The news outlet Turkmen News reports that on 15 August, 2020 Turkmen activists in the USA joined the protests organized by Belarus nationals against falsified results of the election in Belarus which was won by the incumbent President Aleksandr Lukashenko a week ago.
Zara Khayit, a Turkmen national residing in the USA and one of the organizers of latest protests said that “by joining the protest they expressed solidarity with сitizens of Belarus who got weary of a 26-year-old dictatorship”.
“Joining the Belarus protest we wanted to show our fellow countrymen that it is high time we stopped keeping silent and endured the dictator who pushed his people into poverty and starvation and betrayed his own people during natural disasters and the outbreak of COVID-19”, – she said.
In the meantime, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov is the only Central Asia President who has not extended greetings to Lukashenko over his victory in the election.
According to a political analyst Arkadiy Dubnov, this is related to the financial dispute between Turkmen and Belarus Presidents over the construction of Garlyk mining and refining facility.
On 16 August, 2020 Turkmen activists also held an act of protest in front of the 9/11 Memorial and the UN Headquarters.Fellow citizens printed out photos of prisoners of conscience Mansur Mingelov and Gulgeldy Annaniyazov.
The photos also feature Vepa Matiyakubov and Kakadjan Khalbayev young men who were convicted in Turkmenistan for religious beliefs.
“We would like to draw the attention of the UN to our prisons and to the facts that even without explosions and bombs a dictator Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov is exterminating the population of Turkmenistan”, – Zara Khaiyt said.
“Chronicles of Turkmenistan” has previously learned that seven Turkmen students were detained in Belarus during protests.