Document #1094493
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
Information on the situation and the
treatment of Russians and on the human rights situation in general
in Turkmenistan is scarce.
Indeed, according to the Human Rights Watch
(HRW) World Report 1999:
Under the dictatorship of president Saparmurat Niyazov, the government of Turkmenistan in 1998 continued to deny its citizens nearly every civil and political right. With no political opposition, no freedom of assembly, no opportunity for public debate, and a Soviet-style secret police, very little information on human rights abuses was available.
Furthermore, a 4 February 1999 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
(RFE/RL) report states that Alexandr Petrov
sent on 29 January 1999 to Turkmenistan on a human rights fact
finding mission by the Moscow office of Human Rights Watch (HRW)
was expelled from Turkmenistan on 3 February 1999.
With regard to ethnic Russians, a 10 April
1999 Noviye Izvestia report states that 400,000 ethnic
Russians live in Turkmenistan, a country of 4 million people. The
report also states that although Turkmenistan was the second
Commonweath of Independent States (CIS) country, after the
pro-Moscow government of Tajikistan, to sign an agreement with
Russia on dual citizenship, President Nyazov of Turkmenistan
decided recently to "withdraw from the Bishkek convention on
visa-free space within the CIS and called for an end to visa-free
arrangements within the Commonwealth...", a move that received the
support of Uzbek President Islam Karimov. However, according to the
report, "ethnic Russians living in Turkmenistan are able to obtain
Russian passports, which will alleviate, to a certain extent, the
problem of trips to visit relatives should a visa requirement be
introduced with Russia."
A January 1999 report published by the
Moscow-based SEU Times, the newsletter of the Moscow-based
Socio-Ecological Union (SEU), stated that officers of the Committee
for National Security of Turkmenistan (KNS) had arrested Vyacheslav
Mamedov, the leader of Turkmenbashi city Russian community and
charged him with defamation for an interview he gave to Mayak, a
Russian Radio Station. Mamedov was soon released after pressure was
made on his behalf by the international community. Mamedov was also
arrested in December 1998 upon his return from a trip to Moscow and
was interrogated for several days by officers of the KNS.
A 18 February 1998 Moskovskiy
Komsomolets report states that Russian newspapers had been
banned in Turkmenistan for more than three years and that the only
external medium available to both Turkmen and ethnic Russians was
the Russian Public Television channel to which access could be
ended at anytime. The report also mentions that both ethnic
Russians and Turkmens live under the poverty line and that ethnic
Russians would not be able to afford to move to Russia even if they
sold all what they owned in Turkmenistan. The report also says that
Russians "are not forced to communicate in the Turkmen
language."
No additional information on the treatment
of Russians in Turkmenistan could be found among the sources
consulted by the Research Directorate.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the
list of additional sources consulted in researching this
Information Request.
References
Human Rights Watch (HRW). 1999.
World Report 1999. http://www.hrw.org/worldreport99/europe/turkmenistan.html
[Accessed 1 Sept. 1999]
Moskovskiy Komsomolets [Moscow,
in Russian] 19 February 1998. "Russian Daily Examines Personality
Cult." (BBC Summary 28 Feb. 1998/NEXIS)
Noviye Izvestia [Moscow]. 10
April 1999. Igor Sinyakevitch. "'Iron Curtain' Uzbek-Style"
(Current Digest of Post-Soviet Press 19 May 1999/NEXIS)
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
(RFE/RL). 5 February 1999. Fiona Dunne. "Human Rights Worker
Deported From Turkmenistan." http:/www.soros.org/turkstan/omri/oo26.html
[Accessed 1 Sept. 1999].
The SEU Times [Moscow]. January
1999. Issue 1. "Activists Prosecuted in Turkmenistan" http://www.igc.org/gadfly/soceco1.htm
[Accessed 1 Sept. 1999]
Additional Sources Consulted
Amnesty International. 1999. Report
1999. London: Amnesty International Secretariat.
Human Rights Watch reports on Central
Asia.
Derechos -Human Rights Website.
Electronic Sources : Internet, IRB
databases, WNC.
Human Rights Watch (HRW). World
Report 1999. Internet.
_____. Reports on Central Asia.
Initiative on Conflict Resolution and
Ethnicity (INCORE) Website.
Minority Electronic Ressources
(MILRENES). Directory of resources on minority human rights and
related problems of the transition period in Eastern and Central
Europe. Internet.
Organization for Security and in Europe
(OSCE), Office for
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
(ODIHR). Internet.
Soros Foundations Network Website.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
Website.
REFWORLD. January 1999 version.
Resource Centre's Country Files:
Turkmenistan.
Russia Today Website.
Transitions Online Website.