Increasing security through sustainable development
By Giorgio Fiacconi
BISHKEK (TCA) - Kyrgyzstan has discovered it's new vocation as a host country for international conferences. When on 13 and 14 December, Bishkek and Kyrgyzstan hosted the International conference organized by OSCE and the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UN ODCCP) doubts were cast on the ability of the country to organize such a conference.   Read more 

Turkmenbashi to Modernize the System
By Gulshen Ashirova*
ASHGABAT (TCA) ? In the beginning of the 90`s Turkmenistan was headed for the modernization of the whole energy system in the country. In meetings of government President Saparmurat Niyazov used to criticize sharply the heads of the sector, in particular, for bad management.    Read more 

Gas Pipeline Brings Peace to Afghanistan
By Gulshen Ashirova, TCA contributor
ASHGABAT (TCA) ? The chance of establishing peace in Afghanistan allows the Turkmen government to return to the issue of building a trans-Afghan gas pipeline. Today Turkmenistan has the fifth-largest natural gas reserves in the world.    Read more 

Statement of the Joint Opposition of Turkmenistan

ASHGABAT (TCA) ? The joint opposition of Turkmenistan has studied closely the press release distributed in Moscow on November 1 this year by the former vice-premier, minister of foreign affairs, ambassador of Turkmenistan to the Peoples Republic of China, Boris Shikhmuradov, but has found nothing new in it concerning the Niyazov`s regime assessment.    Read more 

Turkmenistan Troubles
By Daan van der Schriek
BISHKEK. (TCA) - President Saparmurat Niyazov has ruled Turkmenistan with an iron grip during the last decade. His power seems now for the first time to be seriously challenged. The former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, Boris Shikhmuradov, has recently fallen out with Niyazov and it looks like Shikhmuradov has quite some support in Turkmenistan.    Read more 

Niyazov Ally Turns Against Him
By Natalia Yefimova
ASHGABAD. The former right-hand man of Turkmenistan`s President Saparmurat Niyazov has issued the boldest challenge the "leader of all Turkmens" has faced in the past decade, leaving experts to wonder how much damage could be done to Niyazov`s autocratic regime by the defection of a one-time confidant.    Read more 

Turkmenistan`s President Lambasted by Former Minister

ASHGABAT. Turkmenistan`s former foreign minister issued a blistering statement condemning the authoritarian rule of president-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov. Sources tell EurasiaNet that the statement, coming from longtime Niyazov deputy Boris Shikhmuradov, could be a sign of potential upheaval in Turkmenistan.    Read more 

Turkmenistan`s Gas Pipeline Plan May Revive After Afghan War
By Gregory Viscusi
PARIS. Turkmenistan has the world`s fifth-largest proven gas reserves. Pakistan`s gas consumption has risen 70 percent in the past 10 years.    Read more 

Turkmen Head Inaugurates More Hospitals in Capital Area

ASHGABAD. President Saparmyrat Turkmenbasy Nyyazow of Turkmenistan this morning attended a ceremony opening the International Medicine Centre for Internal Diseases, which from now on will bear the name of Turkmenistan`s state leader.    Read more 

The Caspian Eldorado
By Gulshen Alisherova
ASHGABAT. (TCA) The current situation in Afghanistan affected the annual international conference "Oil & Gas of Turkmenistan" (TIOGE-2001). Many oil magnates from the United States and Japan did not attend the conference.    Read more 

Turkmenistan Wants no Trouble at Border with Afghanistan
By Selcan Hacaoglu
ASHGABAT. On his way home from work, Sgt. Ali Muhammad passes fountains adorned with gold-colored statues and parks lined with trees shaped like swans, squirrels, eagles and butterflies. Turkmenistan`s capital has a lavish look fed by wealth from natural gas, and Muhammad does not want to see that change.    Read more 

Wonderful Caves and Lakes of Turkmenistan
By Alexey Schetnikov
BISHKEK. (TCA) - Turkmenistan, a country with a history reaching back over millennia, is mostly famous for such ancient cities as Merv, Nisa and Kunya-Urgench. But since gaining independence 10 years ago, Turkmenistan has greatly improved its modern cities, including the capital Ashgabat.    Read more 

