Category Archives: Turkmenistan

People smugglers recruiting skippers from central Asia on Turkey to Italy route

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Boat drivers from former Soviet republics often have very little experience and no idea what they are doing is illegal, say NGOs

People smugglers are increasingly recruiting people from former Soviet republics in central Asia to pilot boats carrying migrants from Turkey to Italy, say NGOs and lawyers.

The migrants are taken by sea from Turkey to Italy, often using sailing boats, as an alternative to the longer overland route through the Balkans where border guards in Croatia and Slovenia have engaged in illegal pushbacks of asylum seekers at the EU border.

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Has Interpol become the long arm of oppressive regimes?

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Once used in the hunt for fugitive criminals, the global police agency’s most-wanted ‘red notice’ list now includes political refugees and dissidents

Flicking through the news one day in early 2015, Alexey Kharis, a California-based businessman and father of two, came across a startling announcement: Russia would request a global call for his arrest through the International Criminal Police Organization, known as Interpol.

“Oh, wow,” Kharis thought, shocked. All the 46-year-old knew about Interpol and its pursuit of the world’s most-wanted criminals was from novels and films. He tried to reassure himself that things would be OK and it was just an intimidatory tactic of the Russian authorities. Surely, he reasoned, the world’s largest police organisation had no reason to launch a hunt for him.

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Turkmenistan dedicates holiday to enormous national dog breed

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The country’s president has also erected a gold statue and dedicated an ode to the Alabai dog breed

Turkmenistan marked a new holiday on Sunday dedicated to its national – and very large – Alabai dog breed, to which its longtime leader has already erected a gilded monument and written an ode.

The new holiday took place on the same day as a festival celebrating the Akhal-Teke horse breed, which Turkmenistan also considers part of its national heritage.

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Turkmenistan leader reveals golden monument to favourite dog breed – video

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Turkmenistan's leader, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, solemnly inaugurated a monument for his favourite breed of dog, the nationally revered alabai.

The gold-leaf six-metre statue of the central Asian shepherd dog is the centrepiece of a busy roundabout in the country's capital, Ashgabat.

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Caspian states mull shipping safety agreement

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News selected on topics and regions - oil and gas, business, politics, IT, the South Caucasus, the Caspian Sea region, Central Asia Ranking of the Azerbaijani banking sector Representatives of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan met in Ashgabat to discuss a draft protocol on cooperation in safety of shipping in the Caspian Sea, Turkmen government said in a message Nov. 18. The agreement creates a legal basis for cooperation between the parties in the fight against terrorism, organized crime, arms and drugs trafficking, smuggling, human trafficking, illegal immigration, as well as shipping safety.