At the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs on June 21, Prof. Alexander Cooley, Associate Professor of International Relations at Barnard College at Columbia University and Farid Tuhbatullin, head of the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights, participated in a panel discussion titled "Activism and Policy: Prospects for Change in Turkmenistan." Carnegie will be putting up audio, video and transcript of the meeting soon, so watch this space for a link.
Farid Tuhbatullin spoke about his efforts to gather and publish information from inside Turkmenistan, and the role of a human rights group that stays out of political opposition, even as the Turkmen government at times forces it to engage in protest because of its tactics. People inside Turkmenistan take the risk to send out information on their own, and Tuhbatullin's website chrono-tm.org provides a home for the stories of the Turkmen people that are blocked from their own heavily state-controlled media and tend to be overlooked by the Western press. Tuhbatullin recounted how he had raised the cases of Turkmen students denied permission to leave for study abroad last year, and met with State Department officials in Washington before their trip to Ashgabat last week for bilateral talks, and is awaiting the outcome.
Prof. Cooley talked about how international movements for social change had successfully challenged businesses to improve their practices in a number of countries; an example of a successful campaign was the international movement to draw attention to Uzbekistan's use of child labor in its cotton industry, which had compelled some companies to stop buying cotton from Uzbekistan or using Uzbek cotton in their products.
Center: Assistant Secretary Robert Blake and Right: Michael Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy and Human Rights at the Opening Session of Inaugural US-Turkmenistan Annual Bilateral Consultations
A delegation of U.S. State Department officials and business executives travelled to Turkmenistan this week to launch a comprehensive program of dialogue that is to include human rights discussions as well as talks on energy security. Washington hopes to tap Turkmenistan's vast hydrocarbon riches, as well as gain Ashgabat's assistance in supplying NATO troops in the war in Afghanistan and promoting regional stability. Currently, the U.S. has a "gas-and-go" arrangement with Turkmenistan, landing planes in Ashgabat to refuel en route to Afghanistan with non-lethal freight.
Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State South and Central Asian Affairs
and Michael Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy and Human Rights, as well as other U.S. defense, energy and aid officials visited Turkmenistan June 13-15 to launch the Annual Bilateral Consultations (ABCs), described as a "new beginning" to U.S.-Turkmenistan relations in "initiating an important dialogue on all aspects of the bilateral relationship between the United States and Turkmenistan, not only between our two governments, but between the Turkmen and American people." The ABCs involve "an ambitious plan of work to advance our relationship on all fronts with clear objectives and specific deadlines for future cooperation assigned to action-oriented working groups," said Blake in opening remarks.
The Karakum, or "black sand" desert covers 70 percent of the Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan. Population is sparse there, with only one person per 2.5 miles, and rain might come once in a decade. Underneath this austere territory lies the ancient city of Merv, near today's Mary, whose ruins are still studied by scholars around the world, as well as a great deal of oil and gas, making Turkmenistan's reserves the fifth largest in the world. Also under the shifting sands are the springs of water that feed oases where the Turkmen people have made their villages and struggled against the elements for centuries. The Karakum Canal, the largest irrigation system in the world, crosses the region, and the desert is also the site of an over-ambitious and controversial state project to create an artificial lake.
Yet beyond these iconic cliches about Turkmenistan's hydrocarbon riches and the desert exterior that seems to symbolize this long-closed and little-known society, there have in recent years been new developments in domestic affairs and foreign relations since the death of long-time dictator Saparmurat Niyazov. Under the leadership of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, some modest reforms have been made, such as restoration of the education and health systems, opening of Internet cafes, and a removal of some of the most ludicrous trappings of "Turkmenbashi" (head of all Turkmens) as Niyazov was known, such as his ubiquitous portrait and the renaming of the days of the week after his relatives.
The Karakum, or "black sand" desert, covers 70 percent of Turkmenistan’s surface. Population is sparse there, with only one person per 2.5 miles. Rain might come once in a decade. Underneath this austere territory lies the ancient city of Merv, near today's Mary, whose ruins are still studied by scholars around the world, as well as a great deal of oil and gas, making Turkmenistan's reserves among the largest in the world.
Little of the country’s closed political system has changed since President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov succeeded long-time dictator Saparmurat Niyazov – the Turkmenbashi, or “father of all Turkmen” – in 2006. Civic activists continue to be harassed, detained, or forced to leave the country. All lines of power lead to the president, who maintains a harsh top-down management of subordinate officials who are constantly reprimanded, shuffled around, or dismissed for "shortcomings" and "negligence."
With so much of what happens in Turkmenistan hidden or deliberately suppressed, it is our hope to sift through what stories do emerge in domestic and international media, and attempt to see the true dimensions of a country whose impoverished people rarely see the benefits of their nation's tremendous wealth.
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