraft valued at $130,000, IRNA news agency reported. Berdymukhamedov also met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai who was in Tehran for the celebration, and discussed the proposed TAPI natural-gas pipeline project that is to deliver Turkmen gas through Afghanistan to Pakistan and India, avoiding Iranian territory, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
A delegation of executives from Belgian companies led by Phillipe Suinen, the Chief Executive Officer of Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency, met with Turkmenistan's Ministry of Communications, the Central Bank of Turkmenistan, the Ministry of Road Transport, and the Turkmen Energy Ministry and Industry Ministry this week, centralasiannewswire.com and trend.az reported. The delegation included Belgian companies BNP Paribas Fortis, a world-leading bank, geo-communication satellite company SES Astra and CE + T, a company that produces digital converters, turkmenistan.ru reported. Since abruptly closing down the Russian MobileTelesystems (MTS) cell phone company in December, depriving 2.4 million customers from service, Berdymukhamedov has been discussing the possibilities of promoting new domestic cell phone companies in Turkmenistan with foreign investment, since the sole national provider, Altyn Assyr, has not been able to cope with the demand.
Turkmenistan continues to cooperate with international bodies, particularly the UN, yet in a restricted fashion, while not permitting UN monitors and non-governmental organizations to function freely inside the country. The Global Fund Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is giving Turkmenistan $20 million to combat tuberculosis, although last year, Doctors Without Border, which had worked in the country for 10 years, issued a scathing report condemning the Turkmen Ministry of Health’s concealing of medical information and medical malpractice, which were leading to the spread of TB and HIV-AIDS. Turkmenistan has been less cooperative with OSCE, refusing to attend the OSCE review meetings on human rights and attempting to block Turkmen human rights activists from meetings abroad. But the topic for last week’s OSCE workshop was approved, as it concerned relations between governments and energy companies, and featured experts from Austria, Russia, and the United Kingdom who were reported in the official press as praising Turkmenistan’s proposals for energy security.
Turkmenistan is also opening up a mission to the UN in Geneva, turkmenistan.ru reported. The president authorized the mission in Geneva for Turkmenistan, which previously lacked a presence there. No doubt the reinforcement of the diplomatic corps is related to preparation for Turkmenistan’s report to a UN treaty body, the Committee Against Torture (CAT), as well as interaction with other UN bodies. On May 18-19, Turkmenistan is scheduled to present its report on compliance with the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The UN Working Group on Forced and Involuntary Disappearances convened a session in Mexico on March 15-18, and reviewed cases from a number of countries, including Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan has become notorious for refusing to explain what has happened to a number of leading officials who fell into political disfavor as well as civic activists who were arrested and sentenced at closed trials without proper defense, and imprisoned incommunicado. These include former foreign minister Boris Shikhmuradov, two members of the Turkmenistan Helsinki Foundation, Annakurban Amanklychev and Sapardurdy Khajiev, and Ovezgeldy Ataev, the head of the nominal legislature at the time of Berdymukhamedov's succession.
The presidentially-controlled Mejlis, or parliament of Turkmenistan, is going through the motions of drafting laws that will at least on paper appear to comply with the obligations of the Convention Against Torture in time for the CAT meeting. On March 25, the draft Penal Code was reviewed and approved by the Mejlis, after the president had indicated the need to accelerate the passing of national law in conformity with international standards, the State News Agency of Turkmenistan (TDH) reported. The president said the effort was part of the "further humanization of the system of corrective punishments and the improvement of the work of the law-enforcement agencies" and was also "meeting modern demands" and "ensuring the protection of human rights and liberties," TDH noted.
The Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights (TIHR) has reported on the Berdyev family of Ashgabat whose members have been persecuted for years by the Turkmen security services and who have suffered arrest and torture. In late 1998, the Turkmen National Security Committee tried to bring criminal charges against the head of the family, Bazargeldy Berdyev, for fraud and serious damages. He was kept in pre-trial detention for about three months and tortured, as a result of which he became disabled. His spouse, Aydyemal Berdyeva, who was pregnant at the time, was also taken into custody and tortured, as a result of which she suffered a miscarriage and a broken hand. Without a court order, National Security Committee officers seized the Berdyevs’ property and cash.
Undefeated, the Berdyevs appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office, the Presidential Institute for Democracy and Human Rights (PIDHR), the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, and other international bodies. Curiously, although officials usually ignore such appeals, in this case, eventually in May 2009, Shirin Akhmedova, then-director of the PIDHR responded: “Having examined your application and considered the materials on the illegal confiscation of the following property: Mercedes 500, $293.000, five hand-made carpets, as well as having considered the killing of an unborn baby during torture, we confirm the facts you stated," said the letter.
It is difficult to know the meaning of this atypical and yet ultimately insufficient response. The Turkmen government may figure that there are so many documented cases of torture and disappearances in Turkmenistan,that they would do better to admit to at least one – and blame it on past dictator Saparmurat Niyazov. Or perhaps it was such a blatant injustice. and the people involved were sufficiently connected, that they were able to get the official letter of validation. Akhmedova was later relieved of her duties by presidential degree in February 2010, after being elected in January as a member of the Mejlis from the Akhal province, and was replaced by Yazdursun Gurbannazarova. Yet despite this official admission, the Berdyevs continue to suffer death threats and summons to the police, and those responsible for their mistreatment have not been punished nor have they been compensated.
Catherine A. Fitzpatrick compiles the Turkmenistan weekly roundup for EurasiaNet. She is also editor of EurasiaNet's Sifting the Karakum blog. To subscribe to the weekly email with a digest of international and regional press, write [email protected]
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