Sun, Aug 31, 2025 page9

• Turkmenistan aims to eradicate smoking by 2025

  • AFP, ASHGABAT
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  When he was a teenager, Bekmurad Khodjayev used to hide from his parents to smoke. Fifty years later, the Turkmen pensioner is still hiding, but this time from the police.

  “I smoke in my apartment, but if I feel like smoking in town, I find a place without surveillance cameras to avoid a fine — an alleyway, a dead end, behind some tall bushes or trees, a deserted spot,” the 64-year-old builder said.

  The reclusive Central Asian state of 7 million people, where the rate of smoking is already very low, has vowed to eradicate the habit altogether by the end of the year.

  

  Turkmenbasy Ruhy Mosque in central Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, is pictured on July 29.

  Photo: AFP

  Khodjayev said he had already been fined for smoking near his home.

  “Since then, I try not to get caught anymore,” he said.

  The target of going tobacco-free was set in 2022 by Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, a former dentist. Only 4 percent of Turkmens smoke, according to the WHO.

  

  A man smokes in his apartment in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on July 27.

  Photo: AFP Warning: Smoking can damage your health

  There are heavy taxes and restrictions on cigarettes and smoking in almost all public places is now banned.

  Khodjayev said he buys cigarettes at private kiosks since state shops run by the Turkmen Ministry of Commerce do not have them.

  In his kiosk in the capital, Ashgabat, seller Meilis said the cigarettes came from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Iran.

  “Most of the time, I sell single ones. Not everyone can afford an entire pack, it’s too expensive,” the 21-year-old said.

  STEEP FINES

  Several smokers in Turkmenistan said a pack can cost between 50 and 170 manats (US$14.27 to US$48.52), while individual cigarettes cost between 2 and 4 manats.

  A pack can set you back more than one-10th of the average monthly salary, which was about 1,500 manats in 2018, according to Turkmen government data.

  Comparisons with other countries are complicated because of the double exchange rate in Turkmenistan — an official one controlled by the state and the real one, which operates on the black market.

  In a hospital in Ashgabat, Soltan, a doctor, welcomed the government’s “active fight against tobacco.”

  “We treat tobacco addiction. The health ministry has created centers where smokers can get free advice on quitting,” she said.

  The authorities rely on more coercive methods with a variety of smoking bans, import restrictions and fines that can reach 200 manats.

  “After receiving several fines, I decided to stop definitively after the time I got caught smoking in my car in a public car park,” said Ilyas Byashimov, a 24-year-old entrepreneur.

  PUBLIC APOLOGIES

  Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and his son, Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, have ruled the country for almost 20 years with almost absolute power.

  After Serdar Berdimuhamedov called in 2023 for a “no compromise” fight against smoking, about 20 people were shown on state television promising not to smoke water pipes or import tobacco illegally.

  There are also regular public burnings of contraband cigarettes, accompanied by shows of traditional Turkmen dancing and singing.

  With just a few months to go until the end of this year, the authorities are not claiming victory in rooting out smoking.

  Connected for comment, the Turkmen Ministry of Health and Medical Industry declined to reply — not surprising in a country where obtaining and verifying any official information is extremely hard.

  EFFECTIVENESS

  Smokers seemed doubtful about a total ban.

  “Cigarettes will not disappear completely, but will become much more expensive, and there will be a black market,” said Haidar Shikhiev, 60, a builder.

  Seller Galina Soyunova said that cigarettes “will always be available under the counter but even more expensive.”

  “Who will buy cigarettes for the price of gold? Nobody. The question of tobacco addiction will resolve itself,” she said.
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