Civil Society Inside and Outside Turkmenistan: Searching for Meaningful Engagement in the Interest of the Turkmen Public Dominated by government-supported NGOs (GONGOs), Turkmenistan’s legal and political environment is antagonistic to the independent civic actors, who experience constant state-directed harassment, intimidation, and even persecution.
In the meantime, the infrastructure supporting civil society is significantly underdeveloped.Such an environment forced a range of independent civic actors to leave the country, with some naturally emerging outside Turkmenistan, and playing a crucial role in informing the Turkmen public and the international community on the situation in Turkmenistan.
However, these actors, too, face complex challenges, shaped by the state-directed intimidation and absence of international support and funding.