The human rights center “Memorial” reports that on 27 September, 2021 the Turkmen activist Dursoltan Taganova was placed in a deportation facility “Selim-pasha” in Istanbul.
A day earlier, at about 5 p.m. two police officers visited the apartment where Taganova is renting a room but she was not at home. The law enforcement officers told a tenant who opened the door that the young woman had been summoned to the police station where she needed to sign some documents.
When the female activist came to the police station, she was detained.
In 2020 Dursoltan Taganova spent three months in a deportation facility after she had been detained at a protest in July.
She was released in October 2021 following a joint appeal of several international and Turkmen human rights organizations to the Turkish authorities.
According to the Turkmen Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, other Turkmen activists residing in Turkey are also facing detention.This news was reported by a participant of protest movements Bairam Allalyev, who was summoned to the police on 24 September, 2021.
He claims that he has seen a document listing 25 Turkmen activists, including Aziz Mamedov, Azat Khaitbayev, Jumasapar Dadebayev and others.
The police officer said that they have been ordered to send all individuals from the list to the deportation facility and recommended holders of a valid passport to travel to a third country. Those who stay will be deported.
Some activists are reporting tightened pressure on their relatives based in Turkmenistan.
Human rights defenders believe that the clampdown on Turkmen dissidents and their deportation might be one of the conditions for the Turkmen authorities to join the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States (the Turkic Council).
A regular summit of the Council will be held in November in Istanbul.
In addition, according to human rights activists, during a recent visit to Turkey a person related to the family of President Berdymukhammedov, attempted to find out from Turkish partners if they can threaten or “punish” Turkmen activists in Europe or Turkey through criminal networks. It is reported that the Turkish partners did not support this initiative.
On 2 September, 2021 the leader of the opposition movement “Democratic Choice of Turkmenistan” Murad Kurbanov was detained at the international airport of Istanbul.
He was later deported to France (Kurbanov is a citizen of France comment by the editorial board) and denied entry to Turkish for five years.The post Turkmen activist Dursoltan Taganova detained in Istanbul.
Another 25 dissidents face deportation first appeared on Chronicles of Turkmenistan.