Recent Events in Turkmenistan

Released by the U.S. Mission to the OSCE

(As delivered)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The United States is deeply concerned by two recent events in Turkmenistan that represent further significant steps backwards for the country. On February 4, the Turkmen Government created a new state agency to control Turkmen citizens' foreign travel. Turkmen citizens will have to obtain permission from this agency to travel abroad, a development that essentially reverses Turkmenistan's December 2001 decision to eliminate exit visas -- a step we and others warmly welcomed at that time in the Permanent Council, applauding Turkmenistan's fulfillment of its OSCE commitments.

Under the new provisions, some Turkmen citizens will be prevented entirely from traveling. Those in this category reportedly include: individuals with outstanding debt, criminal records, knowledge of "state secrets," and those who have not performed their compulsory military service or have "committed any wrongdoing." The scope of this latter phrase is so vague and broad that it appears to give the Turkmen Government a pretext for preventing the foreign travel of almost anyone.

It is our view that drastic measures such as this will not serve the Turkmen Government well. If it is trying to consolidate support, it is employing tactics that run counter to its own objectives.

Even more disturbing is the codification of the "Betrayers of the Motherland" decree proposed at the December 30 Council of Elders. This new treason law permits sentences of up to life in prison for a broad range of very vaguely defined so-called offenses, some of which are protected as part of the commitments made by Turkmenistan as a participating State in the OSCE.

Every government has the right, indeed the duty, to protect the security of its citizens; but this duty must never come at the cost of infringing upon citizens' fundamental rights and freedoms. Mr. Chairman, we therefore strongly urge the Government of Turkmenistan to reconsider and to reverse these decisions. As we have said before in recent weeks, Turkmenistan should be looking for bridges to the rest of the world, not ways of raising walls that already surrounds it. No state but Turkmenistan itself stands to lose more by the steps it is taking or to gain more if it reverses it present course. Thank you.