Ordinary Turkmen often have to pay bribes to get a job, to secure a place at a university, and even to get a vacation at the time of their choosing or renew a passport.
Many say it is almost impossible for people to get through their everyday lives without paying a bribe somewhere, as officials increasingly exploit their positions to extort money.
In a recent example, a group of schoolteachers in the northeastern Lebap region complain that officials have given them an unworkable timetable for medical checkups, just to force them to pay bribes.
The teachers claim they were given just one day to undergo extensive medical examinations -- including X-rays and blood tests -- as a precondition to return to work after summer holidays.
“There are more than 40 schools in our city that employ dozens of teachers. Medical facilities don’t have a capacity to test of all these people just in one day,” one of the teachers from the provincial capital Turkmenabat told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity.
Some teachers say they had to pay money to doctors to obtain a health certificate without undergoing the tests, or bribe school principals to allow them more time.
“I went to the internal medicine clinic at 8 a.m. for the test and there was already a long line,” a teacher from Lebap’s Danew district said. “Then I had to stand in another long line for an X-ray, and the day was gone.”
The teacher claimed he had to pay the equivalent of $7 in bribes to the school director to give him an extra day to complete the tests. Then he bribed doctors at two medical facilities -- about $30 each -- to jump the queue. Teachers in Turkmenistan make around $200 to $400 a month.
A young teacher from Turkmenabat who graduated from university this summer said he paid $120 in bribes to a clinic to complete his medical tests.
“Since I have just been hired, I had to undergo a series of additional examinations, and I was given only three days for all of that,” the teacher told RFE/RL. “Obviously, the only reason behind these checks is to extort bribes from people.”
A crowd of people wait in line outside the offices of Turkmenistan's Migration Service in the eastern city of Turkmenabat.
RFE/RL contacted authorities in Lebap for comment but did not receive a response. Officials in the authoritarian Central Asian country never speak to independent media.
In Every Aspect Of Life
Turkmenistan has been repeatedly ranked among the 10 most corrupt countries in the world by Transparency International, an independent group that monitors corruption worldwide. Turkmen say bribery exists in all aspects of their lives.
During military call-up seasons, officials round up conscript-age men from the streets and even schools to send them to the army. Some parents reported in recent years that they paid about $5,700 for a postponement of military service for their child.
To secure a place in universities in Turkmenistan, parents pay thousands of dollars in bribes regardless of their child's test results.
Bribery even allows wealthy prospective parents to jump the line to adopt a child.
One couple in the eastern city of Farap reportedly paid about $14,300 to adopt a baby within four months, while those who can’t afford to pay such a fee often have to wait several years.
Meanwhile, some Turkmen doctors reportedly carry out abortions in return for bribes, despite a ban on abortions after five weeks of pregnancy in most cases.
A few months after the ban was enforced in 2022, several medical sources in Mary Province told RFE/RL that the amount of the bribe for an abortion ranged between $100 and $500, depending on how advanced the pregnancy is.
At a women’s health center in Lebap Province, one source said patients pay up to $340 in bribes for an abortion in the later stages of pregnancy.
Turkmen also pay bribes to ensure migration officials at airports don’t remove them from international flights.
Ashgabat International Airport
Airport migration officials routinely bar people from leaving the country even if they have valid visas and tickets. The random practice has led to widespread corruption, with some people allegedly paying up to $5,000 to be able to leave Turkmenistan.
Sources at Ashgabat International Airport recently told RFE/RL that officers are removing up to 20 to 30 people -- mostly students studying abroad -- from outbound flights without giving any valid reason.
To get a passport or to renew an expiring travel document, several Turkmenabat residents have reportedly paid some $200 in bribes to passport officials to avoid waiting for several months.
Bribing The Morality Police
Young Turkmen accuse some law enforcement officers of targeting couples sitting close, kissing, or hugging in public places to solicit bribes.
Acting like morality police, the officers often detain such couples, accusing them of “violating social norms,” according to several eyewitnesses and those involved in such incidents.
They threaten the “offenders” with arrest and fines, but often release them after getting paid on the spot.
A young man from Turkmenabat claimed he and his girlfriend were stopped by a police patrol while holding hands at the city’s National Flag Square in April.
The man said the officers scolded the couple for “shameful behavior that is unbecoming for Turkmen, especially under the national flag,” and tried to force them into a police vehicle.
“The officers threatened to open a criminal case against me on a charge of resisting a police officer,” the man told RFE/RL. “Then one of the policemen took me to one side and demanded [the equivalent of] $30. I told him that I only have $10 with me. He took the money and let us go.”