The president of Turkmenistan recently marked his twentieth year as the leader of this one-man, one-party Central Asian state. Known best as a stable, gas-rich nation, Turkmenistan is in fact far more complex and its power structures more fluid than ever before. Gas wars between Russia, Ukraine and the European Union have thrust Turkmenistan into the limelight, and Chinese and Western companies vie for long-term access to its energy resources. An attempted coup in 2002 and deteriorating social and economic conditions inside the country command constant speculation as to how much longer current levels of repression can last.
In a panel presented by OSI's Central Eurasia Project, leading advocates for reform in Turkmenistan presented their own views in this public debate and shed light on the situation inside one of the most obscure but potentially volatile countries in Eurasia.
Farid Tuhbatullin is the director of the independent exile group Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights, based in Vienna. An engineer and former political prisoner until his release under international pressure in 2003, Mr. Tuhbatullin has become a leading voice for human rights protection in Turkmenistan.
Vitalii Ponomarev is head of the Central Asia Program of the Memorial Human Rights Center in Moscow. He has monitored, reported on, and brought international attention to violations of human rights in Turkmenistan since the Soviet period.
Anonymous is a specialist who lives in and will be returning to Turkmenistan. Anonymity is required in the interests of this individual's safety.