Introduction to Turkmen Notebooks

Welcome to Turkmen Notebooks, a website devoted to documenting, preserving, and archiving the history of independent thought in Turkmenistan since it became a sovereign country in 1991. Turkmenistan has one of the world’s most authoritarian and closed regimes, and, as such, is often portrayed as country in which the people are completely cut off from the world, repressed, and unable to speak their minds. This is, in many ways, true.

Turkmenistan has no free media, no independent judicial system or civil society, and is ruled almost exclusively by the executive branch of its government. In thirty years, it has had three presidents—the most recent one Serdar Berdymukhamedov is the son of the prior leader, and someone with little government experience before being selected to succeed his father, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.

However, as in all repressive nations, Turkmenistan has a history of dissent, of independent thinking, of samizdat—the classic Soviet tradition of self-publishing texts that are prohibited by the government. These are the documents preserved on Turkmen Notebooks: press releases and newspaper articles, memoirs, essays, reports, and other materials that portray a Turkmenistan far different from the official propaganda that the government apparatus publishes.

Who the site is for:

The audience for the site is diverse. It will, we hope, serve as a resource for scholars, students, journalists, civil society leaders, and others interested in Turkmenistan. We also believe that the site will be an important resource for the Turkmen diaspora civil society movement—especially the young activists in Turkey and other places, who have little understanding and knowledge of the history of dissent and civic organizing in Turkmenistan. We hope that Turkmen Notebooks can fill some of that gap.

Languages:

The languages of the site are Russian, Turkmen, and English.  Initially, documents will be published in whatever language they were originally written (with the annotations where possible, as noted above). We hope that in the future some key documents may be translated into other languages. However, we realize that it is unrealistic to think we can translate everything, and we don’t currently have the resources to do that.

Why:

We recognize that unless materials are preserved, history is lost. We cannot afford to lose this important part of Turkmenistan’s (and Centra Asia’s!) history.

Kate Watters, Executive Director Crude Accountability