[Swprograms] Undercover in Turkmenistan: the first of four new World Service investigations

[Mike Barraclough <softbulletin1@xxxxxxxxx>]

Reporting from the former Soviet republic of
Turkmenistan, one of the world's most secretive and
repressive states, was never going to be easy - but
this is the challenge undertaken by Lucy Ash and
researcher Sian Glaessner who spent a week undercover
on tourist visas reporting for Assignment on BBC World
Service. Their graphic account of life for ordinary
people denied both basic necessities like healthcare
as well as freedom of expression is the first of four
investigative programmes. Other programmes will cover
gang warfare in Rio, the plight of failed
asylum-seekers returned to the Congo and corruption in
Costa Rica.

"It's almost impossible to over-state the degree of
control exercised by Turkmenistan's President
Saparmurat Niyazov," says reporter Lucy Ash.
"Thousands of his opponents - real and imagined - have
been imprisoned after an alleged assassination attempt
in 2002. And life for ordinary people has become
increasingly harsh with a lack of even basic
health-care. Recently there have been unconfirmed
reports of outbreaks of bubonic plague. At the same
time, President Niyazov - known for his bizarre
rulings - has announced that hospitals outside the
capital, Ashgabat, are to be closed. Reporters are
seldom given entry visas - and those that are have
phone calls monitored, their movements restricted and
are invariably shadowed by members of the KNB - the
Turkmen successors to the Soviet KGB. Yet there are
important issues to report in this energy-rich central
Asian country of five million people. We were
determined to find out more about life inside
Turkmenistan. Reluctantly - and after much discussion
- we decided the only practical way was for her to
visit the country for a week on a tourist visa. We
talked to people who are struggling to exist in a
world where one man's whim is law and where the basic
functions of state have long since collapsed into an
anarchic quasi system of corruption. The stories we
heard told of a country on its knees, practically a
'failed state'. There is massive unemployment as the
government launches repeated waves of job cuts. In the
past 10 years the country has continued to suffer a
massive brain drain, as everyone who can leave does
so."

Assignment's producer, Andy Denwood, adds:"There are
huge problems recording surreptitiously in a country
like Turkmenistan. When public criticism of the
government is a one-way ticket to the gulag, Lucy and
Sian had to be paranoically careful not to lead the
KNB to contributors. The interwiewees are given
anonymity within the programme. At the same time, Lucy
and Sian had to maintain the fiction that they were on
holiday. By day they and their official guide - who
knew nothing of their real purpose - toured carpet
bazaars and archaelogical sites. Every evening they
slunk out of their hotel unaccompanied to rendezvous
with dissidents and anyone else brave enough to speak
to the BBC. The result is a rare and vivid series of
snapshots of life inside Turkmenistan. From the
nurse-turned-prostitute who lost her job during
massive cutbacks in the old Soviet health system, to
the brave and earnest campaigners who warn of a rising
generation of children, uneducated and vulnerable to
indoctrination. Lucy was able to record conditions
inside a Turkmen hospital, and hears heart-wrenching
stories of unnecessary medical deaths, and the
desperate plight of the seriously ill who seek
treatment by illegally crossing into neighbouring
states."

Assignment: Inside Turkmenistan, on Thursday 17
November in Europe, launches a short series of four
investigative programmes. It can be heard at the
following times (GMT) in the following regions:
Europe: Thu 0906 rpt 1306, 1906, Fri 0106, Sat 0306,
1306
Australasia: Wed 2206 rpt Thu 0306, 0806 1506, Sat
0306
East Asia: Thu 0306 rpt 0706, 1306, 1906, Sat 0306
South Asia: Thu 0506 rpt 0906, 1406, 1906, Sat 0306
East Africa: Thu 0706 rpt 1306, Fri 0006, Sat 0306
West Africa: Thu 0906 rpt 1406, Fri 0006, Sat 0306
Middle East: Thu 0806 rpt 1306, 1906, Fri 0106, Sat
0306
Americas: Thu 1406 rpt 2006, Fri 0106, 0606, Sat 0306

Dates for other programmes in the series are:
Rio Death Squads, 24 November;
Message from Mavembo, 1 December;
and Costa Rica Corruption, 8 December.

(BBC Press Office)


		
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