Skip to main content

Eurasianet

Main Menu

  • Regions
  • Topics
  • Media
  • About
  • Search
  • Newsletter
  • русский
  • Support us
X

Caucasus

Armenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia

Central Asia

Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan

Conflict Zones

Abkhazia
Nagorno Karabakh
South Ossetia
Transnistria

Eastern Europe

Belarus
Moldova
Russia
The Baltics
Ukraine

Eurasian Fringe

Afghanistan
China
EU
Iran
Mongolia
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States
X

Arts and Culture

Economy

Politics

Kazakhstan 2022 unrest
Kyrgyzstan 2020 unrest

Security

Society

American diplomats in Central Asia
Coronavirus
Student spotlight
X

Visual Stories

Audio
Video

Blogs

Tamada Tales
The Bug Pit

Podcasts

Expert Opinions
The Central Asianist
X
You can search using keywords to narrow down the list.
Turkmenistan, Central Asia

Turkmenistan: Former Cultural Official Denounces Lack of Democracy

Catherine A. Fitzpatrick Dec 12, 2011

Here's a shocker: a former Turkmen cultural official is criticizing the lack of democracy in Turkmenistan in Ashgabat, i.e. not from exile or abroad, but speaking inside the country -- and publicly, and using his own name. That's extremely rare in Turkmenistan because of the great risks involved. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reports that former Culture and Tourism Minister Geldimurat Nurmuhammedov has complained that there's only one party in Turkmenistan -- the ill-named Democracy Party -- which is a "tool used to play a trick during elections":

"If someone wants to set up a political party today, there is no legislation for doing so," he said. "There are people who want to create a party. But they are told [by the Mejlis] that 'there is no law on establishing political parties.' Everything is blocked."

As we reported last week, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov's pocket parliamentarians have been trying to snow the public in state-controlled media interviews that they will have "democratic" elections ostensibly open to free nominations. There's no mention at all at the lack of enabling legislation for parties -- which is definitely required in a country where the constitutional norms for freedom of association aren't upheld and there's no independent judiciary to enforce them. While the prospect is held out for registering citizens' nominations groups in the absence of parties, such registration will be totally at the discretion of local officials and various technical hurdles will likely prevent the emergence of truly independent alternative candidates. Even so, the Soviet Union began to democratize in the late 1980s using this method of permitting district-level nomination groups, even with the "leading role" of the Communist Party preventing legal opposition parties. Eventually, under pressure from human rights campaigners like physicist Andrei Sakharov, the monopoly status of the Communist Party was abolished. In neighboring Uzbekistan, some years ago the government permitted half dozen other parliamentarian parties beside the ruling party to registered, although they are under obvious state control. Turkmenistan has not even done that much, despite Berdymukhamedov's claims that he would allow a second, agricultural party to come into existence. It also looks as if Berdymukhamedov's vague invitation to the opposition to return from exile and take part in the elections wasn't really sincere. Nurmuhammedov was chairman of the Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Committee of the Presidential Council in 1992 before he was appointed as a cabinet minister, says RFE/RL. Currently he is a lawyer serving as an advisor to international companies. He doesn't say if he has aspirations himself of running for office, but such opposition as has ever come from inside Turkmenistan has often come from former officials who still have enough connections to the levers of power to get attention.

Sign up for Eurasianet's free weekly newsletter. Support Eurasianet: Help keep our journalism open to all, and influenced by none.

Related

Uzbekistan president backtracks on constitution to defuse Karakalpakstan tension
Uzbekistan: Unrest-stricken region plunged into information blackout
Uzbekistan’s new constitution: More for Mirziyoyev, less for Karakalpakstan

Popular

Uzbekistan president backtracks on constitution to defuse Karakalpakstan tension
Uzbekistan: Unrest-stricken region plunged into information blackout
Uzbekistan’s new constitution: More for Mirziyoyev, less for Karakalpakstan

Eurasianet

  • About
  • Team
  • Contribute
  • Republishing
  • Privacy Policy
  • Corrections
  • Contact
Eurasianet © 2022