Turkmenistan Weekly News Analysis

On October 27, Turkmenistan celebrated the 21st anniversary of the country’s independent statehood with typical pomp and circumstance, including a military parade and concerts. In his speech on the occasion, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said that at the end of the 20th century, when Turkmenistan gained independence, the Turkmen peoples’ centuries-old dream of “a free and happy life and a sovereign state” came true.

Several representatives of the Russian Federation Council and Russian businessmen came to Ashgabat to congratulate Berdymukhamedov in person. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev sent a congratulatory message on the occasion. US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton also sent a message to Berdymukhamedov, saying that “The governments of the United States and Turkmenistan have both shown a strong commitment to enhancing our bilateral partnership. The United States greatly appreciates Turkmenistan’s cooperation and work to promote stability, integration, and prosperity in the region. We are working to broaden economic and commercial ties, build democratic institutions and ensure the protection of human rights.”

Despite 21 years of independence from the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan’s citizens enjoy fewer benefits of democracy than even its Central Asian neighbors. Citizens are increasingly forced to participate in mass events to glorify the state as in the days of Soviet totalitarianism. Though awash in cash from its vast energy resources, which could be used to raise the economic well-being of its people and offer them basic freedoms and human rights, many Soviet practices remain, such as condemning critics of the regime to psychiatric clinics. This is the case, according to Amnesty International, with the recent arrest of the country’s former Minister for Culture and Sports, Geldymurad Nurmukhamedov, and forced institutionalization in a drug rehabilitation clinic. Amnesty International claims that the ex-minister has been a target of persecution for his political activities and criticism of the Berdymukhamedov regime’s human rights record in an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty last December.

Berdymukhamedov declared an amnesty on Independence day for over 2000 inmates of Turkmenistan’s penal system. It has become a routine practice around holidays to announce an amnesty. According to the Turkmenistan Initiative for Human Rights, many of those released in these amnesties soon return to prison. Upon returning to the general population, former inmates find themselves joining the ranks of Turkmenistan’s unemployed, and return to lives of crime – and some observers report a significant increase in crime following these amnesties. Turkmenistan’s past dictator, Saparmurat Nyazov, also would announce amnesties regularly, after which the names of those released would be published in the newspapers; however, Berdymukhamedov does not do so, perhaps because the names would likely be the same over and over again. Possibly each amnesty is played up to project Berdymukhamedov’s image as a magnanimous and merciful leader before his people. After all, he calls himself Arkadag – the protector.

And yet, such boasts, along with the realization of “the Turkmen peoples’ centuries-old dream of a free and happy life and a sovereign state” is likely viewed with cynicism by Turkmen citizens, much as they are to the rest of the world, which courts the Berdymukhamedov regime with overtures of partnership and cooperation to access the country’s energy wealth, and yet does not issue strong reprimands for the country’s appalling record on human rights.

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