President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov refused to travel to Prague to participate in the “Southern Corridor - New Silk Road” summit, which will take place on May 8, the day after the upcoming Eastern Partnership summit there. The topic of the second summit will be a discussion of projects for transferring Caspian energy resources to Europe, bypassing Russian territory. According to information obtained by Vremya Novostei from diplomatic sources in Prague, Berdymukhamedov’s refusal is connected with an action being prepared there by Turkmen and international human rights organizations seeking to draw attention to human rights violations in Turkmenistan. Ashgabat is also afraid of “inconvenient” questions for Berdimuhamedov at the press conference and, as VN’s sources testify, until the last moment they unsuccessfully tried to get guarantees from the Czech authorities that such “inconveniences” would be eliminated. Instead of the president, Deputy Prime Minister Tachberdy Tagiyev will go to Prague.
