Pessimism About Turkmenistan's Future

Observers in Turkmenistan and in exile say gloomy assessments of their country from international rights groups are accurate.

In its latest annual report, the New York-based Human Rights Watch has again classed Turkmenistan among the world’s most repressive states, with draconian controls on freedom of expression and faith, and intimidation of human rights defenders. The United Nations’ committee on torture, meanwhile, expressed concern about the wide use of physical abuse in places of detention in Turkmenistan.

When President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov came to power in 2007, he appeared to be ready to create a more liberal system, but that has not turned out to be the case.

As Berdymuhammedov heads towards a February 12 election which he looks certain to win, a newspaper journalist in Turkmenistan said no one was even interested in the process as the outcome was so predictable.

“Why go through this farce?” he asked. “The climate remains unchanged.”

Vyacheslav Mamedov, head of the Civil Democratic Union, a Turkmen émigré group in The Netherlands, said the election was an important marker of how much had not changed in five years.

“It was important for people to be given alternative choices in many spheres of life…. Our information is that none of that has happened, just as Human Rights Watch says,” he said. “The things the authorities are presenting as progress are comical. All we see are cosmetic changes designed solely to make the regime look more appealing.”

This article was produced as part of IWPR’s News Briefing Central Asia output, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy.

If you would like to comment or ask a question about this story, please contact our Central Asia editorial team a tfeedback.ca@iwpr.net.