Population: 4.78 million
Ethnic Composition:
77% Turkmen, 9.2% Uzbek, 6.7% Russian, 2% Kazakh, 5.1% other
Religion: 89% Muslim, 9% Eastern Orthodox, 2% other
Jewish population: 700
2002 Aliyah
(emigration to Israel): 110
2002 Emigration
to United States: 0
Size: 488,100 sq km
Capital: Ashgabat
Major cities: Ashgabat, Ashgabat, Turkmenabat, Dashowuz, Mary, Turkmenbashi
Freedom House Rating:
Not Free
Currency: 5,148 manat = $1 (October 3, 2003)
GDP: $7.7 billion (2002)
GDP per capita: $1611 (2002)
GDP Growth: 14.9% (2002)
Head of State & Head of Government:
President Saparmurat Niyazov
Foreign Minister:
Rashid Meredov
Ambassador to United States:
Meret Orazov
U.S. Ambassador to Turkmenistan:
Tracy Ann Jacobson
Chronology of all U.S. envoys to Turkmenistan
SUMMARY
Mostly desert, Turkmenistan is counting on the development of its oil and natural gas reserves for the recovery of its ailing economy. As a neutral country, foreign relations are largely determined by developments in the energy sector. Turkmenistan’s economy has suffered greatly from the failure of trading partners to pay their debts.
Since independence, Turkmenistan has regressed into a highly repressive autocracy with little prospect for democratic reform. The current leader, in power for nearly two decades, has not implemented structural reform in any sector, and is relatively isolated from Western aid. The government restricts many basic freedoms, including that of religion, sparking repeated criticism from the United States and other nations.
The Jewish community of Turkmenistan is small and unorganized. Difficult conditions have resulted in a high rate of Jewish aliyah (emigration to Israel). The situation is unlikely to improve given the government’s desire to intensify nationalist sentiment, including the national identification with Islam.
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TURKMENISTAN
INTRODUCTION
POLITICAL SITUATION
ECONOMIC SITUATION
JEWISH COMMUNAL LIFE & ANTI-SEMITISM
Israel
U.S. POLICY
Turkmenistan is slightly larger than California and occupies the fourth-largest landmass in the former Soviet Union, although 90 percent of the land is the uninhabited Kara Kum Desert. Turkmenistan borders Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and the Caspian Sea. In the sixth century, Orguz Turks began settling in the areas of modern Turkmenistan. By the 11th and 12th centuries, the Orguz-Turkmen established the Khorasan and Khoresm khanates (empires), the core of the future Turkmen nation. The Turkmen population provided determined opposition to the Tsarist Russian forces in the 18th and 19th centuries, but Russia annexed Turkmenistan in 1885. The Red Army occupied the area in 1920 and, after four years of fighting, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic was established. Turkmenistan declared its sovereignty in August 1990, and then its independence on October 27, 1991.
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POLITICAL SITUATION
While theoretically a constitutional democracy, Turkmenistan functions as a cult of personality and authoritarian regime. Saparmurat Niyazov (self-proclaimed Turkmenbashi or “Leader of All Turkmen”) has ruled since 1985, first as a Communist Party chief and, after election by popular vote in 1990, as President. Niyazov handpicks candidates for the bicameral legislature, which in 1999 exempted him from term limits and in 2002 declared him “President for Life.” The most recent parliamentary elections, held in April 2003, were generally considered neither free nor fair. Niyazov has claimed that he will retire in 2010.
External politics have been largely influenced by developments in Turkmenistan’s oil and gas industries and the post-September 11 conflict in Afghanistan. Disputes have been long-running over the division of Caspian Sea resources and the delineation of the Caspian’s borders among the five littoral states: Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, and Russia.
Turkmenistan no longer participates in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) visa regime, which has made travel into and out of Turkmenistan more difficult. Turkmenistan maintains a policy of “positive neutrality” that eschews alliances with other nations, a position simultaneously driven by a reliance on surrounding countries as export markets and an isolationist doctrine. Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are drawn together by the need to share water resources.
Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms are denied in practice. Political and civil liberties are severely restricted, and corruption in law enforcement is rampant. There is no free press, and freedoms of association, assembly and religion are severely limited.
Opposition to Niyazov’s rule results in severe repercussions. After former Foreign Minister Boris Shikhmuradov openly challenged his rule in October 2002, a failed November assassination attempt on Niyazov led to Shikhmuradov’s conviction and imprisonment, along with 45 alleged conspirators, in what were roundly condemned as summary “show trials.”
