Truck and Barter

Ex-World Banker Dennis de Tray offers some advice for EU in its dealings with Turkmanistan’s dictator;

“I was until recently World Bank director for the five Central Asia “stans” (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan). The World Bank had no program in Turkmenistan because we could find no way to do anything remotely positive for its people. Natural gas is important to Europe. But it is the money Mr. Niyazov receives from natural gas sales that keeps him in power. While I am a strong advocate of engagement, in this case the European Parliament should reject Turkmenistan’s “most favored nation” status. If it does not, the EU must accept responsibility for supporting the ongoing destruction of a country and a people.”

Turkmenistan, a country of 5m people in Central Asia, …

“used to be a Soviet vassal state, ruled by a Moscow stooge called Saparmurat Niyazov. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Mr Niyazov deftly reinvented himself as a Turkmen patriot, the “Turkmenbashi” or father of all Turkmen. He banned all opposition, declared himself president-for-life and erected golden statues of himself everywhere, including one in Ashgabat, the capital, which revolves with the sun.

A collection of his thoughts on philosophy, ethics and Turkmen culture, the “Rukhnama” (“Book of the Soul”), forms the basis of the school curriculum. Even to pass a driving test, his subjects must show their knowledge of this “sacred” text. The children who have passed through the country's schools most recently are now nearly as brainwashed as North Koreans.”

On the state of education in the country;

“Basic education has been reduced to nine years, and university from four years to two. From September to November, students are usually sent to cotton fields for the harvest. The number of students in higher education has dropped from 40,000 at independence to 7,000 or so today. Those who can afford it go to study in Moscow or other former communist capitals, perpetuating a tradition from Soviet times. Over 12,000 teachers were fired a few years ago, and those who have kept their jobs are paid badly, if at all. Classes are overcrowded, and grades as well as admission are often for sale.

The curriculum has been increasingly geared towards vocational skills—subjects deemed useless such as physical education and arts were eliminated—and political indoctrination. A substantial part of school time is now dedicated to learning passages from the “Rukhnama” (Book of the Soul), in which President Saparmurat Niyazov rambles on about practically everything, from proper social behaviour and morals to the motherland and its glorious leader. The book and its author have acquired quasi-religious status….As a result, the education level has collapsed. With over 45% of the population under 19 years old, general knowledge and critical thinking—let alone vaguely accurate views of the outside world—are vanishing rapidly.”

The situation appears to be grim in the country, as one human rights campaigner from the country comments;