Category: World Service
Date: 09.11.2005
Printable version
Reporting from the former Soviet republic of Turkmenistan, one of the world's most secretive and repressive states, was never going to be easy - but this is the challenge undertaken by Lucy Ash and researcher Sian Glaessner who spent a week undercover on tourist visas reporting for Assignment on 91Èȱ¬ World Service.
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Their graphic account of life for ordinary people denied both basic necessities like healthcare as well as freedom of expression is the first of four investigative programmes.
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Other programmes will cover gang warfare in Rio, the plight of failed asylum-seekers returned to the Congo and corruption in Costa Rica.
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"It's almost impossible to over-state the degree of control exercised by Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov," says reporter Lucy Ash.
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"Thousands of his opponents - real and imagined - have been imprisoned after an alleged assassination attempt in 2002.
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"And life for ordinary people has become increasingly harsh with a lack of even basic health-care. Recently there have been unconfirmed reports of outbreaks of bubonic plague.
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"At the same time, President Niyazov - known for his bizarre rulings - has announced that hospitals outside the capital, Ashgabat, are to be closed.
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"Reporters are seldom given entry visas - and those that are have phone calls monitored, their movements restricted and are invariably shadowed by members of the KNB - the Turkmen successors to the Soviet KGB.
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"Yet there are important issues to report in this energy-rich central Asian country of five million people.
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"We were determined to find out more about life inside Turkmenistan. Reluctantly - and after much discussion - we decided the only practical way was for her to visit the country for a week on a tourist visa.
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"We talked to people who are struggling to exist in a world where one man's whim is law and where the basic functions of state have long since collapsed into an anarchic quasi system of corruption.
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"The stories we heard told of a country on its knees, practically a 'failed state'. There is massive unemployment as the government launches repeated waves of job cuts.
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"In the past 10 years the country has continued to suffer a massive brain drain, as everyone who can leave does so."
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Assignment's producer, Andy Denwood, adds:"There are huge problems recording surreptitiously in a country like Turkmenistan.
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"When public criticism of the government is a one-way ticket to the gulag, Lucy and Sian had to be paranoically careful not to lead the KNB to contributors. The interwiewees are given anonymity within the programme.
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"At the same time, Lucy and Sian had to maintain the fiction that they were on holiday. By day they and their official guide - who knew nothing of their real purpose - toured carpet bazaars and archaelogical sites.
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"Every evening they slunk out of their hotel unaccompanied to rendezvous with dissidents and anyone else brave enough to speak to the 91Èȱ¬.
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"The result is a rare and vivid series of snapshots of life inside Turkmenistan.
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"From the nurse-turned-prostitute who lost her job during massive cutbacks in the old Soviet health system, to the brave and earnest campaigners who warn of a rising generation of children, uneducated and vulnerable to indoctrination.
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"Lucy was able to record conditions inside a Turkmen hospital, and hears heart-wrenching stories of unnecessary medical deaths, and the desperate plight of the seriously ill who seek treatment by illegally crossing into neighbouring states."
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Assignment: Inside Turkmenistan, on Thursday 17 November in Europe, launches a short series of four investigative programmes. It can be heard at the following times (GMT) in the following regions:
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Australasia: Wed 2206 rpt Thu 0306, 0806 1506, Sat 0306
East Asia: Thu 0306 rpt 0706, 1306, 1906, Sat 0306
South Asia: Thu 0506 rpt 0906, 1406, 1906, Sat 0306
East Africa: Thu 0706 rpt 1306, Fri 0006, Sat 0306
West Africa: Thu 0906 rpt 1406, Fri 0006, Sat 0306
Middle East: Thu 0806 rpt 1306, 1906, Fri 0106, Sat 0306
Europe: Thu 0906 rpt 1306, 1906, Fri 0106, Sat 0306, 1306
Americas: Thu 1406 rpt 2006, Fri 0106, 0606, Sat 0306
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Dates for other programmes in the series are:
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Rio Death Squads, 24 November;
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Message from Mavembo, 1 December;
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and Costa Rica Corruption, 8 December.
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Notes to Editors
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91Èȱ¬ World Service is an international radio and online broadcaster delivering programmes and services in 43 languages.
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It uses multiple platforms to reach 149 million listeners globally, including SW, AM, FM, digital satellite and cable channels.
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It has more than 2,000 partner radio stations which take 91Èȱ¬ content, and numerous partnerships supplying content to mobile phones.
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Its international online sites, which include audio and visual content and offer users opportunities to interact directly with world events, receive more than 330 million page impressions a month.
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