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HEARING: THE STATE OF DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN TURKMENISTAN

Members

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Hon. Chris Smith

Chairman

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

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Hon. Ben Nighthorse Campbell

Co-Chairman

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

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Hon. Steny Hoyer

Ranking Member

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

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Hon. Joseph Pitts

Commissioner

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

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Hon. Sam Brownback

Commissioner

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

Witnesses

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John Beyrle

Principal Deputy to Ambassador-at-Large

Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for New Independent States

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Avdy Kuliev

Member

Turkmen Opposition in Exile

Pyotr Iwaszkiewicz

Former Member

OSCE Office in Ashgabat

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Firuz Kazemzadeh

Member

U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

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Cassandra Cavanaugh

Research Associate

Human Rights Watch/Helsinki

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E. Wayne Merry

Director, Program on European Societies in Transition

Atlantic Council of the United

This hearing reviewed the democratization process, human rights, and religious liberty in Turkmenistan. This was one in a series that the Helsinki Commission has held on Central Asia.

Turkmenistan has become a worse-case scenario of post-Soviet development. Human Rights Watch Helsinki did not yield from calling Turkmenistan one of the most repressive countries in the world. As a post-Soviet bloc country, Turkmenistan remains a one-party state, but even that party is only a mere shadow of the former ruling Communist Party. All the real power resides in the country’s dictator, who savagely crushes any opposition or criticism. The witnesses gave testimony surrounding the legal obstacles in the constitution of Turkmenistan and other obstacles that the authoritarian voices in the government use to suppress opposition.

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