bne IntelliNews – Turkmenistan: the true and the false

It has become clear for almost a year that critics of the Turkmen government are not safe, even while living in exile.

According to report by the Amsterdam-based news site Turkmen.newsThere is one man particularly responsible for this situation: Guvanch Ovezov, deputy director of the Ministry of National Security, or MNB, the successor agency to the KGB.

Ovezov has been the international liaison representative of the MNB since the beginning of 2023. One of its main aims appears to have been to repatriate dissidents by legal or other means. He is effective there.

A notable case cited by Turkmen.news was that of YouTuber Farhad Meymankuliev, government critic, better known by his alias Farhat Durdyev. In May, Meymankuliev was detained in Türkiyewhere he lived, then sent shortly after to Turkmenistan, where he was reportedly sentenced to around twenty years in prison.

Ovezov is described by Turkmen.news as a favorite official of President Serdar Berdimuhamedov. The two men crossed paths while the latter was working as an advisor to the Turkmen ambassador to Russia, which he did between 2008 and 2011.

According to the media outlet, Ovezov was a resident officer of the MNB in ​​Moscow at the time. This position includes responsibility for monitoring Turkmen nationals completing their university studies in Russia. Ovezov periodically joined the then consul, Mekan Ishanguliyev, for meetings with these students. Ishanguliyev is now ambassador to Turkey, a country from which many Turkmen dissidents have been expelled.

All this will be widely broadcast in the country. Universal Periodic Review conducted this week at the United Nations Human Rights Council, or UNHRC. As the arguments presented in this study amply demonstrate, opponents of the Berdimuhamedov regime have good reason to seek refuge.

“Torture and ill-treatment (remain) widespread and (are) largely carried out with impunity. Torture and ill-treatment are reportedly used more in pre-trial detention centers to obtain confessions in criminal cases and in prisons against people imprisoned for political reasons,” according to a joint study. submission the International Partnership for Human Rights, based in Belgium, and the Turkmenistan Initiative for Human Rights, based in Austria.

It hardly needs mentioning that access to lawyers for political prisoners is non-existent and trials take place behind closed doors.

Focusing on a specific procedural issue, Human Rights Watch published a statement on November 3, pressuring the UNHRC to criticize Turkmenistan for not having ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. This protocol includes among its objectives a “system of regular visits undertaken by independent international and national bodies to places where people are deprived of their liberty, in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.

Turkmenistan’s two-leader situation took another turn on November 3 when former president and father of the current president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, journey in Kazakhstan to lead his country’s delegation to the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) summit. The elder Berdimuhamedov took the opportunity to express his country’s desire to supply gas and electricity to Kazakhstan.

This is in the context of the situation in Kazakhstan recent decision to postpone the signing of a possible gas supply agreement with Russia until at least 2024. Speaking in St. Petersburg on November 1, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar said that the conversation with Gazprom concerned an agreement on the delivery of 3 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

Historically poor planning has left energy-rich Kazakhstan in the odd position of also experiencing seasonal interruptions to its electricity supply.

At one point, while his father was in Kazakhstan, President Berdimuhamedov was in the Balkan province. visit the construction site of a new 1,574 megawatt power plant. The power plant is built by the Turkish company Chalyk Energy (name given by the company itself as Calik Enerji) and equipped with steam turbines manufactured by the American giant General Electric. The plant is expected to be operational by May 2027.

There is evidence that the government’s decision to remove subsidies for basic needs – an integral aspect of the authoritarian system’s social contract – is not entirely without consequences. Based in Vienna Chronicles of Turkmenistan reported on October 30 on how residents of Ashgabat are seeing an increase in petty theft. Supermarkets also regularly catch shoplifters in the act, the outlet reported.

Although no specific data is available, police sources who spoke to Chronicles say they see people of all genders and ages engaging in theft.

“In bazaars and supermarkets, people steal food, clothes, cosmetics, household detergents, anything that can then be sold or used,” the website says.

This is an area where the regime feels clearly exposed. In August, RFE/RL Turkmen Service, Radio Azatlyk, reported on the unusual sight of hundreds of people protesting in the town of Turkmenbashi to highlight their inability to buy basic necessities like flour and cooking oil. These shortages reflect the state’s gradual abandonment of a decades-old food subsidy program on which the poorest Turkmens depend.

Despite recurring boasts about the number of hospitals being built, authorities also struggle to provide reliable health care. Azatlyk reported on November 2, following a worsening of the measles epidemic in the capital, Ashgabat. A correspondent for the channel said that most patients seen in hospitals are of kindergarten age and that doctors are struggling to provide adequate care to all. Despite this situation, kindergarten educators have not received any guidance on how to deal with this epidemic. Azatlyk reported.

While the elder Berdimuhamedov, a former health minister, may be a micromanager, it is not this kind of crisis that holds his interest.

On November 1, he deposit on the newly built town of Arkadag, named in his honor, for a further inspection of the work in progress. On this occasion, he approved the projects for door handles, guardrails and lighting fixtures that will be installed in government buildings in the city.

In the same field, he studied options for a logo for the Arkadag football team, which is currently playing its first season in the Turkmenistan Premier League.

“Familiarizing himself with the (candidates’ logos), Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized that they should reflect the development of sports and attract young people to high-level sports,” the state news agency reported.

Arkadag is undoubtedly very successful, in particular because all of its players have been poached by rival competitors. The team is essentially a reflection of the national team.

Arkadag has won each of its 17 matches this season. This flow was almost broken on November 3, when Shagadam’s Ikhlas Magtymov managed to overcome a two-goal deficit by scoring a brace. However, six minutes after the end of normal time, Arkadag fortuitously won a penalty, duly scored, guaranteeing the waiting champions a 3-2 victory.

This article was first published on Eurasianet here.