RFE/RL's Turkmen Service is the only international Turkmen-language media reporting independently on political, economic, cultural, and security issues from inside one of the the world’s most reclusive countries.
New rules have been handed down to women working in Ashgabat further restricting what they can wear, adding to a growing list of "aesthetic" requirements in Turkmenistan.
To prove they are alive and unfreeze their pensions, elderly people in Turkmenistan must travel to a family doctor and three separate government offices, knowing that the process could be different next time.
Officials in the authoritarian Central Asian country have told government employees that they will face dismissal if they use newspaper pages praising the president and his father as toilet paper or for wrapping bread in.
Embarrassed by the labor migration exodus to Turkey, and by the political activism of Turkmen abroad, authorities in Turkmenistan are now breaking up families in their apparent bid to ground citizens in their homeland.
Widespread poverty and chronic unemployment have driven some Turkmen women to prostitution to support their families. Several sex workers who shared their stories with RFE/RL said they face violence, police exploitation, and rejection by society.
A woman who grew up in a Turkmen orphanage claims that defenseless orphans like her endure hunger, abuse, and even sexual exploitation in her country’s state-run institutions. But the government says the orphanages are a safe and happy home.
Authorities in Turkmenistan, an authoritarian state known for its tight control over citizens, have begun confiscating the passports of individuals trying to leave the country if they have outstanding bank loans.
Turkmen authorities are increasingly limiting women’s access to abortion, despite there being certain exemptions in the law for terminating pregnancies. Doctors warn that the ongoing crackdown on abortion is putting lives at risk, as desperate women resort to unsafe methods.
By law, the Turkmen government is required to provide social housing for young people who grow up in orphanages when they turn 18. But many of them don’t get free housing, with officials sending them to retirement homes instead, says a woman who was raised in an orphanage.
A former RFE/RL correspondent in Turkmenistan has died at his home in the northern Turkmen city of Koneurgench following a long illness that supporters say was brought on by pressure from the authorities over his journalistic activity.
The only mobile network operator in Turkmenistan, Altyn Asyr, has stopped selling SIM cards to clients, citing a limited capacity for new telephone numbers.
The new school year begins soon in Turkmenistan, but teachers have been ordered to get ready to pick cotton instead of teach classes. Turkmenistan regularly forces state workers, students, and soldiers to pick cotton, an important national commodity.
Many who live in Turkmenistan -- ranked as one the 10 most corrupt countries in the world -- say it is almost impossible for them to get through their everyday lives without having to pay a bribe.
In the middle of the summer with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees Celsius, there is a severe shortage of drinking water in Turkmenistan, with the residents of several cities having access to water for less than an hour each day.
David Omarov, a native of Turkmenistan, says he was arrested and tortured there for being gay -- a crime under the country's repressive regime. He was also charged with "disseminating AIDS" while imprisoned in 2019 and forced to sign a confession before he was finally able to flee to Poland.
In a new restriction on people’s liberties, police in northeastern Turkmenistan are detaining couples holding hands, sitting close, or being affectionate in public.
Regional officials and employees of local state entities in Turkmenistan's western region of Balkan have been forced to buy watches with pictures of President Serdar Berdymukhammedov and his father and predecessor, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, on the face of the timepiece.
Turkmenistan has opened a section of the Ashgabat-Turkmenabat highway linking the cities of Tejen and Mary in southeastern Turkmenistan.
Former Turkmen utility workers ordered to cull dogs and cats in Ashgabat speak about the systematic nature of the brutal killings amid reports the practice of slaughtering animals continued during Ramadan. While the practice has long been reported, Turkmen authorities have never acknowledged it.
Controversial Turkmen popstar Nazir Habibov's reported arrest in Iran last month for drug possession has caused concern among his fans, and it's unclear if Habibov -- previously jailed in Turkmenistan on drug charges -- will be tried in Iran or if Ashgabat will secure his extradition.
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