The Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights (TIHR) has published an interesting article about the current state of the armed forces in Turkmenistan. Contrary to the position adopted by President Saparmurat Niyazov in 1991, when he argued that no more one percent of the population needed to be enrolled in the army, TIHR estimates that at least twice that amount is cuurently serving. That number is even greater when including troops from the Border Service, the Interior Ministry and the Navy, which all rely on conscripts to make up their ranks.
An even more detailed account in Russian on the current condition of Turkmen military affairs was offered in a two-part post last year on the Karakum blog. One issue that also appeared on that site was the use of conscripted soldiers in non-military activities. The most visible sign of this is on the country’s highways, which are peppered with young conscripts working as traffic policemen. According to anecdotal evidence, this is quite a sought after job as it offers the opportunity to extort bribes from scores of drivers every single day.
Other jobs farmed out to the conscripts are running fire stations, cleaning hospitals, and working in the fields.
As TIHR, the sectors forced to employ these young soldiers are often unable to provide salaries, which has led some conscripts to beg for bread. Otherwise, their sole source of income is a monthly allowance $4 per month.