From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Wed Mar 14 2001 - 11:21:39 EST
NATIONAL AND REGIONAL NEWS FOR TURKMENISTAN
RFE/RL Turkmen Service Celebrates 48 years Of Broadcasts
<I>1 March 2001</I>
Human Rights Watch official Cassandra Cavanaugh has congratulated all
RFE/RL Turkmen Service journalists and its listeners on the occasion of the
service's 48th anniversary, saying: "Radio Liberty is one of the most important
sources for freedom and for defense of human rights in the whole post-soviet
space."
She added that "Especially today, when the situation with the freedom of
information is becoming worse in all of the post-soviet...and all of the central
Asian countries, Radio Liberty plays an increasingly important role."
RFE/RL's Turkmen bureau in Tashkent, she continued, produces very important
news stories about Turkmenistan to a broad range of listeners and readers across
the United States and in European countries.
In Prague, RFE/RL President Mr. Thomas Dine also sent greeted the RFE/RL
Turkmen Service on the anniversary of its first broadcast, celebrated on 1 March.
He stressed that "Today marks the 48th anniversary of RFE/RL's broadcasting
to the peoples of Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan is such a richly diverse place --
demographically, historically, culturally, religiously, economically. But this
wealth of a background is woven together by a linguistic affinity and social
organization. For 48 years, the Turkmen Service broadcasts of Radio Liberty have
helped in bringing peoples together in freedom, emphasizing an independent Turkmen
identity plus political openness, pluralism, and tolerance along with free market
economics. I congratulate a long list of professionals who have worked and are
working in RFE/RL's Turkmen Service and have labored on behalf of freedom and
democracy for Turkmenistan." (RFE/RL Turkmen Service)
Turkmenistan Seen As Key To Trans-Caspian Pipeline
<I>7 March 2001</I>
The U.S. presidential adviser for Caspian energy issues, Elizabeth Jones,
said in Tbilisi on 6 March that whether the planned Trans-Caspian gas pipeline to
export Turkmen gas to Turkey via Azerbaijan and Georgia is built will depend on the
willingness of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov to continue negotiations on
that project, Interfax reported. She said that the Trans-Caspian pipeline and the
proposed pipeline to export to Turkey gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Caspian
field are not mutually exclusive in the light of the growing demand in Europe for
natural gas. Nor, she said, can the Blue Stream pipeline to bring Russian gas to
Turkey supply all of that country's gas needs. Caucasus Press on 6 March reported
that Jones has been scheduled to travel from Tbilisi to Baku that day, but failed
to do so. (RFE/RL)
International Women's Day Gala Concert
<I>7 March 2001</I>
A big gala concert was held on 7 March to mark the double holiday of Id al-Adha,
the end of the hajj, and International Women's Day, which falls on 8 March. Turkmen
TV carried a live broadcast of the 100-minute concert.
President Niyazov and other top officials were shown in the audience. (Turkmen TV)
Turkmenistan Restarts Natural Gas Supplies To Russia
<I>6 March 2001</I>
Turkmenistan has begun supplying natural gas to Russia for the first time
this year, under a $400 million contract signed last month. Turkmenistan suspended
shipments on 31 December after officials were unable to agree on a price. Under the
current deal, half of the payments for gas will be made in cash, at $40 per 1,000
cubic meters, and half will be made in barter. (AP and RFE/RL)
Ukraine To Develop Gas Fields In Turkmenistan
<I>3 March 2001</I>
Vadim Kopylov, the chief executive officer of Naftogaz Ukrainy and senior
deputy fuel and energy minister, has announced that his company and the government
of Turkmenistan plan to sign a contract to develop a gas field in Turkmenistan by
the end of March.
According to Kopylov, during his recent visit to Ashgabat Turkmen President
Niyazov offered Ukraine concessions "for [the] development of any ground or
offshore tract." Ukrainian experts, including geophysicists and geologists, will
arrive in Turkmenistan in mid-March to study the potential of the fields, and
conditions of their development.
Naftogaz Ukrainy may sign a production-sharing agreement with the Turkmen
government similar to the currently effective agreement between Turkmenistan and
Shell regarding a number of gas fields located on the coast of the Amu Darya River.
The new project may become one of the biggest in bilateral cooperation
between Kiev and Ashgabat involving investments in the Turkmen economy.
In Turkmenistan, Ukrainian companies are currently building a bridge over
Amu Darya (worth $125 million), a compressor plant ($75 million), and a nitrogen
fertilizer plant ($30 million). (Turkmenistan.ru)
New Checkpoint Being Built On Turkmen-Afghan Border
<I>3 March 2001</I>
The "Jeyhun" building association has finished the main part of a
significant site in the southeast town of Kelif. A complex of buildings have been
built and equipment installed to check vehicles crossing the Turkmen-Afghan border.
