[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 17, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E123-E124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




U.S. GOVERNMENT SHOULD PRESS INTERIM GOVERNMENT OF TURKMENISTAN TO HOLD 
       FREE AND FAIR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS ON FEBRUARY 11, 2006

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM FEENEY

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 17, 2007

  Mr. FEENEY. Madam Speaker, the world has recently witnessed the 
deaths of two bloody despots: one--Saddam Hussein--was executed for 
crimes against his own people; the other--President Saparmurat Niyazov 
of Turkmenistan--was able to escape justice by dying in his sleep.
  Under President Niyazov, Turkmenistan became a secretive police state 
modeled after North Korea. Declaring himself President-for-life, 
Niyazov banned all political parties except his own; threw his 
opponents in jail or drove them into exile; and established a state 
monopoly on media, exercising control over the editorial content.
  With the death of the dictator, one would hope that the people of 
Turkmenistan would finally wake up from their long nightmare and 
reclaim their rights, chief among them the right to elect their leaders 
in free and fair elections. However, the interim government has pledged 
to continue Niyazov's policies and has brought into question their 
ability to hold truly democratic elections
  The interim government's most competent opponents--the exiled 
community of business leaders and intellectuals--have effectively been 
prevented from contesting the elections, even though their leader 
Khudaiberdy Orazov, whom the united opposition chose as its 
presidential candidate, would win the majority of the popular vote 
according to the most recent polls. As former chairman of the Central 
Bank and a renowned economist, Mr. Orazov is precisely the kind of 
leader whose insights are badly needed if Turkmenistan is to rebuild 
its crumbling infrastructure and revive its ailing education and 
healthcare systems.
  I urge my colleagues in calling for free, fair, and democratic 
elections in Turkmenistan and for the interim government to allow its 
opponents the opportunity to contest the February 11 elections. In 
order to maintain our commitment to democracy, both at home and abroad, 
we can do no less.
  I am including for the Record a copy of Jan. 3 Washington Post 
article, ``New Future for Turkmenistan,'' which was written by a well-
respected pro-democracy opposition leader in exile, Nurmukhammet 
Hanamov, whose two sons were assassinated in retaliation for his 
outspoken opposition to Niyazov's regime. The U.S. government would do 
well to hear the heartfelt plea this courageous man makes in his 
article.

                       [From The Washington Post]

                    A New Beginning for Turkmenistan

                        (By Nurmuhammet Hanamov)

       Last week Turkmenistan buried its brutal dictator, 
     Saparmurad Niyazov. His ruthless reign spanned two decades, 
     during which time his policies became increasingly irrational 
     and unpredictable. The long list of Niyazov's crimes against 
     our people includes: banning all political parties except his 
     own and jailing his opponents; preventing thousands of 
     disloyal citizens from traveling abroad; persecuting 
     religious and ethnic minorities; outlawing opera; and 
     shutting down regional hospitals, firing thousands of doctors 
     and nurses. Under Niyazov, Turkmenistan became a corridor for 
     heroin trafficking from Afghanistan to the West and gained 
     for itself one of the highest heroin addiction rates in the 
     world.
       Above all, Niyazov was a selfish and kleptocratic despot, 
     stashing billions in proceeds from the sale of the country's 
     enormous natural gas resources in personal accounts in 
     Western banks. He used this money to fuel his outlandish 
     personality cult, building opulent palaces and golden statues 
     of himself even as his people were deprived of basic 
     necessities and suffer one of the world's lowest life 
     expectancy rates. The West's indifference was striking 
     compared with the relentless criticism by the United States 
     and the European Union against the more benign regime of 
     Alexander Lukashenko, president of gas-poor Belarus.
       With Niyazov gone, the West has a historic second chance to 
     help our country make a peaceful transition to democracy. 
     Turkmenistan's interim rulers have unfortunately pledged to 
     continue Niyazov's policies, even ordering new statues of 
     him, and their efforts to grab power amount to a coup d'etat. 
     The former health minister--under the de facto control of 
     Niyazov's Presidential Guard--has arrested the speaker of 
     Parliament, who constitutionally is next in the line of 
     succession. He has sealed the country's borders and, using 
     other unconstitutional measures, has set the stage for his 
     own unchallenged victory in presidential elections scheduled 
     for Feb. 11.
       The United States must send a clear message to Niyazov's 
     holdouts in the interim government in Ashgabat: that they 
     will not have its support unless they agree to hold free and 
     fair elections--ones that allow all citizens of Turkmenistan, 
     including exiled opposition leaders and political prisoners, 
     to take part.
       We know that the United States has tried to help the people 
     of Turkmenistan in recent years, and thanks to American 
     educational exchange programs, there is a thriving community 
     of bright Turkmen students and intellectuals who are living 
     in Western countries and are ready to return and help rebuild 
     their country. This community is largely held together by the 
     efforts of Khudaiberdy-Orazov, a former chairman of the 
     National Bank and an accomplished and energetic leader who 
     was forced into exile several years ago. He was unanimously 
     nominated to be a candidate in the February presidential 
     elections by a broad coalition of opposition groups inside 
     and outside of Turkmenistan. According to a recent poll, 
     Orazov's candidacy would have the support of a majority of 
     Turkmen voters. Until Orazov and other opposition candidates 
     are allowed to contest the February elections, the United 
     States and the European Union must refrain from recognizing 
     the junta in Ashgabat and freeze all personal accounts of 
     Niyazov and his cronies abroad. We hope that members of 
     Congress and other government officials will visit 
     Turkmenistan soon to personally deliver that message.
       We must rebuild our country, and with the help of our 
     friends and neighbors we can do it in an open and transparent 
     way. Priorities for a democratically elected government 
     during the initial post-Niyazov reconstruction must be to 
     release all political prisoners, conduct open tenders and 
     allow Western companies to bid for a stake in developing 
     Turkmenistan's oil and gas fields; to consider new ways of 
     getting our gas and oil to Western markets; to restore 
     private property that Niyazov confiscated from Turkmen 
     citizens; and to create a reconstruction fund using Niyazov's 
     personal bank accounts and proceeds from the sale of oil and 
     gas to revive the health-care and education systems.

[[Page E124]]

       The United States is spending billions of dollars trying to 
     turn Afghanistan and Iraq--both deep in the throes of civil 
     war--into democratic nations while all but abandoning their 
     peaceful post-Soviet neighbors to the north. Turkmenistan is 
     ready for a new beginning, and the West must finally step up 
     to the plate. To do otherwise would waste a historic 
     opportunity and allow yet another case of popular discontent 
     with an illegitimate government to become an anti-Western 
     lost cause.

                          ____________________