Turkmenistan’s president hinted at possible political reforms yesterday, ahead of a rare international meeting he is hosting with the attendance of counterparts from Russia, Turkey, Iran and elsewhere.
Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhamedov, whom critics said presides over an autocratic and opaque system, made the comments in state newspaper Turkmenistan Today in honor of the 30th anniversary of the former Soviet nation’s declaration of neutrality.
“We are carrying out extensive work aimed at transforming our neutral country into a powerful, democratic and rule-of-law state where citizens live happy lives,” Berdymukhamedov said, without giving further details.
Photo: AFP
The article was published on the eve of a forum in Ashgabat dedicated to the gas-rich Central Asian state’s international neutrality. Among attendees were Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
A mostly desert country of 7 million people with the world’s fourth-largest natural gas reserves, Turkmenistan declared itself officially neutral in 1995 under its first president, Saparmurat Niyazov, who spurned Western and Russian influence.
Until his death in 2006, Niyazov maintained tight control over politics, a policy of isolationism from the outside world and an economy heavily based on natural gas exports.
Since succeeding his father as president in 2022, Berdymukhamedov has signaled some opening.
Curbs on social media have been eased, and the government has vowed to open new air transport links and liberalize its visa regime by introducing e-visas for some foreign visitors.
Turkmenistan also said it wants to join the WTO and diversify the economy away from gas exports, most of which are to China.
It last month passed a law introducing a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency mining and trading.
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