Turkmen Leader Holds Talks With Russian Official

(RFE/RL) December 1, 2006 -- Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov has held talks in Ashgabat with former pro-Moscow Chechen leader Doku Zavgayev, who is now the director-general of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Turkmen and Russian media report the meeting took place on November 30. The two men reportedly discussed bilateral issues, including energy cooperation and plans to build a new Russian embassy in the Turkmen capital.


(turkmenistan.ru, Interfax)

Human Rights In Turkmenistan

Human Rights In Turkmenistan
Tajigul Begmedova speaking at RFE/RL in Prague on July 21 (RFE/RL)

LIFE UNDER NIYAZOV: On July 21, RFE/RL's Prague broadcasting center hosted a presentation by TAJIGUL BEGMEDOVA, chairwoman of the Bulgaria-based Turkmenistan Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (THF). Begmedova discussed the human rights situation in Turkmenistan under President Saparmural Niyazov, focusing on the arrests in June of THF activists and RFE/RL Turkmen Service correspondent Ogulsapar Muradova. Begmedova, who graduated from the Institute of Economy in Moscow in 1987, fled Turkmenistan in 2002 and lives in exile in Sofia.


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Listen to the complete presentation (36 minutes; presentation in Russian with consecutive translation into English):
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RFE/RL Correspondent Recounts Arrest


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