TURKMENBASHI, Turkmenistan -- At the start of this week, hundreds of mostly women protesters faced off with the mayor of Turkmenbashi in what appeared to be the largest rally to date over the breakdown of Turkmenistan's subsidized food system.
As they demonstrated, President Serdar Berdymukhammedov and other top officials were in luxury hotels some 15 kilometers away at a Caspian Sea resort where government employees are strongly advised to take their summer holidays.
According to an RFE/RL Turkmen Service correspondent who witnessed the August 7 demonstration, city officials initially told protesters that Mayor Amangeldy Isaev was away on business.
It was only when the protesters suggested they would march to the Avaza resort where Berdymukhammedov was resting that Isaev suddenly emerged, visibly distressed, promising fresh supplies of subsidized food in the coming weeks.
The incident -- an extraordinary event in authoritarian Turkmenistan, where no dissent is tolerated -- is just one of a number of recent events that point to a summer of hell for residents of one of the world's most isolated and repressive states.
In any other country suffering such a protracted economic crisis, citizens would be streaming for the exits. And that is true of Turkmenistan, too.
But in a state where authorities appear to view migration as an existential security threat, leaving the country is getting ever harder and more expensive.
Growing Protests Over Subsidized Food
The seemingly spontaneous gathering outside Turkmenbashi city hall is likely the largest of its kind to take place in Turkmenistan in many years.
But smaller outpourings of anger over shortages of ultra-subsidized foodstuffs are becoming more common.
Officials seem to have decided that living standards in Turkmenistan have risen to the point that the poor can now pay commercial prices for goods like flour, eliminating the need for the two-tier food system that the authorities and Turkmen consumers have relied on for so long.
But Turkmen are showing they disagree with that development.
An RFE/RL correspondent reported this week that villagers in the southeastern Mary Province -- the opposite side of the country from Turkmenbashi -- have been unable to secure their 5-kilogram monthly allowances of subsidized flour since the spring.
"If the flour is not for sale, we are forced to buy it at commercial prices. Although the quality of flour in state stores is low, we accept it because we simply cannot afford to buy flour at 300 manats per bag," a resident in a village in Mary Province told the correspondent.
A cost of 300 manats per bag is equal to six manats or $1.70 per kilo at official rates.
The manat's black-market value, however, is many times lower than the official rate, making the poor-quality flour distributed at a quarter of that price effectively a government handout.
That so many Turkmen require the ultra-subsidized food is an indicator of how far purchasing power has fallen in the last decade or so, when a combination of a crash in energy prices and Russia's decision to cease purchases of Turkmen natural gas left the government with a balance-of-payments crisis.
Macroeconomic fundamentals would appear better these days for a country that relies on hydrocarbon sales for the vast majority of its income. But living standards still don't seem to have improved.
In June -- again in Turkmenbashi -- RFE/RL's Turkmen Service heard of a protest that saw locals attack a state shop over the nondelivery of flour that was due to arrive in February.
Water Struggles, Power Shortages
Searing summers are to be expected in desert-filled Turkmenistan, and they have only gotten hotter in the last few years, with thermometers across the country regularly showing temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius in recent weeks.
This summer has been especially bad for water shortages, meanwhile, with the Amu Darya River running visibly lower than in previous years.
Earlier this week, RFE/RL's Turkmen Service reported on conflicts between farmers over irrigation water in the eastern Lebap Province, an important agricultural center where rice and cotton are grown.
With local officials apparently uninterested in the problem, local rice farmers have taken to investing their own resources in equipment to drain water from the river.
This approach has often resulted in more of the precious water being wasted.
In addition to blaming each other, farmers in Lebap's Charzhev district who spoke to RFE/RL blamed officials for what they said was the careless uprooting of trees in the area this winter.
City life is only mildly less desperate. In the capital, Ashgabat, the grid has been unable to meet rising demand during the heat wave.
An RFE/RL correspondent said apartments in the city are often without power for hours at a time in the evenings, as residents return from work hoping to turn on fans and air conditioners.
As soon as the city's power grid is able to provide electricity to one apartment block, the lights go out in the one apartment opposite, the correspondent observed, noting that residents had taken to wearing damp towels over their heads to cool down.
The government, as usual, has not explained the lack of power. But experts familiar with the sector who spoke to RFE/RL's Turkmen Service on condition of anonymity say the fault is likely due to the Soviet-era Buzmeyin power plant outside the city operating far below full capacity.
One of the experts said the government had still not found the money to import the necessary parts needed to service the U.S.-manufactured gas turbines that Buzmeyin uses.
Blocking Off The Exits
It has been 20 years since The Economist declared Turkmenistan the world's worst place to live -- an "unwanted prize" that the magazine occasionally bestows on countries after consultation with its large team of researchers.
At the time, the country was led by autocrat Saparmurat Niyazov, who styled himself Turkmenbashi, or "Father of the Turkmen."
His death brought former health minister and career dentist Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov to power, but virtually no notable changes to the system.
Berdymukhammedov stepped down last year, allowing son Serdar to take the hot seat.
Yet it is the older Berdymukhammedov who wields the most power, as reflected in his new "leader of the nation" title.
Traditionally, migration to Turkey has been an escape route for Turkmen seeking to improve their lives.
Yet that opportunity has faded somewhat after Ankara canceled its visa waiver for Turkmen nationals at Ashgabat's request last year.
On August 7, the Bulgarian-based Turkmenistan Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights reported that nearly 1,000 Turkmen citizens were bound for Turkmenistan on deportation flights after Turkish authorities "stepped up operations" to detain illegal Turkmen migrants.
A statement by the foundation, detailing at least one such flight on August 5, confirmed earlier reporting by RFE/RL's Turkmen Service about imminent deportations from Turkey, where some mostly young Turkmen have engaged in activism against the Turkmen government.
According to the latest Turkish government data from July, just more than 208,000 Turkmen were residing in the country, about 20,000 less than in September 2022, when the visa waiver was canceled.
In the meantime, waiting times for international passports -- which can only be received in Turkmenistan -- are getting longer.
Although citizens can bypass queues of six months or more by paying for a 20-day express service, these services cost up to $750, according to sources who spoke to RFE/RL. That is well beyond the reach of most citizens in a country where a typical monthly salary for a state employee may be about $400.
And even for those with up-to-date passports with fresh Turkish visas inside them, there is still no guarantee of leaving the country.
In one incident earlier this month, some 40 of 150 passengers with tickets for a plane from Ashgabat to Istanbul were arbitrarily prevented from boarding, a source on the flight told RFE/RL's Turkmen Service.
Among them was a resident of Lebap Province, who said he had recently finished military service and was hoping to find a job in Turkey.
A source at Ashgabat airport told RFE/RL's Turkmen Service that passengers over the age of 45 are usually allowed to fly -- as well as citizens who have previously visited Turkey and returned after short-term stays.
As usual, the government has offered no comment on these restrictions.
