The narrative of the Turkmen government decides for others whether to respond or not
Let’s look at what happened in Turkmenistan following the earthquake in Türkiye.
Civil society defining its narrative according to the government is another sign of the lack of democracy in that country.
For Turkmenistan, this became clear again after the earthquake in Türkiye. The earthquake, which occurred on February 6 and caused the death of more than 50,000 people, shows several nuances about the way Turkmenistan is choosing to deal with the disaster and emergency.
Firstly, let’s look at what happened in Turkmenistan following the earthquake.
A day after the earthquake, Turkmenistan provided its first aid. Together with the plane carrying this aid, 10 doctors from Turkmenistan were sent to the earthquake site.
On February 8, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov visited the Turkish Embassy in Ashgabat. During his visit, Berdimuhamedov noted that the citizens of Turkmenistan were among those who suffered from the earthquake. This is a change in the government of Turkmenistan's disaster response strategy. Usually, the Turkmen government has habitually kept silent about the situation of Turkmen living in that country during disasters abroad. As in the case of Ukraine, there may have been reports that Turkmen citizens were brought to Turkmenistan by special plane, but the actual situation was never made clear.
The collection of donations and funds began to become more active among civil society and NGOs, especially after Berdimuhamedov visited the Turkish Embassy. His visit legitimized the earthquake for people living in Turkmenistan. It was a message that could mean the following:
“Hey, the Turkmen government approved this disaster, and, as we are also sending humanitarian aid, we would not block initiatives, there is nothing wrong.”
Türkiye's ambassador to Turkmenistan, Togan Oral, called for donations through his Twitter.
Several parties in Turkmenistan, from companies to public organizations, actively participated in this call. The aid collected from Turkmenistan was mainly coordinated through the Red Crescent Society and the fund named after Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.
The second Turkmen plane with humanitarian aid was sent to Türkiye on February 11, and Turkish Embassy sent donations like blankets, generators, and clothes with five different Turkish Airlines flights between February 16 and 26. In addition to these, Turkmen logistic companies sent aid by truck.
Everything looks fine so far. Donations are being collected and sent to Türkiye, no one is being interrogated because of their contributions.
But.
What about Turkmen citizens that are affected by the earthquake?
Although the Turkmen government has acknowledged the existence of victims, it has not publicly shared information about their exact condition. According to the report of Turkmen.news dated February 10, the bodies of at least four citizens of Turkmenistan who died in the earthquake were sent to Turkmenistan. No information about them was shared on Ashgabat-based sites.
While the Turkmen government failed (or did not want) to make aware of the situation of Turkmen citizens, an online list of Turkmen citizens, located in cities that were affected by the earthquake, is being circulated on social media. According to this list, nine people from Turkmenistan died because of the earthquake. Moreover, ‘Turkmen students and young professionals living abroad’ initiated a fundraising campaign to support Turkmen students affected by the earthquake. The situation for Turkmen students was not smooth even before the earthquake because of the transaction limits and/or inoperative bank cards.
It is almost impossible to calculate the percentage of embassy-coordinated donations that directly helped Turkmen citizens in Türkiye and it is pity that there is no open call for donations in Turkmenistan for Turkmen people affected by the earthquake.
This is not the only situation when the Turkmen government or NGOs, located in Turkmenistan, ignored its citizens. After the hurricanes in Lebap and Mary regions in April 2020, Turkmen authorities started to hunt people, that filmed “unwanted” footage, rather than responding to food shortages, restoring utilities, and building back collapsed sides. No official statement about the disaster with a death toll between 30-300 people, no news report, no aid, only complete silence and ignore while, at the same time, being ‘ready to provide emergency assistance in restoring the objects of infrastructures’ that affected from the flood in Uzbekistan.
If I would come back to the narrative argument, the narrative of the Turkmen government decides for civil society, international organizations, and NGOs whether to respond to the emergency or not. If the government accepts and approves the emergency, others start to act and respond. If the government ignores and builds censor blocks around the emergency, others do the same. Especially this type of obedience by international organizations does no help other than legitimizing the existing regime.