The Russian-Turkmen impasse

The Turkmen regime’s decision to terminate the agreement with Russia on dual citizenship has created ripples in the Central Asian Region (CAR), and caused panic in the country’s 100,000 Russian speakers. The Turkmenistan President Sapamurat Niyazov has signed a decree which gives a period of two months to people holding dual citizenship to renounce any one citizenship, and had initially set 22 June as the deadline. This was followed by strong reactions from the Russian Foreign Ministry, which stressed that according to international law the Russo-Turkmen agreement on dual citizenship was not retroactive. Hence, people with dual citizenship will continue to enjoy the privileges envisaged by that agreement.

The root of the present issue lies in the very origin of the Turkmen nation. Turkmenistan was carved out in 1924 and later structured to meet the four basic criteria of nationhood: unity of language, territory, economy and historical culture. The immigration of Russians into the urban areas of Turkmenistan gradually diminished the proportion of Turkmens in the job market and ownership of property. Turkmenistan continued to remain a confederation of tribes rather than a modern nation mainly due to the prevalence of endogamy between the tribes. The adoption of a new constitution after the breakdown of the Soviet Union has been marked by two major developments:

1. A conscious effort for having a state initiated nation building (homogenization) policy, wherein unity between the Turkmen tribes is to be promoted by an intelligent use of the media, promotion of the Turkmen language, and the use of symbols and narratives.
   
2. There has been a steady growth of the President’s ‘personality cult’ with numerous institutions and public premises being named after him. A new title has been bestowed upon him by which he is addressed in public as ‘Turkmenbashy’, or the ‘Head of Turkmen’. His term has been extended twice since 1997 by the Majlis. His book ‘Rukhnama’ (moral code for Turkmenistan citizen) is the main textbook for school and University students, and has been sanctified as a holy text by his supporters.
   

These developments assume significance given the sweeping changes that are taking place in various Central Asian Republics, ranging from discarding the last vestiges of the Soviet Union, called the ‘derussification’. This has adverse impacts on the status of the Russian language as a medium of instruction in these countries, and its use has either been discontinued or relegated to a secondary status. This situation has been further exacerbated by the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) through military and economic aid and physical presence in the region. This has also been the experience of other Republics of the former Soviet Union. Relations between Russia and Ukraine were also clouded for some time over use of the Russian language.

Meanwhile the Russian Duma issued a tough statement on the violation of human rights in Turkmenistan, and urged the Turkmen regime to halt the process of tracing down people with dual citizenship. A Head of the Duma’s International Affairs Committee also accused Turkmenistan of being involved in drug trafficking and supporting terrorist groups. The Russian media was equally vociferous about the plight of Russians in Turkmenistan and has chided President Putin for letting gas deals take precedence over the interests of ethnic Russians.

Russia’s woes are far from over, with its strategic interests in jeopardy and threats to the very stability of the region. Turkmenistan has the fourth largest natural gas reserves in the world and is mostly dependent on the pipeline which passes through Russian territory. But, over a period of time, it has been exploring other options to export gas to Europe via Turkey (Trans-Caspian pipeline), or to Iran. It is also considering a project connecting Afghanistan and Pakistan, and another to Japan and China. Turkmenistan is engulfed in problems of migration, rising crime and drug abuse, while it also battles the emergence of radical Islam. Recent reports of the International Crisis Group call for checking indiscriminate actions of the CAR regimes towards emerging religious sects, and instead suggest the strengthening of democracy in their countries. 

Russia needs to actively engage the Turkmen leadership despite its quixotic and reckless ways of entrenching itself in power with no accountability to its people. Russia has to work for a new post-Soviet order; pipeline politics alone should not determine its interests. Problems like organized crime, illegal migration, human trafficking and smuggling of weapons have rendered this region very volatile. While it is prudent to erode memories of the former Soviet Union and establish a new and just order, Russian ambivalence could endanger its interests given the steady expansion of NATO in the region.

Published on 28 August 2003, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies.
 
URL: 
http://www.ipcs.org/comm_select.php?articleNo=1109