RFE/RL's Turkmen Service is the only international Turkmen-language media reporting independently on political, economic, cultural, and security issues from inside one of the the world’s most reclusive countries.
Many of the state shops that Turkmen rely on for their survival amid widespread shortages are refusing to sell subsidized staples unless customers also buy less popular goods like fizzy drinks, chickpeas, or jelly.
Informed sources said on October 16 that a "very big" outbreak thought to be COVID-19 has struck a women's prison in nothern Turkmenistan in the latest blow to local authorities' insistence that the Central Asian republic has no infections despite the global pandemic raging all around it.
Turkmen activist Dursoltan Taganova has been released from a deportation center in Turkey.
Turkmenistan's authoritarian President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has replaced several officials, regional judges, and prosecutors.
Turkmenistan's authoritarian leader, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, has signed into law constitutional changes, the details of which remain largely unknown.
Turkmenistan has stepped up security measures on highways leading to the capital, Ashgabat, in recent days, with police stopping and controlling all vehicles coming from the provinces.
Turkmenistan's authoritarian leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has warned of a cabinet reshuffle after criticizing the government for what he sees as its failure to get state-controlled media to "report the country’s successes" and "shortcomings in resolving economic problems."
Dozens of Turkmen citizens have held rallies in Washington protesting the plan by Turkmenistan's authoritarian leader, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, to introduce amendments to the constitution, the details of which remain unknown in the tightly-controlled Central Asian nation.
The government of Turkmenistan is increasingly making it difficult for families to send money to students who are stuck abroad due to the coronavirus pandemic, often leaving them without money for food and rent.
Indiscriminately spraying disinfectants from the air is raising concern that authorities may be creating larger health and environmental problems.
A district mayor in eastern Turkmenistan has died of the coronavirus, as the secretive Central Asian state continues to deny the existence of COVID-19.
The former head of a district in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, has been reportedly sent to prison on embezzlement charges two days after leaving his post.
Villagers in two badly hit Turkmen provinces still face ruined homes, electricity shortages, and phone and web cutoffs two months after devastating storms.
Authorities in Turkmenistan are battling to keep a coronavirus “outbreak” secret as infection numbers rise in the only Central Asian state that continues to insist it is COVID-19-free, medical professionals there have told RFE/RL.
Many children in Turkmenistan are spending their summer vacation harvesting potatoes, despite paying for summer camps that were supposed to include theater visits and trips to the zoo.
Turkmen citizens residing in Northern Cyprus have staged at least three protests in recent days to demand the resignation of Turkmenistan’s authoritarian leader, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov.
Turkmenistan has further tightened the rationing of basic foodstuffs at subsidized prices, introducing special registration books to track purchases at state stores.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says a popular entertainer and his associates in Turkmenistan have been handed prison terms for being gay and called on authorities to "immediately dismiss" all charges against the men.
A lack of money and no help from the Turkmen government has forced many residents of eastern Turkmenistan sell their cars, livestock, and jewelry to buy food.
Turkmenistan’s authoritarian president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, has pardoned 1,402 people from prison.
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![Charymyrat Amanov, the deputy prime minister and secretary of the Security Council, was reprimanded for "improperly carrying out [his] duties."](https://gdb.rferl.org/a754d6b4-f5a5-429f-bfc3-c6adbf5041ee_cx35_cy20_cw64_w100_r1.jpg)
![Charymyrat Amanov, the deputy prime minister and secretary of the Security Council, was reprimanded for "improperly carrying out [his] duties."](https://gdb.rferl.org/a754d6b4-f5a5-429f-bfc3-c6adbf5041ee_cx35_cy20_cw64_w66_r1.jpg)
