Amnesty raises concern after assassination bid

Amnesty International has called on Ashgabat for justice, not revenge, following an alleged plot to assassinate Turkmen President Saparmurad Niyazov earlier this week. The country has a poor human rights and the watchdog group is concerned of a possible crackdown.

"At times of heightened tensions it is particularly vital that governments abide by their commitments under international human rights law," Anna Sunder-Plassman, a Central Asia researcher for Amnesty, told IRIN on Wednesday from London. "Now that the international community is closely watching the government's response to Monday's events, it is Turkmenistan's opportunity to show that it takes its obligations under international human rights law seriously."

Sunder-Plassman's comments follow an attack on the presidential motorcade on Monday in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat in which Niyazov escaped unharmed. The President, however, has publicly implicated exiled opposition figures Saparmurad Yklymov, the former deputy agriculture minister; Boris Shikhmradov, the former foreign minister; Khudayberdy Orazov, the former head of Turkmenistan's central bank; and Nurmukhamed Khanamov, ex-ambassador to Turkey in the assassination attempt.

In a statement on Tuesday, Amnesty said it had received worrying reports that many people had been detained. While government sources say 16 people have been detained, unofficial sources say the number is more than a hundred. The group is concerned that the government's response might lead to a new clampdown on dissent in this landlocked country of five million.

Concerned over their possible fates, Sunder-Plassman said there were indications that many of them may have been targeted solely because of their family relations with exiled opposition activists.

"Our fear about their safety is heightened by the fact that currently very little is known about their whereabouts and how they are being treated," she explained, urging the Turkmen authorities to ensure that all detainees were granted prompt access to legal counsel of their choice throughout the investigation, that they were not tortured or ill-treated and that, if they were not charged with a recognisable criminal offence, they were released.

Monday's events, however, are unusual in this tightly controlled state. "No dissent can be voiced without repercussions; all media outlets are strictly state-controlled, no human rights groups can openly function within the country and political and civil liberties are extremely restricted," the activist maintained, adding: "Saparmurad Niyazov has cultivated a personality cult that has reached absurd proportions."

The Central Asian state became independent following the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then Niyazov, who according to Amnesty has exercised a monopoly on power as both head of state and head of government, has dominated it. The rights group argues that the government is intolerant of dissent, restricting political and civil liberties and retaining tight control of the media.

Numerous members and supporters of opposition groups are reportedly barred from leaving or entering the country. Clandestine mass dissemination of anti-government leaflets was reported from Ashgabat and the northern city of Dashoguz in August and October respectively.

According to Sunder-Plassman, following the events of 11 September, the Central Asian states, including Turkmenistan, have developed close ties with the US-led coalition. "There are strong indications that western criticism of the human rights records of the Central Asian states has become less vocal due to the strategic importance of these countries," she said. "Governments in many cases appear to priortise cooperation with Central Asia on security and anti-terrorism measures over protection of human rights."