Once the entire complex is commissioned, the movement of goods between Turkmenistan
and Afghanistan will increase considerably. It is planned to put the complex into
operation in the near future. (Turkmen Radio)
Turkmen President To Pay Official Visit To Kazakhstan
<I>2 March 2001</I>
During a meeting with Kazakhstan's first deputy prime minister, Daniyal
Akhmetov, held yesterday in Ashgabat, Turkmen President Niyazov confirmed that he
would pay an official visit to the Kazakh capital Astana on 10 May.
A source in the Turkmen president's office told Interfax that the first
session of the two countries' political council, formed at the suggestion of the
two heads of state, would take place during the forthcoming visit.
It is expected that the development of both countries' oil and gas export
potential will be discussed during the session and also during the April visit to
Turkmenistan by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev for the Caspian states'
summit. This refers, in particular, to the projects for refurbishing the Central
Asia-Center (CAC) trunk gas pipeline and the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran oil
pipeline.
It is also expected that the Kazakh Ministry of Energy and Natural
Resources may soon open an office in Ashgabat, and this will make it possible to
cooperate more closely when using the CAC gas pipeline. (Interfax-Kazakhstan)
Kazakhstan Acknowledges Energy Debt To Turkmenistan
<I>2 March 2001</I>
The progress being made by the bilateral Turkmen-Kazakh commission was
discussed yesterday by Turkmen President Niyazov and Kazakhstan's first deputy
prime minister Akhmetov.
A source in the Turkmen president's office told Interfax that Kazakhstan
acknowledged part of the debt for the supplies of Turkmen natural gas and the whole
of the debt for supplies of electricity.
According to Turkmenistan's Central Bank, Kazakhstan's debt to Turkmenistan
on 1 January was $52.7 million, of which $ 21.8 million is for Turkmen gas supplies
in 1993-94 and $ 28.9 million are for electricity supplied from 1995 up to and
including 2000. (Interfax-Kazakhstan)
Iranian Foreign Minister Back Home After Trip To Turkmenistan
<I>1 March 2001</I>
Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi completed his one-day visit to
Turkmenistan on 28 February.
Upon his arrival to Iran, Kharrazi told reporters that his visit mainly
focused on preparatory talks for expansion of political and economic relations
between Tehran and Ashgabat.
He said that he had discussed the Caspian Sea and the upcoming meeting of
heads of Caspian littoral states, due to be held in April.
Kharrazi said that both Iran and Turkmenistan play effective roles in
regional stability.
He also assessed Tehran-Ashgabat economic relations as "good".
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami is due to start a two-day official visit
to Moscow on 12 March. He and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, are likely
to reach an agreement on how to divide the oil-rich Caspian Sea among the five
littoral states.
The Caspian Sea is estimated to contain the world's third-largest reserves
of oil and gas after the Persian Gulf and Siberia.
The Islamic Republic has repeatedly indicated that it will agree to an
equitable sharing of the oil-rich Caspian Sea that would give it a 20 percent
share.
In February, Kharrazi insisted during the meeting that equals division of
the Caspian Sea resources and its demilitarization provided the best solution to
resolve disputes among the five littoral states.
He said that the legal status of the Caspian Sea was clarified between Iran
and the former Soviet Union on the basis of treaties signed in 1921 and 1940. The
two treaties, he said, should be the basis for adopting a new legal status. (IRNA)
Four Turkmen Judges Sacked For Discrediting Their Position
<I>28 February 2001</I>
Turkmen President Niyazov signed decrees in line with article 66 of the law "On the
judicial system and the status of judges in Turkmenistan". He decided that
Dovletgeldi Nyzamov, Gurban Esenov, Saparguly Jumaev, and Atamurat Baylyev were to
be relieved of their duties as judges "for committing an act discrediting the title
of judge". The decree said that henceforth they are "to be prohibited from working
in the law-enforcement bodies". (Turkmen TV)
Turkmen President Disciplines Two Cabinet Members
<I>28 February 2001</I>
At a cabinet meeting on 26 February, President Niyazov demoted Minister of
Water Resources Sakhatmurad Kurbanov to the rank of deputy minister because of
unspecified "serious flaws in his work", Interfax reported the following day.
Niyazov said that if Kurbanov's work improves during the next year, he would be
allowed to retain that post. Niyazov also dismissed acting Customs Committee
Chairman Mered Khalovezov for "serious shortcomings". Niyazov announced that in the
future, individual customs officials will not be empowered to rule on whether to
issue export permits and clear imports through customs, but must make such
decisions collectively in consultation with officials of the state border service.
Oraz Velliatayev was appointed a new Customs Committee Chairman of Turkmenistan by
a Niyazov decree. (RFE/RL)
Turkmen Authorities Deny Imprisoned Baptist Tortured
<I>28 February 2001</I>
The Turkmen authorities have written to Amnesty International's U.K.
Section to deny that Shagildy Atakov has been ill treated while in detention.
