Hair-raising accounts of Turkmen healthcare, billions spent on the private sector, and a plan for ex-presidents. This and more in our weekly Turkmenistan bulletin.
Armenia went farther than most of Iran’s neighbors, closing its border for two weeks. Azerbaijan, meanwhile, was the only country to have not closed its border with Iran at all.
The hidden impact of coronavirus, a new secret police chief, and reading the government’s imagined data to understand its priorities and mindset. This and more in our weekly Turkmenistan briefing.
The legislative efforts come after long struggles between the government and a hostile media, much of which is controlled by figures close to the former regime.
The local hospital provided first aid, but before long, groups of aggressive men turned up, looking for Dungans. Thousands fled over the nearby border to Kyrgyzstan.
Tinkering with the legislature, megaprojects for the dauphin, and talking about coronavirus without mentioning coronavirus: This and more in our weekly briefing.
The controversial vote, along with new genocide-recognition resolutions in the U.S., has Turkey’s Armenian community feeling caught in the crossfire between a hostile Turkish majority and an assertive Armenian diaspora.
There is no plangent chest-beating here – just a powerful, sympathetic account of the lives that are ruined when cruel rulers become addicted to their own power.
