Five years after the death of dictator Saparmurad Niyazov, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov’s authoritarian rule remains entrenched, highlighting Turkmenistan’s status as one of the world’s most repressive countries.
The country remains closed to independent scrutiny, media and religious freedoms are subject to draconian restrictions, human rights defenders face constant threat of government reprisal, and torture is widespread. Turkmenistan has the one of largest natural gas reserves in the world, and the Turkmenistan government continued to expand relations with foreign governments and international organizations, but with no meaningful outcomes for human rights promotion and protection.



