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| Turkmenistan Today |
"Turkmenbashi"
A gold statue of Niyazov
Niyazov wearing a suit in solid gold
Niyazov's face is even on the national vodka.
Niyzov "worrying" about his people |
In three consecutive years Freedom House listed Turkmenistan amongst the world's eight "worst" regimes, determined by their repression of civil liberties andš political rights.
There is no longer any separation of executive, legislative and judicial power. All media are under Niyazov’s control and internet access is monitored and severely restricted. Turkmenistan is today an absolute dictatorship, with detention camps, torture and harsh prison conditions including deliberate starvation. There is no religious freedom and Niyazov knocks down churches.
Niyazov has developed a cult of personality exceeding that of Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein. He insists to be called “Turkmenbashi the Great” which means “Great father of all Turkmen”. Niyzov’s taste for self-glorification makes meanwhile even North Korea’s Kim Jong Il look shy and retiring. Niyazov has renamed all the months, January being now called Turkmenbashi and April Gurbansoltan after his mother.
Niyazov’s is siphoning off most of the country’s gas revenues and concealing them in offshore accounts. He squanders money on prestige projects of dubious benefit. At the same time, public health and education have been all but dismantled. Most hospitals outside the capital have closed and the remainder offer only rudimentary care, lacking staff, equipment and medicines, condemning thousands to death from common, treatable illnesses such as tuberculosis. Education is even worse.Mandatory education has been reduced from 10 years to nine. The ‘Rukhnama’, Niyazov’s weird collection of thoughts on Turkmen history and culture that pupils are required to spend hours daily studying is progressively replacing the conventional curriculum. Higher education is severely run down and standards are so poor they are unacceptable abroad. Unemployment is more than 50%. HIV and drug addiction have reached dramatic proportions.
But Niyazov is no longer only a weird dictator and a threat to his own people.
Drugs, a backbone of Al Quaeda’s terrorist financing, now flow freely through Turkmenistan on their way to lucrative markets. (A part of the profit goes to Niyazov’s regime and is used to build the monuments and to strengthen his oppressive apparatus).
A lost generation of Turkmen, uneducated beyond the Ruhnama, may fall prey to Islamic radicalism and create a nasty failed state that could despitabilise an already volatile region.
The EU is increasingly reliant on gas supplies from Russia and Turkmenistan and must realize that good governance and multiple pipelines are inextricably linked to the security of Europe’s gas supplies.
Pressure from the West, given Turkmenistan’s large mineral resources, is shamefully muted. Russia forgot its people in exchange for control of Turkmenistan's gas reserves. China applauds Niyazov's destructive policies in the hope of gaining access to Turkmenistan's vast natural resources.
A few resolutions have been passed by the U.N. and the European Parliament based on a report by Prof. Decaux for the OSCE in 2003. None of those numerous recommendations have been implemented by Niyazov. After more than three years Niyazov has still not even granted access to the ICRC and family members to those tortured and jailed after an alleged coup attempt on 25 November 2002 and sentenced in Stalinist show trials without access to legal counsel. Whereas targeted sanctions have been imposed against Lukaschenko’s regime in Belorussia, a policy of ‘dialog in front of an empty chair’ is pursued by the EU and the US in regard to Turkmenistan.
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Dictator's palace
Niyazov stands in gold on marble
Niyazov revolves to face the sun, or maybe the sun revolves to face him
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Niyazov with his coat in solid gold
Niyazov's Rukhnama increasingly replacing education
Turkmen living in the "GOLDEN AGE" |
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Copyright 2004 Republican Party of Turkmenistan |
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