I often visit an opposition website Turkmenistan Chronicles which I consider an interesting and rather credible source of information on Turkmenistan. I usually agree with its authors in their criticism of the Ashgabat regime. I must admit, though, that sometimes they exaggerate by blaming the authorities for all the problems.
To support my point I’ll […]

On 14 January, the Kazakh oppositionist website www.zonakz.net published Timur Shaov’s article entitled “Turkmenistan at the hight of the new revival” which summarizes the speech given by Vyacheslav Mamedov, president of the oppositionist Civic Democratic Union of Turkmenistan (currently a political refugee in the Netherlands), at a meeting organized in Almaty by the Kazakh […]

Cigarette smoke is an inseparable companion of anyone traveling across countries of the former Soviet Union. Everyone smokes everywhere: on the streets, in restaurants, internet caffés, government buildings and private offices, even on public transport. The country leading in this bad habit is Armenia, where tobacco products are the third (!) most important imported […]

June 7th 2007 saw the opening of a 2nd Inter-Parliamentary Conference of Central Asian Countries including Azerbaijan in Astana (Kazakhstan). This International Conference devoted to HIV and AIDS was remarkable in that it was attended, for the first time in history, by the Turkmen high officials, i.e. Ministers and Members of Parliament. The […]