Tag Archives: Turkmenistan

H&M bans Turkmen cotton

FEB. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Swedish high street retailer H&M said that it has banned its suppliers since December from using cotton sourced from Turkmenistan in any of their products after allegations that the Turkmen authorities use child labour to pick the harvests. H&M, and other retailers, have previously banned suppliers from sourcing cotton from Uzbekistan for similar reasons. Campaigners accused IKEA of using cotton from Turkmenistan in its various products

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(News report from Issue No. 268, published on Feb. 19 2016)

Turkmen President wants constitutional changes

FEB. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said that he wants the country’s constitution altered to scrap both the upper age limit for presidents and the number of terms they can serve. He made the recommendations through a commission. Parliament officially has to approve the changes before they can be passed into law. The changes would cement Mr Berdmukhamedov’s grip on power.

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(News report from Issue No. 268, published on Feb. 19 2016)

Turkmenistan increases security over TAPI

FEB. 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Addressing a government meeting, Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov ordered his government to increase security over the planned TAPI pipeline that will, it is hoped, pump gas to India. Last month the Taliban destroyed a transmission line sending electricity between Uzbekistan and Kabul. For TAPI to be successful, it needs to be able to guarantee security around the route. Governments that border Afghanistan have been warning that a resurgent Taliban are posing an increasing threat to stability.

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(News report from Issue No. 267, published on Feb. 12 2016)

Turkmen President sacks deputy PM

FEB. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov sacked deputy PM Palvan Taganov for “weakening discipline and order”. The official explanation is code for corruption allegations. Mr Taganov had served in his post for two years and also headed the official commodity exchange. According to unconfirmed reports, Mr Taganov has been arrested.

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(News report from Issue No. 267, published on Feb. 12 2016)

Turkmenistan reasserts neutrality

FEB. 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukahmedov wants to tinker with Turkmenistan’s constitution to strengthen its commitment to neutrality, official media reported. Last month, in a similar move, Mr Berdymukhamedov approved a new military doctrine which reasserted Turkmenistan’s neutrality. Turkmenistan’s neutrality has been challenged by a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

Taliban attack Uzbek-Afghan power line

JAN. 26 2016, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — Taliban militants attacked and badly damaged a power line sending electricity to Afghanistan from Uzbekistan, a warning sign for Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan who are hoping to develop a power-supply network to Pakistan across Afghan territory.

The attack in the northern Baghlan district cut power to Kabul and underlined the Taliban’s ability to attack targets, seemingly at will, in the north of the country. Last year it captured the town of Kunduz near the border with Tajikistan. Russia and Central Asian governments have warned that a powerful Taliban threatens to destabilise the region.

Afghanistan has become an increasingly important trade and diplomatic partner for Central Asia. It has developed a series of power supply deals with Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Most ambitiously Afghanistan will also host an electricity power line running from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Pakistan, dubbed CASA-1000, and a gas pipeline running from Turkmenistan to India, called TAPI.

Both projects need a stable Afghanistan to be successful. The attack on the power line running from Uzbekistan to Afghanistan has severely reduced electricity to Kabul in the short-run and will make policy makers in Central Asia the West nervous in the long-run.

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(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Turkmen President holds currency control talks

JAN. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said he wants the government to keep a stricter control on the currency market, hinting that the country might soon revise its monetary policy. Mr Berdymukhamedov has also voiced his dissatisfaction of a number of government officials in the past few weeks, a sign of a possible government reshuffle.

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(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Lavrov meets Turkmen President in Ashgabat

JAN. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov flew to Ashgabat to meet with Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, at a time when relations between two countries are considered to be near a post-Soviet Union low.

During his trip Mr Lavrov offered Turkmenistan help in defending its borders against potential incursion from Taliban fighters, a threat that Turkmen authorities have said has become more acute over the past year.

The Russian foreign minister quoted Mr Lavrov as saying: “If Russia’s assistance is needed with respect to these endeavours, it goes without saying that it will be in our interests to provide it. Let me reiterate that today our Turkmen friends provided us with a detailed insight into their efforts to reliably protect the border with Afghanistan.”

Local media said Mr Berdymukhamedov declined this offer.

Relations between Turkmenistan and Russia have dipped to a new low over rows about gas contracts. This year, Russia confirmed it was scrapping gas imports from Turkmenistan and buying more from Uzbekistan. Analysts said this was a slight against Turkmenistan for discussing gas routes to Europe via Azerbaijan and the S.Caucasus, a rival route to Russia’s gas supplies to Europe.

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(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Editorial: Russian visit to Turkmenistan

JAN. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The visit by Sergei Lavrov to Ashgabat could be dismissed as a pre-scheduled annual trip by Russia’s foreign minister to one of the former Soviet Union’s outlying countries.

But that would be a mistake. His meeting with Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov was an important one, especially in the context of a more powerful, more determined Taliban resurgence in northern Afghanistan.

Russia-Turkmenistan relations have been worsening over the past few years, a deterioration mainly caused by rows over gas contracts and prices and also an argument over one of Russia’s mobile providers.

It’s important for Turkmenistan, and the wider Central Asia region, that Russia-Turkmenistan relations are mended.

Ashgabat may need the Kremlin’s help with organising its defences against the Taliban. If the Taliban show any real determination to break into Central Asia, the governments of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan may well need Russian backup to repel them.

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Editorial from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Turkmen President signs new military doctrine

JAN. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov signed a new military doctrine that confirmed Turkmenistan’s neutral status. There had been speculation that, under a potential threat from the Tablian, Mr Berdymukhamedov would reduce the importance of Turkmenistan’s neutrality in its military doctrine. He didn’t but official media reported that he did want to boost Turkmenistan’s defence measures.

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(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)