Photograph by Flickr user Night Owl City (CC-usage).

Good news!  Turkmenistan’s government has finally given the green light to students enrolled at private foreign universities to continue their studies abroad, putting an end to six months of uncertainty. Since July, dozens of students have been barred from boarding foreign-bound planes.

Rachel Denber of Human Rights Watch confirmed reports that some students left the country for Bulgaria a few days ago.  But is it the end of the story and time to relax? Not quite yet, Denber told me.

Obviously we’re glad to hear that students have been allowed to leave for Bulgaria to continue their studies. But we remain concerned about arbitrary bans on foreign travel and we will very much continue to follow the situation and to call on Turkmenistan’s government to lift arbitrary travel bans. And I don’t know whether the students will be able to study at the American university of Central Asia in Bishkek.

Some see the move as giving into pressure from the international community to reverse the travel ban, while others note that it comes in anticipation of two events: the Turkmen president’s upcoming official trip to France and Turkmenistan’s investment forum in Abu Dhabi next week.  But whatever the cause, I wish the students the best of luck abroad.  After all, they are the future and best hope for Turkmenistan.