“Our clothes and bed linen stink of sulfur.There’s no fresh air to breathe.If our children go outside to play, they come straight home because their skin starts to itch and their eyes stream.
If it’s windy, then the wind even brings the sulfur inside.” Hundreds of tons of sulfur lie in open air in TurkmenistanThis is how residents of Serahs describe the ecological situation in their town in a letter to President Serdar Berdimuhamedov and his father Gurbanguly, chairman of the Halk Maslahaty (upper house of parliament), and also sent to the Mejlis (lower house), the Prosecutor General’s Office, and the Ministries of Justice, Internal Affairs, and National Security.
The people of Serahs reported the terrible air pollution back in January, but the sulfur has only increased since then.What kind of sulfur is it and how has it ended up in Serahs?
It’s granulated sulfur, which is widely used in agriculture, the chemical and engineering industries, and other sectors.The granules are produced in Turkmenistan, which has substantial reserves, and exported to Iran and onwards via major ports across the world.Serahs town and railroad station are located right on the border with Iran.
There is an Iranian settlement and railroad station with the name Serahs on the other side of the border too.Logistics arteries have passed through these places for centuries, but something seems to have gone wrong in the sulfur trade in the past year, as entire mountains of sulfur pile up on the Turkmen side of the border.
This isn’t a question of a new deposit of course.Logistics companies are creating mounds of thousands of tonnes of sulfur near the station.Instead of keeping this hazardous, highly flammable substance in containers, sacks or at least under cover, the logistics companies pile it up right next to the tracks.
Local people young and old experience the consequences every day: the sulfur-contaminated air makes the residents’ eyes water and their skin itch.It’s impossible to stay outside for long, and it’s impossible to ventilate the house during the hot season, as the sulfur would instantly get inside.
The residents have already spent at least one long summer in these circumstances, probably more.Turkmen.news knows that the problem has been going on much longer than a year, but doesn’t know how long the residents put up with it before complaining to the highest authorities.“The stocks of sulfur are less than 500 meters from our homes.
We ask the Turkmen president to have this sulfur moved further away from our houses for the sake of our children’s future,” the letter says.It is signed by 45 residents of Serahs, including local leaders.
As well as complaining about their own situation, they called on the president to take action against air pollution in Turkmenistan.Letter from Sanitary and epidemiological serviceThe polluting companies have been identified.
They are:TanapHalkara Turkmen LogisticHazar LogistikYolashanHalkara Gatnaw LogistikaThe ordinary people of Serahs have not been alone in their struggle all this time.They also complained to the local authorities about the air pollution, and on March 25, 2024 received a reply from the Sanitary and epidemiological service.
Its director B.Annamyradov confirmed that the Serahs residents’ complaints were justified, and the service instructed the companies to reduce the quantities of sulfur, and to start by covering them up.
Moreover, the service got in touch with the municipal administration, advising them to take action and not allow railroad wagons or vehicles carrying uncovered sulfur into the district.The municipal authorities were ambivalent in their response.
On February 3, the then head of the administration, Gurbanmyrat Yazgulyev (dismissed from his post in August 2024 for not coping with his duties) told residents that the sulfur no longer posed a hazard to them as the firms were covering it with cloth and watering the ground around it.
But it’s not possible to cover up hundreds of tonnes of sulfur there are mountains of the stuff.A new head of administration, Begench Tayyrov, was appointed in Serahs in August, but the situation has got even worse since his arrival.
The sulfur mounds are growing.Anyone who tries to take photos or videos to record the scale of the problem is persecuted.Probably, one of the guilty parties has connections that mean they don’t have to fear the local authorities the municipal administration, police and sanitary and epidemiology service.
Turkmen.news discovered that the director of one of the firms is Gichgeldi Kurbanov, a former senior employee at the Foreign Ministry.Another businessman is Ata Yemshikov.We don’t yet know the names of the other owners and directors: maybe one of them is helping to hush up the thousand-tonne problem.
It’s remarkable that storing the granulated sulfur uncovered doesn’t only harm the people and nature within the area interaction with the air, wind, and rain deprives the sulfur of its industrial qualities.
The longer Tanap, Halkara Turkmen Logistic, Hazar Logistik, Yolashan, and Halkara Gatnaw Logistika avoid taking measures to store the sulfur appropriately, the more likely it is that they will have to pay compensation, at least to the customers, for the damaged goods.