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.
Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhammedov has arrived in Beijing for a state visit, Turkmen state media reported on January 5.
Noted Turkmen physician Khursanai Ismatullaeva, who was fired from a hospital in 2017 and handed a nine-year prison term on corruption charges in November 2021 after the case of her dismissal following sick leave was discussed in the European Parliament, has been released from prison.
Regional authorities in Turkmenistan have banned companies and residents from holding New Year’s parties. Restaurants and bars, meanwhile, had their business hours shortened as soon as the festive season kicked off. Officials in the isolated and repressive nation have not offered an explanation.
Turkmenistan has christened a newly built $1.5 billion city, Arkadag, in honor of ex-president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov. It comes less than a year after Berdymukhammedov's son and successor, Serdar Berdymukhammedov, called for a "public discussion" to name the new capital of Akhal Province.
Turkmen officials are holding pro-Kremlin propaganda events, accusing the West of provoking the war in Ukraine, and warning against "foreign agents" trying to destabilize Turkmenistan.
Several women in Turkmenistan say they were not allowed to board a plane to Dubai because they had cosmetic procedures such as Botoxed lips, fake eyelashes, and nails.
Some 2,500 people in Turkmenistan’s Balkan region were mobilized this week to clean the streets, repaint buildings, and plant flowers along the sidewalks ahead of a “possible visit” by authoritarian ex-President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov.
Turkmen students who study abroad are being kept from flying to universities and even removed from foreign-bound planes, with officials giving no explanation. Some Turkmen suspect authorities are reluctant to let citizens leave ahead of a census that comes amid an unprecedented population decline.
A Turkmen activist known for his criticism of Turkmenistan's government has been detained in Turkey and may face deportation to Ashgabat.
Turkmen officials have ordered university students studying abroad to return home to serve their military service. That is despite university students being exempted from service by law.
Relatives of inmates in Turkmenistan say they were forced to pay up to $2,000 to secure the inclusion of their loved ones on lists of inmates affected by a recent mass amnesty by President Serdar Berdymukhammedov.
Turkmenistan is now enforcing a law that bans abortion after just five weeks of pregnancy. Turkmen doctors have slammed the law, saying most women don’t know they are pregnant within five weeks of conception.
Turkey has canceled visa-free travel for Turkmen citizens at the request of the Central Asian nation's government.
In an apparent move to curb the presence of Turkmen human rights activists in Turkey, Ashgabat has officially asked Ankara to "temporarily" require visas for Turkmen nationals.
Five Turkmen rights activists say they were attacked on the grounds of the Turkmen Consulate in Istanbul as they tried to hand in a letter addressed to President Serdar Berdymukhammedov to protest the human rights situation in the extremely isolated and tightly controlled Central Asian state.
Animal control officers in Turkmenistan have been assigned to catch and kill at least seven stray dogs every day. Dog owners say they sometimes take people's pets to reach their quota.
Authorities in Turkmenistan have strengthened measures to ward off the spread of the coronavirus even as they continue to deny a single coronavirus case has been registered in the country.
A group of Turkmen nationals residing in Turkey have filed a lawsuit against former Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and other top officials of the extremely isolated and tightly controlled Central Asian nation, accusing them of violating their human rights.
Turkmen officials have resumed issuing travel passports to residents with dual Turkmen-Russian citizenship following President Serdar Berdymukhammedov's visit to Russia earlier this month.
Residents of Ashgabat say tap water supplies have been rationed in the city in recent days with President Serdar Berdymukhammedov suggesting the creation of a system to bring supplies of desalinated water directly to the Turkmen capital from the Caspian Sea.
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