People living on either side of the Turkmen-Uzbek border are reaping the benefits as increasing amounts of petrol are shifted illegally from Turkmenistan to Uzbekistan. The volume has increased threefold in the last two years.
Turn a corner in Istanbul’s famous Grand Bazaar, and you might imagine you are suddenly somewhere in Central Asia. This small part of the sprawling covered market is known as “Turkmen Street”. Here you will hear the Turkmen language spoken as often as Tur
A chief prosecutor who was the president’s enforcer falls foul of the system she served.
Two momentous events - the Kyrgyz revolution and the Andijan shootings - have coloured the way Central Asian governments view media freedom.
Since the Turkmen president placed a ban on cable television in 2002, satellite TV has been the only source of objective information for the nation. However, Turkmenistan’s citizens fear that the authorities will soon ban the use of satellite antennas, to
Despite the serious economic situation, Turkmenistan’s population is adapting to modern living conditions and finding additional ways to earn a living.
Turkmenistan has long been invisible for the majority of people in Russia, who are preoccupied with petrol prices and utilities reforms. But recently it transpired that the Russian-speaking population in Turkmenistan would be left in an especially difficu
Turkmenistan is a multi-ethnic country and according to various estimates has up to 500,000 ethnic Uzbeks – making them the biggest minority at about nine per cent of the total population. Frontier regions in the north and northeast are densely populated
A remote region on the border between Karakalpakstan and Turkmenistan has become a stop on the flourishing – if unofficial – trading route between China and the Gulf states. The situation could change as the Uzbek and Turkmen authorities are taking steps
A Russian plan to create a new settlement for Ingush displaced in a conflict with North Ossetia is dismissed as a broken promise.