However, they have provided no evidence to support such a claim.
Responding to appeals by Amnesty's Urgent Action Network, the director of
the Turkmen National Institute of Democracy and Human Rights, Yolbars Kepbanov, who
is also deputy minister of foreign affairs, wrote that "Information that torture is
allegedly being used against Atakov does not correspond with reality". He did not
say how the Turkmen authorities had reached this conclusion, and gave no indication
that there had been any impartial and comprehensive investigation into the
allegations. The political officer of the OSCE in Turkmenistan told the Keston News
Service that Kepbanov's response "sounds like the standard official line".
In his statement, Kepbanov wrote that Atakov was transferred from Seydi
labor camp to the city of Mary for medical assistance, and that "his health is at
present in a normal state". He gave, however, no details of the medical treatment
given to Atakov.
Amnesty International has appealed to people to take further action in
support of Atakov, including sending telegrams/faxes/letters in English, Russian,
Turkmen or other languages, noting the response by the director of the Turkmen
Institute of Democracy and Human Rights, continuing to urge Turkmen authorities to
ensure that Atakov receives appropriate medical treatment.
It is necessary, as the Amnesty International appeal says, to continue
urging the Turkmen authorities to carry out an impartial and comprehensive
investigation into allegations that Atakov has suffered repeated ill-treatment in
custody, including inappropriate medical treatment, with the findings made public
and those responsible brought to justice.
The Turkmen government has not yet responded to a request by the OSCE
center in Ashgabat to be allowed to visit Atakov. (Amnesty International and
RFE/RL)
FEATURES AND ANALYSIS
The Interpreter Goes On Line
<I>9 March 2001</I>
By Paul Goble
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the man who sought
to promote the unity of the Turkic peoples of the Russian Empire, the International
Committee for Crimea has launched a website devoted to the life and works of Ismail
Bey Gaspirali, a step that promises to spread his ideas of "unity in language,
thought, and action" to a new generation via an entirely new medium.
Ismail Bay Gaspirali was born on 8 March 1851, and is most often remembered
for the 30 years he devoted to editing "Tercuman" (The Interpreter), a newspaper
published in the Crimea which sought to create a common literary language among the
Turkic peoples and to promote a new method of teaching children how to read and
write.
Gaspirali was among the very first Muslim and Turkic figures to stress the
importance of educating women and including them in public life. And as such, he
exerted a profound influence on the national awakening of the Turkic-speaking
community as a whole and individual Turkic nations in particular. Indeed, by the
time of his death in 1914, he had almost single-handedly transformed these peoples
into their modern form.
Not surprisingly, Gaspirali was frequently attacked by Soviet writers who
portrayed him as a bourgeois nationalist who had sparked resistance to Russian rule
among the Turkic peoples -- even though Gaspirali took many of his ideas from the
Russian intelligentsia. And, for much of the last decade since the collapse of the
Soviet Union, Gaspirali has been discussed in the region, if at all, almost
exclusively as a Crimean Tatar figure.
Now, however, with the launch of this website at
http://www.iccremea.org/gaspirali/ which carries materials in both English and
Turkish, that may change. Not only is he likely to be recognized by scholars and
analysts for his broader contributions to the Turkic peoples, Gaspirali appears set
to play posthumously a new role as promoter of unity among those peoples to which
he devoted his entire life.
The appearance of this website is particularly interesting for three
reasons. First, it is a remarkable example of the ways ideas can be recycled
through a new medium. Gaspirali promoted his ideas via a newspaper, which reached
the relatively few people among Russia's Turkic peoples who could read at the end
of the last century. Now, using the Internet, his ideas can reach a far larger
audience and thus link them together.
Second, the launch of this site highlights a particular strength of the
Internet as a medium and also one of limitations of that channel of information. In
contrast to a newspaper which tends to reach a community defined in time and space
and which is inherently diverse, Internet sites tend to attract those who already
share a particular approach and thus to reinforce their attachment to the ideas
contained therein.
Consequently, while "Tercuman" promoted community in the broadest sense,
the Gaspirali site on the Internet may contribute to the development of an
ideological enclave within that broader group, an enclave whose members may indeed
be close to one another but who may in the process become more isolated from those
among whom they live.
And third, it represents a response to a continuing effort at national and
communal identification among the Turkic peoples, a process that Gaspirali was
instrumental in promoting but which is far from over.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, many analysts assumed that the Turkic
peoples in the post-Soviet region would simply continue to live with identities
which had been sponsored by the Soviet government or would revert back to
identities, larger or smaller than the nation, which they had had earlier.
So far, none of the groups involved appears to have made a final choice.
Instead, the peoples of this enormous region are continuing to struggle to define
themselves. That is how Gaspirali almost certainly would have wanted it, and with
the new website carrying materials about him, the "Interpreter" appears set to
contribute in the future as he did a century ago to this ongoing process. (RFE/RL)
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