In another denial the foreign ministry has also rubbished reports by Russia’s Interfax and the British Newspaper The Independent of the existence of a group active in Turkmenistan called The Islamic Movement of Turkmenistan. The article in the Independent made reference to the group in relation to the trial of 15 people in Uzbekistan who are alleged to have been Islamists behind the events in Andijan in May earlier this year. The article in the Independent can be found here.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a strong statement requesting an apology from both media outlets:

On 16 November 2005, Russia’s Interfax news agency disseminated, quoting the British daily Independent, deliberately false information about Turkmenistan by mentioning a certain non-existent group, the Islamic Movement of Turkmenistan. The Turkmen side resolutely protests against such actions on the part of the above-mentioned media outlets and states that this fictitious information does not correspond to reality at all and is clearly of a provocative nature. The activities of news agencies and periodicals which disseminate such libellous information and use very unscrupulous sources are obviously unfriendly towards Turkmenistan. In this connection, the Turkmen side demands that the Interfax news agency and Independent officially refute the above-mentioned report and take all necessary measures to prevent such incidents in the future.

In all honesty the existence of such a group is unlikely. It would be very difficult for a group of this nature to operate inside other Central Asian states let alone either Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan.