Turkmenistan
Observers of Turkmenistan were befuddled by violence that erupted in Ashgabat in the autumn of 2008. Here are pertinent excerpts a round-up and analysis by The Registan Joshua Foust written for the Columbia Journalism Review, which was originally written to analyze the behavior of Western news agencies, but which contains good background on the general confusion about what actually happened.
Atageldi Aga speaks. Screen capture of a video available on hakykat.wordpress.com, an Islamist blog (click on it to read).
Editor’s note: The presence of radical Islamism in Turkmenistan is almost a legend, as the government is adamant that the threat is practically non-existent and under thorough control. neweurasia’s Annasoltan goes online to discover the truth, and what she finds is something very unpleasant.
There is almost nothing factually known about radical Islamism in Turkmenistan beyond a few hints reporting to its existence. We don’t know who they are, what they want, and who they’re working with.
Much of this is due to Turkmenistan’s self-imposed isolation. The government here would prefer at least to keep radical Islamism’s presence in the country “on the down low”, as the Americans say, both from foreigners and their own citizens. Equally quiet is how the authorities are dealing with it, that is, beyond their attempts to regulate Islam’s resurgence among the general population.
Yet, after some very careful and determined rummaging in the shadowy corners of the Turkmenet, I’ve been able to identify some of the constituents of Turkmen Islamism, and even make contact with a key figure. In this post, I’ll give the overview of the situation as I’ve seen it, and in my next post, I’ll actually post an interview I had with this figure, one of Turkmenistan’s underground Islamist leaders, about none other than the shoot-out in Ashgabat in 2008.
For pessimists in the West, Egypt is either headed toward chaos or rule by the Muslim Brotherhood — essentially, just swapping one autocracy for another. Turkmens know a thing or two about autocracy, so I asked the opinions of some of my countrymen who are presently in the country or have been there recently.
Turkmen authorities have sentenced two popular young singers, Maksat Kakabayew, a.k.a. Maro, and Myrat Owezow, to prison sentences, the first to two years in prison, the second to two years in a labor colony. It appears that the pair of singers, and indeed, singers in general, have run afoul of official ideology and the government’s vision of morality.
Explaining why Kakabayew and Owezow were even on trial to begin with is difficult because they haven’t violated any crimes per se. The Chronicles of Turkmenistan has been covering their cases, but the information it’s collected (here and here) doesn’t cast much light on the situation.
Here are pdfs of official propaganda of Berdimuhammedow to show that his cult is moving in direction of Niyazov:
Tahrir Square in Cairo on 4 February. Photograph by Flickr user Ramy Raoof (CC-usage).
Editor’s note: neweurasia’s Annasoltan has received two letters from members of Egypt’s small Turkmen community describing the revolution in Egypt from their perspective. “We, the Turkmens, and also students from other the post-Soviet states, also participated in these defense commandos alongside the Egyptians,” writes Owez Yolliyev. “[We] also joined the protests, because we were aware of how the people were suffering, [although] some of us left the country in panic.”
There are a few dozen Turkmen students and émigrés living in Egypt. This is because of the Kuwaiti millionaire Abdul Aziz Saud Al-Babtain, who in 1993 sponsored a student’s program that was agreed upon between a Kuwaiti charity organization and the Turkmen government during the Niyazov era, the purposeof which was to bring some Turkmen students to Egypt. The charity has an office in Cairo via which the students are provided with a dormitory and a stipend. The students study at Al-Azhar University and they tend to come from the Turkmen Magtumguly State Languages University’s Arabic faculty.
I was able to track down two such of my countrymen who were willing to tell their experiences of the Egyptian revolution to neweurasia. They posted e-mailed their thoughts to me. Here are my transcriptions of their letters:
Over the last weekend, RFE/RL published a piece by Chris, Magtymguly, and I about how philosophy, which is supposed to be about the freedom of thought, is manipulated by the Turkmen government to support its totalitarian practices.
Our post focuses on Magtymguly Pyragy, the famous Turkmen philosopher, and the recent decision by the Turkmen government to launch a Journal of World Literature. I believe this publication is nothing more than a public relations show for the government to convince the outside world of its intentions to modernize, even its first issue evidently doesn’t have a single thing about the modern world! Besides, what we really need is good textbooks to teach our children how to read, write, and think critically! And compare: at the same time, there has been not one word spoken in the official media about the events in Egypt, even though average Turkmens have been learning about it through satellite television and the Internet.
Anyway, there are so many examples of how the government is manipulating cultural and intellectual legacies for its benefit: http://www.turkmenistan.gov.tm/?idr=8&id=110201a is one of many articles on the official government news website about real and alleged “Turkmen” historical figures, this time about Nesimi, a fourteenth century poet from the Turkmen Sahra.
Central Asian decision-makers are really getting too semblant — this time they came up with another decision — demonizing some cultures that are not common for us.
Yoshlar TV (“Youngsters TV”) channel, which is a tool of [obviously] official propaganda with young generation, has aired a documentary entitled “Melody and Calamity” on February 21 condemning rock and rap music and calling them “satanic.”
I can imagine faces of old people saying “Yes! Hell with those wide-trousers inmates and scary face-painted evils on stage!” Yes, our grandparents might think that way but they won’t be able to stop the “virus” that is already too deep inside in the young minds. Remember the times when rock-n-roll was under a massive censorship in Soviet Union? In fact, its prohibition did a favor to this dimension of music.
At the same time Turkmen authorities are getting mad hearing pop-singers performing songs about love, Chronicles of Turkmenistan reports. Read the full story »
neweurasia friends Annasoltan and Chris write about Magtymguly and Nemisi, but all Aşgabat is fantasy city of ideological moral education in form of historical and legendary heroes, about how Turkmenistan policy of neutrality, isolation and social control is true legacy of Turkmen past.
Here are examples from Flickr (CC-usage). You see that message is always masculine: self-control, self-sufficiency, independence, strength. We reborn from Soviet mother to Turkmen manhood, to conquer our own minds for the Great Leaders who manifest warrior spirit, Niyazov and Berdimuhammedow.
Editor’s note: A fake Hip Hop concert announcement on the Turkmenet reveals something about the character of Turkmenistan’s young generation, and the complexity of hope, fantasy, and reality, reports neweurasia’s Annasoltan. “[I]f there’s a positive message to take away from this sad Valentine’s Day ‘gift’, it’s that the general response to the announcement indicates something of the real freedom that young Turkmen desires for their country,” she writes.
In a chat room in the Turkmenet, a Turkmen netizen announced a Hip Hop concert in Ashgabat for today to commemorate Valentine’s Day. The concert was supposedly going to host all the major stars of this young music and social movement. In the end, though, it turned out to be just a bad joke.
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