CIVICUS speaks in regards to the disappearance of Turkmen activists Abdulla Orusov and Alisher Sahatov with human rights defender Diana Dadasheva from the civil motion DAYANÇ/Turkmenistan and with Gülala Hasanova, spouse of Alisher Sahatov.
On 24 July, Turkmen activists Abdulla Orusov and Alisher Sahatov have been kidnapped in Edirne, Turkey, after being labelled a ‘risk to public order.’ Regardless of making use of for worldwide safety, they have been unlawfully deported to Turkmenistan. Orusov and Sahatov, outstanding voices within the diaspora by way of their YouTube channel Erkin Garaýyş, are actually being detained, starved and denied a good trial, whereas authorities are intentionally delaying proceedings to exclude them from an upcoming amnesty. Their instances spotlight the rising dangers confronted overseas by Turkmen activists, who’re being focused past their nation’s borders. The worldwide neighborhood should push to safe their instant launch and finish such abuses.
What occurred to Abdulla Orusov and Alisher Sahatov?
Abdulla Orusov and Alisher Sahatov are Turkmen civil activists and bloggers who reported on human rights violations, corruption, migrant points and social hardships confronted by folks in Turkmenistan. They have been among the many few who dared to talk when most have been pressured into silence.
Final April, Turkish police got here to their residence underneath the pretext of checking their paperwork. Appearing on Turkmenistan’s request, they detained each males on false terrorism expenses, claiming they posed a risk to Turkey’s nationwide safety. They have been taken to a deportation centre in Sinop and later transferred to Edirne.
The Turkish Supreme Court docket dominated that returning them to Turkmenistan would put their lives in peril and ordered an finish to the deportation course of. However on 24 July, instantly after their launch, they disappeared. Dependable sources advised us that they had been secretly flown to Turkmenistan on a cargo aircraft, underneath the supervision of Officer Amangeldiyev Amangeldy, who was later awarded a medal for the operation.
To at the present time, we don’t know the place they or in what situation. Their abduction is a severe crime and a blatant violation of worldwide legislation.
Are there different examples of such human rights violations?
Over current years, many Turkmen activists who have been courageous sufficient to talk up have disappeared in Turkey and Russia, together with Malikberdy Allamyradov, Azat Isakov, Rovshen Klychev, Farhad Meymankuliev and Merdan Mukhammedov. Activist Umida Bekjanova is at present detained in a Turkish deportation centre and we concern she might face the identical destiny.
Turkmen authorities are finishing up a scientific marketing campaign to remove unbiased civic voices. In in the present day’s Turkmenistan, anybody who refuses to remain silent dangers being branded a terrorist or enemy of the state. These labels have turn out to be instruments of repression, used to justify abductions, fabricate prison expenses and drive folks to return to Turkmenistan.
What dangers do Abdulla, Alisher and different activists face after being forcibly returned?
Their lives are in peril. We obtain experiences of torture, hunger, humiliation and psychological abuse. They’re held in isolation, denied authorized defence and a good trial.
In Turkmenistan, there are not any unbiased courts, attorneys or free media. Individuals disappear into secret prisons for years, reduce off from their households and the world. We don’t know the place they’re or if they’re nonetheless alive. For his or her relations and family members, this implies limitless ready and despair, a gradual, silent type of torture.
How has this affected your households?
Having my husband kidnapped has destroyed our lives. I’m elevating 4 youngsters who ask day by day when their father will return. We reside in ache and concern, underneath fixed surveillance and threats.
Being a Turkmen activist means going through harsh dwelling circumstances. Some, like Diana, reside with out paperwork or technique of subsistence or social safety, caring for young children underneath the fixed concern of being kidnapped.
Nonetheless, we refuse to remain silent; if we did, others would disappear too. Along with the DAYANÇ/Turkmenistan Human Rights Platform, we’ve got declared a starvation strike till Abdullah and Alisher return residence safely. We’ve additionally launched a marketing campaign ‘If I Disappear – Don’t Keep Silent’ the place we publicly identify those that can be accountable if we too disappear. That is how we defend ourselves and our family members, as a result of in the present day it’s Abdulla and Alisher however tomorrow it might be any of us.
What do you count on from the worldwide neighborhood?
The worldwide neighborhood should act urgently to safe the discharge of Abdulla, Alisher and different disappeared activists. They have to additionally demand Turkmenistan put an finish to the prison follow of labelling folks as terrorists for merely talking the reality.
However statements aren’t sufficient. We’d like actual motion. We name for an unbiased investigation into unlawful deportations and abductions, and for these accountable for abductions, torture and repression, in Turkmenistan and Turkey, to be held accountable for his or her actions. We additionally demand the creation of a ‘Inexperienced Hall’ for at-risk activists and households and the issuance of emergency documentation and monetary assist for migrants left with out authorized standing and weak to exploitation, trafficking and recruitment by prison networks or extremist teams.
The world has no proper to stay silent or look away. The worldwide neighborhood should stand with Turkmen activists disadvantaged of their fundamental rights to id, motion and freedom of expression. Their silence solely empowers the perpetrators and fuels impunity. Each second of inaction breaks one other life. The worldwide neighborhood should act now.
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Twitter/Diana Dadasheva
Twitter/Gülala Hasanova
SEE ALSO
Compelled loyalty, concern, and censorship: Turkmenistan’s relentless assault on civic freedoms CIVICUS Monitor 26.Jun.2025
Turkmenistan: tyranny mutates into dynasty CIVICUS Lens 18.Mar.2022
Turkmenistan: ‘There may be nothing resembling actual civil society – and no circumstances for it to emerge’ CIVICUS Lens | Interview with Farid Tukhbatullin 10.Mar.2022
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