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Turkmenistan Strengthens Anti-Corruption Mechanisms With Kazakh Experience

Turkmenistan is actively enhancing its anti-corruption framework by drawing on international expertise. A delegation of senior officials from key ministries recently visited Kazakhstan to learn from its financial practices. This visit, facilitated by the USAID "Governance in Turkmenistan" project with support from the OSCE Center in Ashgabat, aimed to explore best practices in financial monitoring, investigations, and the regulation of virtual assets at the Astana International Financial Center. Therein, Turkmen officials studied national risk assessments, inter-agency cooperation, and preventive measures against corruption, with a particular focus on asset recovery and identifying beneficial owners. The GAT project underlines Turkmenistan's stated commitment to fostering transparent, inclusive governance and advancing socioeconomic development.

Turkmenistan Forces Government Employees to Surrender Passports

Employees of state institutions in Turkmenistan are being forced to surrender their biometric passports. According to local sources, the migration service has been instructed to collect passports within a week and submit a report to the State Migration Service in Ashgabat. Workers from the education, healthcare, transportation and other sectors must surrender their passports, or provide a certificate to prove that they do not possess one. The requirement was verbally sent to state agencies in the country's Balkan region on September 9, and enforcement began immediately. “The heads of local organizations have announced to their employees: 'Either hand in your passports or don't come to work from tomorrow afternoon.' Even chief doctors at clinics and school directors must hand in their passports,” a state employee in the town of Turkmenbashi said. Attempts to get comments from the authorities on the measure -- which coincides with an increase in the number of citizens traveling abroad -- were unsuccessful. In addition, as the number of Turkmenistanis joining Russia's army in its war in Ukraine increases, passports have also been taken away from university students. In late August, students of the Turkmen State Pedagogical Institute and the Turkmen State Medical University were forced to surrender their biometric documents.

Central Asian Police and Prosecutors Follow the Money

Gathering intelligence on money laundering and terrorist financing is just one step for authorities trying to crack down on those crimes. Transforming the intelligence into courtroom-ready evidence is just as vital. That challenge was the focus of a European Union-led workshop in Türkiye this week that drew more than 50 judicial and law enforcement officials, many of them from Central Asian countries. The prosecutors, police and financial intelligence experts discussed asset confiscation and forfeiture, mutual legal aid, open source intelligence and parallel financial investigations, which amount to following the money while separate criminal probes are underway. “The need to ensure the conversion of financial intelligence into admissible evidence in court is paramount, as it is the step that allows countries to prevent, detect and better prosecute criminals involved in financial crimes,” David Hotte, team leader at the EU Global Facility on money laundering and terrorism financing. The EU project and Türkiye´s financial intelligence unit, which is part of the Ministry of Finance, organized the workshop in Ankara, the Turkish capital. It ended Wednesday. The participants were from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Somalia. In recent years, Kazakh authorities have pursued an international campaign to recover assets that they say were stolen and moved abroad. Last month, Kazakh authorities said they had completed an investigation into the case of a nephew of former president Nursultan Nazarbayev and that the equivalent of $1.6 billion worth of assets had been returned to the state. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is also helping Central Asia with efforts against financial crimes. In April, it hosted a training session on money laundering for prosecutors, judges and financial investigators in Kyrgyzstan. Similar workshops have been held in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Some civil society groups in Central Asia say their governments could do a lot more to ensure budget transparency and curb violations of financial legislation. A 2023 index compiled by Transparency International ranks countries by perceived levels of public sector corruption – 0 is very corrupt and 100 is very clean. Kazakhstan scored 39, followed by Uzbekistan (33), Kyrgyzstan (26), Tajikistan (20) and Turkmenistan (18). The index scores are based on at least three “data sources” drawn from 13 different corruption studies and collected by institutions including the World Bank and the World Economic Forum, according to Transparency International.

Doctors in Turkmenistan Ordered Not To Perform Abortions

Turkmenistan has imposed severe restrictions on conducting abortions, effectively banning them. In recent weeks, government officials have been visiting hospitals and clinics, and warning doctors that they will be stripped of their diplomas if they do. According to Radio Azatlyk, sources from different regions of the country say that doctors have been forced to refuse women seeking abortions, even though the law allows it within the first five weeks of pregnancy. The authorities have not commented on the reasons for yet another tightening of measures to prevent abortions. However, according to several doctors in Ashgabat, it may be due to a sharp increase in teenage pregnancies. At the same time, doctors note that many young girls, unable to have a legal abortion, resort to dangerous methods of terminating pregnancy, resulting in serious risks to their health. Despite the bans, there are still doctors who continue to perform abortions clandestinely. The cost of such services has increased significantly, and varies depending on the term of the pregnancy.

Turkmenistan Requests Deportation of Fifty Activists and Journalists

The Chronicles of Turkmenistan reports that Turkmenistan has sent a list to several countries comprising 50 people, asking that they not be permitted to enter their territory, or to have them deported to Turkmenistan. The appeal was sent to Belarus, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Iran, Moldova, Georgia, and Armenia. According to the authorities, the index lists civil activists, journalists, independent media, and opposition representatives as threatening state security. Turkmenistan has prioritized the return of nine people from this list. It remains to be seen whether the aforementioned foreign countries will execute the Turkmen authorities wishes. However, Turkmen.news journalist Ruslan Myatiev, who went to Turkey on summer vacation with his family on July 25, was not allowed to enter the country. After several hours of interrogation by the Turkish National Security Service, Myatiyev was deported to Turkmenistan. The Times of Central Asia previously reported that the daughter of a Turkmen activist was not allowed to fly to Turkey. This follows on from an increasing number of cases where Turkmen citizens have been removed from flights abroad without explanation; the same thing is reportedly happening when attempting to cross the border by land.

Daughter of Civil Activist in Turkmenistan Not Allowed to Leave Country

Sadokat Nurimbetova, the daughter of prominent civil activist Hamida Babajanova, was removed from a Turkmenistan Airlines flight to Istanbul at Ashgabat International Airport, it has been reported. Nurimbetova, an ethnic Uzbek, is a second-year student at Istanbul Medical University, and accordingly she has a valid Turkish residence permit, a “kimlik.” On June 5, Nurimbetova went to her home country to apply for a new passport, which she duly received on July 10, and bought a plane ticket to Istanbul. At passport control, two immigration officials intercepted Nurimbetova and took her to a separate room. There, she was fingerprinted and interrogated, after which the Migration Service officers told the student that she was banned from leaving Turkmenistan.  “This is a directive from above," Nurimbetova was told, and was advised not to go anywhere and not to complain to anyone. It was also emphasized to her that her mother should not entertain thoughts of going anywhere. Nurimbetova is the daughter of well-known Turkmen civil activist Hamida Babajanova, who last year defended the right of her elderly mother, Yakujan, to make a pilgrimage to Mecca. Recently, cases of Turkmen citizens being removed from flights abroad without explanation have become more frequent. The same thing is happening when attempting to cross the border by land.