PUBLIC STATEMENT
16 August 2010
AI Index: EUR 61/002/2010

Amnesty International is concerned that Turkmenistan appears ever more determined to bar human rights monitors and restrict the free movement of its population. This concern has been heightened by recent reports from a source inside Turkmenistan about a new presidential decree which prohibits the exit and entry to the country of thousands of named individuals. According to the source the order, signed by Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, came into force on 1 August and was sent to migration service, border guard, security force and police stations around the country.

By News Briefing Central Asia - News Briefing Central Asia
5 Aug 10

While Turkmenistan has made significant improvements to its healthcare system by building modern hospital facilities, patients and doctors say overall care levels still leave a lot to be desired.
In an articled timed to coincide with a conference on health reform in late July, the government news agency TDH said dozens of new medical institutions had been built or refurbished, and fitted with state-of-art equipment.

Turkmen leader calls for private newspaper, but few local journalists take him at his word.

By Aisha Khan - Central Asia Human Rights Reporting Project
RCA Issue 625,
2 Aug 10

The authorities in Turkmenistan have unveiled plans to allow privately-owned newspapers to operate for the first time since the country came into being in 1991. Media experts and civil society representatives doubt this will create anything approaching independent media, as any new press outlet will still be tightly controlled by government.

Catherine A. Fitzpatrick

All in all, an unfortunate «present» for the 35th anniversary of the signing of the Helsinki Accords on August 1, 1975, in which governments pledged to increase the freedom of movement of people and information across frontiers.

A Turkmen officer receives hands-on training on the use of vehicle inspection equipment. Najot, a human rights group in the Khorezm region of Uzbekistan which borders on Turkmenistan, has reportedly obtained a secret decree signed by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, set to go into effect August 1, allegedly proposing tougher measures for entry and exit from and to Turkmenistan by citizens and foreigners, the Expert Working Group of Uzbekistan reports.

The Russian-language document is being circulated by Hayitboy Yakubov, head of Najot (which means «Rescue») and a member of the Expert Working Group, via email and the Yahoo group hr-uzbekistan. Najot is the same group that recently published allegations of forced sterilization of women in Uzbekistan, and earlier this year claimed to have obtained the record of a special session of the Cabinet of Ministers on the tightening of security measures, indicating that the Turkmen government might foreign advice (possibly from China?) on how to step up control of the internal situation and the borders.

By News Briefing Central Asia - News Briefing Central Asia
23 Jul 10

After Turkmenistan’s president Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov renewed his criticism of state-run television and called for improvements to its “mediocre” output, local viewers said they doubted anything much would really change.

PRESS RELEASE
Reporters Without Borders calls on the Turkmen authorities to allow husband-and-wife journalists Annamamed Myatiyev and Elena Myatiyeva to travel to the Netherlands, where Myatiyev needs to undergo an operation for a detached retina. They were prevented from flying on 28 June.

“The freedom to travel abroad and return to one’s country is a fundamental right,” Reporters Without Borders said. “When the purpose of the trip abroad is medical, the government’s refusal to permit it seems to be an act of pointless and incomprehensible cruelty. Whether the government itself or a state agency was responsible, it abused its authority.”

When my relatives first told me in late April that an official letter of invitation addressed to me had finally been approved by Turkmenistan's Migration Service, I couldn't believe my ears. No one from RFE/RL has been permitted to visit Turkmenistan since the last trip there in 1991 by former RFE/RL Turkmen Service director Zarif Nazar.

Even though the "clearance process" by the Migration Service took 3 1/2 months instead of the officially required two weeks (!), the confirmed invitation letter meant that my file was "clear" for my visiting Turkmenistan. That was the moment when, as Turkmen people say, "I felt I already had one foot on the ground there."

ASHGABAT, May 21, 2010 (RFE/RL) -- Turkmenistan's Migration Office in Ashgabat banned an RFE/RL journalist from entering the country although he had a valid visa, RFE/RL's Turkmen Service reports.

Allamourad Rakhimov, a Prague-based RFE/RL broadcaster and native Turkmen, arrived at Ashgabat airport early on Wednesday (May 19) with a visa that was initiated by his family.

Rakhimov, a Canadian citizen, was planning to vacation in his home village in the southeast Mary Province. He had not been to Turkmenistan in 11 years and has been unable to see his immediate family in that time.

But he was refused entry at the airport and was almost immediately put back on a plane to Prague.

The reason for his ban is unclear. Rakhimov was given a letter from the
Migration Office stating that "he is banned from entering Turkmenistan." He believes the reason he was not allowed to enter is due to his work as a journalist at RFE/RL.

Rakhimov has worked for RFE/RL's Turkmen Service since 2003. (Turkmen Service/oy/ar/pmb)

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development called for promoting cooperation with Turkmenistan in exchange for accelerated political reforms and improved human rights situation in the country. However, NBCentralAsia experts warn that the authorities are unlikely to adequately respond to such calls.

NBCentralAsia observers appreciate the government’s efforts to create an electronic government; however, for the idea to come true the authorities should provide a freer access to information and the Internet.

In late April, Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov signed a decree to create a unified system of information and communication technologies in the sphere of public administration. The degree also envisages introduction of fiber optic communications systems to provide “quality interaction” between the cabinet and respective state bodies.