Turkmenistan Local Politics - The Times Of Central Asia

Viewing results 55 - 60 of 94

Uncategorized

Turkmenistan to Ditch Forced Labor in Cotton Harvesting

According to reports published by Turkmen.news, the government of Turkmenistan and the International Labor Organization (ILO) have adopted a roadmap for cooperation for 2024-2025, The document details specific steps to prevent the use of forced labor by adults and children during the cotton harvest. It also provides mechanisms for hired labourers to lodge complaints regarding coercion or extortion, and sets a minimum wage for pickers. If all of the conditions and measures outlined in the roadmap are implemented, significant progress will be made towards eradicating forced labor in Turkmenistan. The key aim is the legislation of a presidential decree on measures for organized cotton harvesting to eliminate the use of forced or compulsory labor. It is expected that a system of prohibitions and penalties will be introduced regarding the practice of forced mobilization or extortion. The roadmap stresses the need for a simple and easily accessible means whereby complaints of coercion can be anonymously filed to prevent officials retaliating against the complainant. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor General's Office, the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Justice, the Ombudsman Institute, and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security are tasked with developing the document's recommendations. “Overall, if the measures in the roadmap are implemented, it will be a big step forward. Although the government has not publicly recognized the problem, such a detailed plan is encouraging,” said Ruslan Myatiev, editor of Turkmen.news.

Uncategorized

Turkmenistan Hosts European Exhibition on Energy-Saving

An ambitious and multi-faceted traveling exhibition “Transition to Renewable Energy Sources—Energy of the Future” has just opened at the Technology Center of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan. As reported by “Turkmenistan: Golden Age”, the exhibition, curated by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), presents the various means and measures developed by European countries to save energy. Divided into five sections, the exhibition provides a hands-on exploration of energy efficiency practices through interactive touch panels and by immersing themselves in virtual reality, visitors can envisage the world in the future. The exhibition highlights the multilevel aspects, challenges, and potential of the global energy transition from society, politics, economics, and science perspectives, and during its tour, aims to encourage widespread dialogue and an exchange of knowledge and views on decarbonization and global energy transition. Regarding the tour, project manager Yasmine Deren, stated, “This exhibition started three years ago and has already visited Europe, Asia, the Gulf States and in Central Asia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. We are happy that the exhibition is now being shown in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan and afterwards, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan." The exhibition will be displayed Monday - Saturday in Ashgabat until 25 June and thereafter, in Turkmenistan's city of Mary.

Uncategorized

Turkmenistan Restricts Women From Obtaining Driving Licenses

It is becoming more and more difficult for women to drive in Turkmenistan, with requirements for obtaining a driver's license often oppressively strict. Turkmenistan has restricted women's rights for many years, including their freedom to drive a car. In 2017 Turkmen police began revoking women's driving licenses and refusing to issue them with new ones. From the beginning of 2023 women had to be over the age of 41 to learn to drive, and even then driving schools would only accept them if they provided marriage certificates and character references. It is reported that in the country's Mary region it is now almost impossible for women to drive a car. Women who already have a license can only renew it when it expires if they have a vehicle registered in their name. “Often, the cars driven by women are not registered in their name, and they use vehicles registered in the name of their brothers or husbands by power of attorney. Now they have to transfer the cars to their name or buy a new car to get a driver's license; otherwise, they will not be issued a new document,” Radio Azatlyk wrote. According to local sources, police officers are refusing to issue licenses to women under the age of 35. One resident added: “You also need a medical certificate from a psychiatric dispensary to renew your license. They are obtained in local medical institutions. The cost of renewing a driver's license will cost 200 to 400 manats ($57-$114). Mary residents said using a bribe is the easiest way to solve the problem. “Men can get a driver's license by paying a bribe of 4,000 manat ($1141), while a woman will have to pay 6,000 to 7,000 manat ($1712 to $1997),” the resident said. Turkmen officials deny any discrimination against women, and maintain that gender equality is fully respected in the country.

Uncategorized

Turkmenistan Residents Detained for Public Displays of Affection

Police in Turkmenistan have detained couples for holding hands, sitting close together, and public displays of affection. A young married couple in Turkmenabat, witnessed cuddling in a parked car, were horrified when a policeman threatened to detain them for “undermining moral values.” In his defence, the man said, “I hugged my wife to calm her down. She was crying as we were discussing where to get enough money for essential medicines." Describing what had ensued, he said that the policeman had demanded to see both their passports and marriage certificates. However, after receiving verification that they were married, the policeman continued to harass them in hope of a bribe. The case is not unusual and in recent weeks, Turkmenabat, the administrative center of the Lepab province, has received reports of many similar incidents in which the city's police have seen fit to reprimand couples who hold hands, sit beside each other, kiss, or hug in public places. Although public displays of affection are not banned in Turkmenistan, the police in the country's regions, including the capital Ashgabat and Mary province, have detained young men and women in parks and on the streets for violating “social norms.” In the worst case scenario, "violators” in Mary were handcuffed and forced to attend lectures on moral values at the local police station. Residents say that restrictions imposed in Turkmenabat since April, have created a backlash of complaints from local students and other young people of being ambushed by security forces who appeared to be acting as vice police. According to several people targeted by the raids, most incidents ended with the police taking monetary bribes from the couples.