CA Perspectives and Afghan Crisis - Turkmenistan

OSH/BRUSSELS. (TCA) Of all the Central Asian states, Turkmenistan?s insular and autocratic government has maintained the closest ties with the Taliban.    Read more 

Turkmenistan: Niazov Ponders War Options
By Nazik Ataeva
ASHGABAD. Turkmen president would prefer to play a neutal, peacemaking role in the Afghan crisis. As the Central Asian states get ready for American strikes against the Taleban regime in Afghanistan, Turkmenistan is fortifying its borders and pondering a set of unenviable choices in the coming conflict.    Read more 

Turkmen Horse-Power
By William Wilson
ASHGABAT. (TCA) -- Ashgabat`s multi-million `Arch of Neutrality` has ensured a flurry of comparisons between its chief theme, President Saparmurat Niyazov, and the rulers of ancient times.    Read more 

Ballet Offends Turkmenbashi
By Nazik Ataeva
ASHGABAD. Turkmenistan`s president is closing down theatres and getting rid of books which he believes "misrepresent" the nation`s history.    Read more 

A Question Mark in Central Asia`s Security Framework
By Rustem Safronov
ASHGABAD. A source tells EurasiaNet that the US government is reevaluating its approach to Turkmenistan, a country with shaky state structures and ruled with an iron hand by the mercurial President Saparmurat Niyazov.    Read more 

The End Always Justifies the Means
By William Willson
ASHGABAT. (TCA) -- Getting to Turkmenistan`s capital, Ashgabat, remains one of the trickier hurdles for the Central Asian traveller to negotiate these days; in many countries Turkmen embassies still seem reluctant to issue visas, and the city`s two-tier pricing system continues to inflate already ludicrous tourist tariffs.    Read more 

Turkmen Bashed Mothers
By Polina Mikhailova
ASHGABAD. Turkmen President Saparmurat, aka Turkmenbashi, Father of all Turkmen, is full of praise for the country`s women, but they hardly get their just desserts.    Read more 

Niazov Anti-Corruption Drive
By Sasha Rokot
ASHGABAD. In the Oriental fairy tale, "A Thousand and One Nights", Kharun ar-Rashid, the ruler of Baghdad, dresses in disguise and walks the streets of his capital to find out whether his officials are abusing their power over ordinary people.    Read more 

Media Review

ASHGABAT. (TCA) -- This year, the River Transport Department of Turkmenistan is growing cotton on 52 hectares of land rented in the Serdarabat district, near the Amudarya River. They have already finished cotton pruning and have applied mineral fertilizers three times.    Read more 

Turkish Businessman Weaves Textile Empire in Turkmenistan
By Maya Artikova
ASHGABAD. Since Turkmenistan gained independence, many of the country`s textile factories have come under the control of Turkish businessmen. These foreign-run concerns are manipulating artificially established exchange rates to reap huge profits.   Read more 

Turkmen Addiction Rising

ASHGABAT. A chasm separates this reality from the goal of "a 21st Century free of drugs" declared recently by Turkmenistan`s autocratic president and notorious dreamer, Saparmurat Niazov.    Read more 

Turkmenistan in the Path of Afghan Drug Expansion
By Gulshen Ashirova
ASHGABAT. (TCA) -- Over the past two years, Kulov Turkmenistan has seen an increasing growth of drug use among its population. The next-door neighborhood to war-torn, drug-producing Afghanistan and Taliban`s transit drug trafficking routes have proven to be a serious threat for Turkmenistan, as well as for the entire Central Asian region.    Read more 

Turkmenistan: For Niyazov, Good Government Help Is Hard to Find
By Bruce Pannier
PRAGUE. Turkmenistan`s president, Saparmurat Niyazov, dismissed his foreign minister earlier this month, saying the official -- who had been in office just six months -- had a drinking problem. The sacking was only the latest example of a problem that has plagued the Central Asian republic since it gained independence in 1991 -- good government help is hard to find.    Read more 

Media Review

ASHGABAT. (TCA) -- In the near future an Austrian company, Uniha Wasser, will start building a water-distillation complex in Bekdash, northern Turkmenistan. The water-distilling facility will have a capacity of 500 cubic meters per 24 hours, including 150 cubic meters of drinking water and 350 cubic meters of technical water for the Karabogazsulphate company.    Read more 

Could Central Asia`s closer cooperation with the West lead to an improved foreign investments and democratic climate? 15.12