Radio “Azatlyk” reports that on 6 November, at 11 p.m.Ashgabat time, a person who introduced himself as Maksat Garayev father of Kasymberdy Garayev, who, two weeks ago, had come out and confessed he was gay, contacted the editor-in-chief of the media outlet.
Kasymberdy personally talked to the editor via a video сall.
The young man claimed that he has never contacted “Azatlyk” before and that all reports about to him are untrue.
He referred to a video, where the young man asks him to be forgiven in case he is “taken somewhere”, as a mistake.
According to Kasymberdy, the video was recorded for a different purpose and the fact that it ended up in the editorial office was a mistake.
The young man’s father asked the “Azatlyk” editorial board to inform the individuals and organizations that expressed concern over his son’s fate that Kasymberdy is OK.
It should be highlighted that Garayev’s family made contact not immediately after the publication of potential problems which the young man might face, but after Italian politicians and the LGTB activists became interested and demanded that the Italian government raise the issue of Kasymberdy’s fate and other representatives of sexual minorities in Turkmenistan during the meeting with the Turkmen delegation.
The official visit of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov to Italy kicked off on 6 November, 2019.