As a “secular democracy,” Turkmenistan has the most burdensome religion law of the successor states, requiring a minimum of 500 members for registration in any given locality, and often dissolving minority religious organizations. As a result of such restrictions, the Turkmen government officially recognizes only Sunni Islam and Russian Orthodoxy.
Despite the absence of a state religion and the low level of religious observance among the population, Islam has become more associated with Turkmen national identity in recent years. Combined with the government’s policy of promoting Turkmen nationalism, this shift has created discomfort for minority groups, including Jews.
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ECONOMIC SITUATION
Turkmenistan possesses large oil reserves and the world’s fifth-largest natural gas reserves. Though its territory is mostly desert, intensive agriculture in irrigated oases has made it the world’s thirteenth-largest exporter of cotton. Although Turkmenistan has benefited from high gas and oil prices, other successor states still owe Turkmenistan large debts for energy exports. The government continues to search for export channels to Europe, but proposed pipelines through Turkey and Iran will take years to construct.
Like other successor states, its economy sharply declined following independence. Internal reform and privatization have been limited by low government goals, a struggling and inefficient economy, and continued problems with external debt. The state continues to control 80-90 percent of industries. The government has attempted to attract foreign investment in large enterprises, mostly without success, and foreign investment remains very low. Unemployment levels are believed to be high, particularly among young people. Failing to collect adequate tax revenue, the government has come to rely increasingly on a barter system, and is dependent upon international borrowing to survive.
Nation-building efforts have focused on promoting Turkmen nationalism and glorifying President Niyazov. The government has shown little interest in entering into a lending arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and has not accepted IMF requirements. Turkmenistan became a member of the Asian Development Bank in 2000, but has yet to receive any significant aid. The World Bank currently supplies aid for rural and agricultural sector development in Turkmenistan. The European Union and United Nations Development Program assist with development projects. Citing a lack of political and economic reforms, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development declared in September 2002 that any new investment in Turkmenistan, a member nation, would be dedicated to the private sector only.
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JEWISH COMMUNAL LIFE & ANTI-SEMITISM
Iranian Jews began immigrating to Turkmenistan in the late 1830s, and have deep roots in the community, although they comprise only 20 percent of the current Jewish population. Ashkenazi Jews, who form the majority of the Jewish population, immigrated to Turkmenistan during the Soviet period.
The largest Jewish community lives in Ashgabat, with others in Chardzhou and Mary. The community continues to shrink due to steady aliyah. There is no organized Jewish community or rabbi. The only synagogue in Turkmenistan was converted into a gymnasium during the Soviet era and has not yet been restored to its original function.
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Israel
Turkmenistan was the last successor state to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, in 1993. The two countries maintain both diplomatic ties and trade relations, although neither country maintains an embassy in the other. Israeli business interests in Turkmenistan include agriculture and oil and natural gas ventures.
Obtaining an exit visa is difficult for all Turkmen citizens, and Jews must obtain visas through Israel’s embassy in Uzbekistan. While the government does not specifically hinder aliyah (emigration to Israel), the family members of a Jewish suspect in the recent assassination attempt on Niyazov, after being freed from prison, had their passports confiscated while attempting to emigrate.
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U.S. POLICY
Since September 11, 2001, U.S.-Turkmen relations have warmed as Turkmenistan has acquired a greater strategic significance. Turkmenistan allowed its territory to be used for humanitarian aid shipments during the war in Afghanistan, while it maintained its official neutrality by refusing to participate militarily. President Niyazov has since pledged to support U.S. military efforts in Iraq, citing concern about Iraq’s Turkmen minority. Turkmenistan’s cooperation may stem from an American promise to invest almost $2 billion in developing the Caspian oilfields and constructing the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, eventually allowing Turkmenistan to export natural gas via the Indian Ocean. Turkmenistan resists most counsel on the restructuring of its Soviet-era economy, however, and overall, the United States has played a limited role.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) administers assistance to Turkmenistan for energy and environmental reform in conjunction with the World Bank, as well as projects for health education. Private sector developments buttress U.S. support for grassroots organizations engaged in the development of civil society and rule of law. U.S. funding for these projects in 2002 was estimated at $7 million, down from $8 million in 2001.
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