Signs of Racism in Central Asia

By Bruce Pannier Incidents in May showed two Central Asian countries – Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan – are afflicted by racism that is tacitly or explicitly supported by their governments. Overnight on May 17-18, hundreds of young Kyrgyz men gathered in eastern Bishkek near a dormitory used by foreign students. The Kyrgyz men were angered by a video posted on popular Kyrgyz social media sites on the morning of May 17 that showed a fight in Bishkek on May 13 between a small group of Kyrgyz and foreigners. The foreigners in the fight on May 13 turned out to all be Egyptians, and they were all detained. However, some social media posts claimed at least some of the foreigners involved in the fight were Pakistanis. Many people from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan come to Kyrgyzstan to study at universities, particularly at medical colleges. More than 90% of foreign students at Kyrgyz universities are from India and Pakistan. A smaller number, in the low thousands, are working there illegally. In March, Kyrgyz authorities launched a campaign to find and deport illegal migrant laborers some 1,500 Pakistanis and 1,000 Bangladeshis have been caught. There have been isolated incidents when Kyrgyz were involved in physical altercations with South Asians in recent years, but nothing on scale of what happened in May 17-18. Besides bursting into the dormitory and assaulting foreign students, a group of some 60-70 Kyrgyz men broke into a sewing factory in Bishkek early morning May 18 and attacked foreign workers, who mostly from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. At least 41 people were injured, most of them South Asians. Pakistan in particular reacted, summoning the Kyrgyz Charge d'Affaires in Islamabad while a group of Pakistanis protested outside the Kyrgyz Embassy. Pakistani authorities also sent charter flights to Kyrgyzstan that brought back more than 1,000 Pakistani citizens. Kyrgyz authorities criticized the police for failing to calm the situation before it went out of control and later 10 policemen were sacked. Deputy Cabinet Chairman Edil Baisalov went to the dormitory to meet with some of the foreign students and apologize for the harm done to them “by a bunch of hooligans.” The top two people in the government – President Sadyr Japarov and head of security service Kamchybek Tashiyev – were more equivocal in their comments on the violence. Since coming to power in late 2020, Japarov and his longtime friend Tashiyev have promoted nationalist policies. Their emphasis on respecting Kyrgyz traditions and customs has gained them significant popularity in Kyrgyzstan. They need such support in a country that has had three revolutions since 2005, including the October 2020 revolution that resulted in them occupying their current positions. Young Kyrgyz men, like the hundreds who gathered on the evening of May 17, are an important pillar of support for Japarov and Tashiyev. President Japarov vaguely blamed “forces interested in aggravating the situation,” and added, “The demands of our patriotic youth to stop the illegal migration of foreign citizens and take tough measures against those...

Uncategorized

Authorities in Turkmenistan Using Cab Drivers As Informants to Identify “Unreliable” Citizens

Turkmen authorities are forcing cab drivers to denounce and identify citizens they consider "unreliable". This is being reported by Radio Azatlyk. Ministry of Homeland Security (MHS) officers are reportedly forcing cab drivers to ask passengers various questions to find out their attitudes toward events in the country, and the overall situation. "MHS officers are using cab drivers in the capital as informants. They try to incentivize these cab drivers with promises to help them if they are stopped by traffic police officers to extort bribes," one of the capital's cab drivers said, on condition of anonymity. In an attempt to recruit cab drivers as informants, MHS officials hint that if the drivers agree to cooperate and provide information of interest to the authorities, their cooperation may also be rewarded financially. "Security officials instruct drivers who agree to cooperate to ask certain questions. The questions should mostly be put to passengers who are coming from the airport, railway station, shopping centers and bazaars," said another cab driver. According to him, in order to strike up a conversation, the MHS officers tell drivers to ask a certain list of questions to gauge their passengers' opinions and attitudes. "In this way, they say, they are trying to identify 'unreliable people'. Some drivers are agreeing to participate in these dirty games," said a driver from Ashgabat. Azatlyk is reporting that in recent months the Turkmen authorities have increased control over the country's citizens. Earlier this year it reported that security agencies were questioning the parents of schoolchildren who used VPN services to visit sites disapproved by the authorities, and that these families were included in the lists of "unreliable families".