Ethnic Uzbeks Opt Out of Turkmen Polls
Region: TurkmenistanMany feel alienated by election process and do not plan to lend their votes to anyone. By IWPR staff Members of the sizeable ethnic Uzbek community in Turkmenistan say they will not take part in the December 14 election since they have been given no stake in it. The Uzbeks are the country’s second largest ethnic group after the Turkmen, numbering perhaps 300,000 to 400,000 out of a total population of ... more
Views: 1622New Constitution Fails to Spark Debate
Region: TurkmenistanThe publication of a new draft constitution for Turkmenistan has so far failed to provoke the kind of public discussion the authorities asked for. President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov spoke about key points of the document in a speech broadcast on national television on July 21, and the draft itself was published in the newspapers the next day. In his speech, given at a meeting of a special commission that has b... more
Views: 1137Private Schools in Turkmenistan
Region: TurkmenistanAs part of a major constitutional reform, the Turkmen authorities plan to make private education a viable alternative to the state system. There are concerns among analyst that the plan will be undermined by the chronic problems affecting education in the country, not the least of which is corruption. At a July 21 meeting of the committee charged with drafting a new constitution, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov... more
Views: 1118
