Turkmen President Says Iran Ties 'Advantageous' For Region
Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov (file photo) (Bymedia.net)
Niyazov said after the talks that relations between Iran and Turkmenistan are "advantageous" to Central Asia's security.
Iran's official news agency, IRNA, reports that the two leaders will meet again on July 25, before Ahmadinejad departs for Tajikistan.
This is Ahmadinejad's first
official visit to Turkmenistan. The Iranian president is accompanied by several cabinet ministers.
The two sides were expected to discuss Turkmen gas exports to Iran and efforts to define the final status of the Caspian Sea.
The five states sharing the shores of the Caspian Sea have failed to agree on their respective maritime boundaries -- and the accompanying exploitation of resources -- since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia have reached an accord, but Iran and Turkmenistan have not signed on to it.
(IRNA, AFP)
Tajigul Begmedova speaking at RFE/RL in Prague on July 21 (RFE/RL)
LIFE UNDER NIYAZOV: On July 21, RFE/RL's Prague broadcasting center hosted a presentation by
TAJIGUL BEGMEDOVA, chairwoman of the Bulgaria-based Turkmenistan Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (THF). Begmedova discussed the human rights situation in Turkmenistan under President Saparmural Niyazov, focusing on the arrests in June of THF activists and RFE/RL Turkmen Service correspondent Ogulsapar Muradova. Begmedova, who graduated from the Institute of Economy in Moscow in 1987, fled Turkmenistan in 2002 and lives in exile in Sofia.
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Listen to the complete presentation (36 minutes; presentation in Russian with consecutive translation into English):
Real Audio Windows MediaSome RFE/RL Coverage Of Human Rights In Turkmenistan:
Media Coverage Of Leader Distracts From Real Problems
Authorities Cast Wide Net In Conspiracy Allegations
Embattled Turkmen Writer Honored Abroad
RFE/RL Correspondent Recounts Arrest
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