Translated material
Delicate substance
Turkmenistan allows complaints against authorities
Yesterday, Turkmenistan celebrated his birthday for the first time since the death of Saparmurat Turkmenbashi the Great . The entire month - from February 1 to March 2 - is dedicated to the memory of the Great Serdar of the Turkmen people. At the end of January, the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper published a list of events on this occasion, in which the holding of presidential elections is listed as number 18.The elections were so successful that Kurbanguly Berdimuhammedov, who was elected head of state on February 11, was called “our great president” on Turkmen television yesterday. As an option - “who came for the Great Serdar.” These days the new serdar had to work a lot. In Ashgabat, Mr. Berdymukhammedov opened a cultural and entertainment center and a new university building built by the French company Bouygues, as well as a new textile mill. In the west of the country, in the Balkan velayat, the president opened a new gas compressor station built by Ukrainians.
On trips and all movements of the president, his constant companions were two people - the head of his personal security, General Akmurat Rejepov , and his personal assistant, Viktor Khramov. Both went to the head of state from the late Serdar.
When communicating with the people, Mr. Berdymukhammedov tried to be like his predecessor. If he liked someone, he immediately gave him money - big or even very big. Lucky musicians. One of them was so good that instead of 5 thousand dollars, which the president was already preparing to give, he immediately received 10 thousand from him! The whole country saw its hero in the news, but this will not surprise Turkmen citizens.
But the decree signed yesterday by Mr. Berdymukhammedov “On the creation of the State Commission for the consideration of citizens’ appeals on the activities of law enforcement agencies under the President of Turkmenistan” created a sensation. The preamble of the decree states that the commission was created “for the purpose of further developing democratic foundations in the state and public activities of Turkmenistan, ensuring individual rights and freedoms.” This news may be a harbinger of a review of a number of cases in which hundreds of people, as it suddenly turns out, were sentenced to many years in prison as a result of “abuse of power” by some prosecutors or other officials. After all, hopes for an amnesty on the birthday of the late leader, rumors about which persistently circulated in Turkmenistan on the eve of February 19, never materialized.
And just the other day, Kurbanguly Berdimuhamedov gave a lengthy interview to the Turkmenistan magazine. The very fact of the appearance of such an interview is difficult to overestimate - the late Turkmenbashi, as a “prophet,” did not allow himself to do this for many years. One gets the impression that the new president wants to be understood by his compatriots and protect them from harmful illusions. Speaking about democracy, he calls it a “delicate substance” that “cannot be implanted using ready-made imported models.” At the same time, Mr. Berdymukhammedov confirmed that Ashgabat will continue to distance itself from the CIS , a structure with an “extremely low level of efficiency.”