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The Caspian 5 and Arctic 5 – Critical Similarities
For over a year, the world’s attention remains focused on Ukraine, with Crimea portrayed as its hotbed. No wonder as this peninsula is an absolutely pivotal portion of the Black Sea theatre for the...
View ArticleWhat Happened to Turkmenistan’s Tiger Economy?
By Casey Michel The Diplomat Earlier this year, it appeared that Turkmenistan, of all the Central Asian states, might be the one to weather the storm of depressed oil prices and decimated remittance...
View ArticleRevisions To Turkmenistan’s Neutrality Policy
By Bruce Pannier RFE/RL For almost 20 years, authorities in Turkmenistan have helped isolate the country by constantly referring to its UN-recognized status as a neutral country. But with some two...
View ArticleAre Turkmenistan’s Pipelines Pipe Dreams?
By Casey Michel The Diplomat Earlier this week, as Russian missiles roared from the Caspian Sea toward targets in Syria – or into Iranian hillsides, depending on the altitude – all eyes remained...
View ArticleSuppressing the truth in Turkmenistan
The Washington Post When the Soviet Union collapsed almost a quarter-century ago, the new nation of Turkmenistan had grand hopes. Landlocked, and with only 5 million people, it nevertheless hoped to...
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Turkmenistan accused of bulldozing thousands of homes to make way for Asian...
By Anne Barker www.abc.net.au Amnesty International says about 50,000 people have been forced out of their homes in Turkmenistan, which is currently preparing to host the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial...
View ArticleTurkmenistan’s Afghan Policy Revealed
By Bruce Pannier RFE/RL The recent fighting right along the Turkmen-Afghan border seems to have prodded Ashgabat into finally adopting a policy toward its southern neighbor, but it is not a policy that...
View Article“He is weeping quietly in the desert…” The first collection of modern Turkmen...
The Swedish publishing house “Gun” has issued the first collection of uncensored modern Turkmen prose and poetry in twenty years. There are twelve authors, two of whom published their writings solely...
View ArticleJohn Kerry makes rare visit to rich, odd Turkmenistan
By Bradley Klapper Associated Press Turkmenistan’s rituals range from the bizarre to the brutal. The Central Asian nation has more marble buildings than anywhere and recently erected a seven-story,...
View ArticleJohn Kerry Confronts Human Rights as He Zips Through Central Asia
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan — Secretary of State John Kerry seems unlikely to make it to North Korea in his 15 remaining months in office. But on Tuesday he got the next best thing: A two-hour visit to...
View ArticleTurkmenistan and Ukraine Bond on Russian Concerns
By Samuel Ramani The Diplomat On October 29, 2015, Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko and his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow held a historic meeting in Ashgabat. The meeting was a...
View ArticleTurkmenistan: Big Projects Go On Despite Bleak Future
Photo by RFE/RL. A new stadium under construction in Ashgabat — but does the government still have the money for such extravagances? By Bruce Pannier RFE/RL The economic crisis is hitting Central Asia...
View ArticleTAPI gas pipeline: are Sino-U.S. relations a zero-sum game?
By Rohullah Osmani The groundbreaking ceremony of the US$10 billion natural gas pipeline project linking Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India (TAPI) took place in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on...
View ArticleWatchdog Says Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan Among World’s Most Corrupt
Pete Baumgartner An international monitoring group says people around the world demonstrated to governments in 2015 that they must become more transparent and tackle the large-scale corruption that...
View ArticleForeigners about Turkmenistan: A strange, beautiful place
By Pauline Eiferman Photo: Eleonora Strano Run a Google image search of Turkmenistan and you’ll get maps, diagrams, architectural photos devoid of any humans, and a few images of women in traditional...
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Suppressing the truth in Turkmenistan
The Washington Post When the Soviet Union collapsed almost a quarter-century ago, the new nation of Turkmenistan had grand hopes. Landlocked, and with only 5 million people, it nevertheless hoped to...
View ArticleRFE/RL Journalists Remain Behind Bars, Despite Demands for Release
On February 5, RFE/RL contributor Khadija Ismayilova will mark 14 months behind bars in an Azeri prison, despite widespread condemnation of her case and high-profile demands for her release. The day...
View ArticleThe Turkmen Shuffle
Bradley Jardine On January 30, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov acknowledged on state television that the collapsing energy prices have forced the government to take “extraordinary steps.” In...
View ArticleTaleban Threat May Tempt Turkmenistan Out of Isolation
Security challenges emanating from neighbouring Afghanistan may lead Turkmenistan to cooperate more closely with other regional allies, according to a leading Central Asia expert. Fabio Indeo, a...
View ArticleThe First 40 Days: Turkmenistan’s High Hopes And ‘Great Distractions’
Bruce Pannier Coming out of 2015, the situation in Turkmenistan had never been so uncertain. Dubbed the “hermit kingdom,” Turkmenistan’s government spent the time since 1991 independence isolating the...
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