The Turkmen president change and the further women’s right restrictions show clearly that Ashgabat plans to cooperate deeply with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Since Serdar Berdymukhammedov succeeded his father as President of Turkmenistan in a sham election on March 12, which the RLI predicted this January, the country has imposed unofficial discriminatory restrictions on women.
Turkmen women are prohibited from enjoying certain beauty services, such as eyelash and nail extensions, hair bleach, plastic surgery and wearing sexy outfits. There are also bans on cosmetic surgeries such as breast and lip augmentation or even eyebrow tattoo, the services that are popular among many young women in Turkmenistan. Over the past month, dozens of women have lost their jobs for providing breast implants or lip augmentation services. Police raid in public places, including vehicle ones, to find violations. Any ban violation costs about $140. However, while arresting people the police do not refer to any relevant documents (laws, decrees).
In addition, as part of women’s right restriction policy, the government has forbidden them from riding in cars together with men who are not their relatives, as well as from sitting in the front seat next to the driver, both in taxis and in private cars. In case of breaking this ban drivers pay the fine in the sum of $2,000.
Particularly, women are indirectly prohibited from driving, it is rather difficult for them to get a driver’s license or renew it.
In fact, such restrictions violate the legislation of Turkmenistan, since Article 29 of the Constitution states that a man and a woman in Turkmenistan have equal rights and freedoms, as well as equal opportunities for their implementation. It also stipulates that the violation of equality on the gender basis is punished by the law.
The women legal status change following Serdar Berdimuhamedov’s strongly differs from the women right policy of his father, Kurbanguly, who followed more liberal views. Although Serdar continues his father’s political course in most matters, gender freedoms change is an exception.
The idea of changes introduced by the new president duplicates the gender policy in neighboring Afghanistan upon the Ghani regime fall and the Taliban rise to power. This fact indicates a high probability that the Turkmen authorities intend to cooperate with the Taliban regime in Kabul. Thus, women restrictions in Turkmenistan are supposedly aimed at removing stumbling points preventing from implementing large strategic joint projects with Afghanistan, requiring the Taliban delegations’ presence in Turkmenistan.
Ashgabat hopes that India, being dependent on energy imports, will show greater interest in the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline construction. On March 18, 2022, as part of a congratulatory telegram on the occasion of Serdar Berdimuhamedov election as the President of Turkmenistan, Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, Acting Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Afghanistan, also indirectly showed Kabul’s readiness to implement the TAPI project. Back in January 2022, Turkmenistan promised Kabul to allocate borrowed funds to start the gas pipeline construction. This project is important for Ashgabat, which is experiencing financial problems. In order to accelerate the construction, Turkmenistan may recognize the power of the Taliban.In April 2018, surrendered Taliban militants said they had been instructed by Iran to conduct actions against the TAPI gas pipeline construction. Russia also opposes the TAPI project. Thus, the process of Ashgabat-Kabul rapprochement may increase the activity of Moscow and Tehran to block the infrastructure plans of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. Since the Russian gas sales market is shrinking due to the Kremlin’s aggressive war in Ukraine, Moscow will make best efforts to disrupt any alternative energy projects, including with the help of operations to destabilize the situation in the project partner countries.
