In March 2022, Serdar Berdimuhamedov’s succession to the presidency of Turkmenistan following his father Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s retirement raised questions about whether this could open the door to even limited political, economic, and social reforms, as well as whether the international community, including the United States and the European Union, could seize the moment to strengthen their engagement with Turkmenistan.
Three specialists on Turkmenistan, Prof. Luca Anceschi, Ms. Aynabat Yaylymova, and Mr. Ruslan Tuhbatullin, will assess Serdar Berdimuhamedov’s first year in power. At a time when Turkmenistan continues to experience significant economic and social challenges, the speakers will discuss how daily life has been impacted by Serdar’s policies. They will also discuss domestic politics and social issues, including the labor market, education, health, food security, and the environment, as well as how the people of Turkmenistan see their rights and responsibilities and assess the role and the engagement of the international community in Turkmenistan.
Luca Anceschi teaches Central Asian studies at the University of Glasgow, where he also co-edits Europe-Asia Studies, the world’s most established academic journal for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. Educated in Naples and Melbourne, Prof. Anceschi is the author of Turkmenistan’s Foreign Policy: Positive Neutrality and the Consolidation of the Turkmen Regime (Routledge, 2009), and is currently completing a research monograph on the role of Eurasianism in the making of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy. His articles have been published in Europe-Asia Studies, Demokratizatsiya, Nationalities Papers, and Central Asian Survey. Before joining the University of Glasgow, Dr. Anceschi lectured in international relations at LaTrobe University in Melbourne where, from 2012 to 2013, he held a Discovery Early Career Fellowship awarded by the Australian Research Council.
Aynabat Yaylymova is Founder and Executive Director of Saglyk.org and the Progres Foundation. The Progres Foundation works to support various progressive initiatives that enhance the public’s access to information in Turkmenistan. Over the past 12 years, Saglyk.org, an initiative of the Progres Foundation, has been working to improve public health literacy in Turkmenistan. Progres.online is an online analytical journal that promotes nuanced understanding of societal trends in Turkmenistan by providing quality research and policy analysis. Before that, Aynabat worked as Program Manager of the Europe and Central Asia Program at the Bank Information Center (BIC), a World Bank watchdog in Washington, DC. In Turkmenistan, she co-founded and led the Alliance for Responsible Community Action (ARCA), an organization dedicated to promoting civic education. She is an alumna of the first Central Eurasia Leadership Academy, and from 2006 to 2008 was the manager of that program. CELA is a leading network of mid-career professionals and leaders from Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Afghanistan.
Ruslan Tuhbatullin is editor-in-chief at Chronicles of Turkmenistan (www.hronikatm.com), one of the nation’s few independent news outlets covering human rights, socio-political and economic issues, and other topics in Turkmenistan. He is the author of many analytical articles on the politics of Turkmenistan. Since 2012 he has been a full-time member of the human rights organization Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights, which is based in Vienna, Austria.