EU Accused of Ignoring Human Rights Abuses in Rush for Gas Deal

Human rights groups have attacked the EU for negotiating a trade deal with Turkmenistan, one of the harshest regimes in the former Soviet Union. Campaigners have accused the EU of turning a blind eye to the abuses of President Saparmurat Niyazov as it eyes up his country's huge gas reserves.

"It comes as a huge shock that the EU is moving to break ranks and cosy up to this pariah government," Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group said in a joint statement. Their intervention came after the European parliament brought back to life a trade agreement with Turkmenistan, which had been on hold since 1999 amid concerns over human rights.

Last month the influential foreign and trade committees of the parliament voted in favour of the agreement, which will now go to the full parliament. Once passed, it will move on to the council of ministers for approval. Critics say the EU is ignoring blatant human rights abuses because it wants European companies to be allowed to grab a share of Turkmenistan's huge gas reserves. Turkmenistan is keen to bypass Russia and Ukraine, which are its main customers.

Cem Ozdemir, a German Green MEP, tried unsuccessfully to block the agreement with Turkmenistan in the parliament's foreign affairs committee. He compared the treatment of Turkmenistan with that of Belarus, which does not export gas, and whose leaders were recently subject to EU travel bans because of vote-rigging. "Large gas reserves lie behind the EU's policy difference towards Turkmenistan and Belarus," Mr Ozdemir said. "Apparently the EU is still willing to compromise human rights for economic interests. When energy resources are at stake, the EU is clear as to what comes first."

Farid Tukhbatullin, an exiled Turkmen human rights activist, recently wrote in the International Herald Tribune: "Belarus is a dictatorship, but the democratic opposition had the opportunity, however limited, to express its views, form political movements, and participate in the election. In Belarus the government is throwing people in jail for 12 to 15 days; in Turkmenistan, it's 12 to 15 years."

The European commission, which first proposed establishing an "interim agreement on trade and trade-related matters" with Turkmenistan in 1998, said it was simply recognising the country as a sovereign state - the old accord was with the Soviet Union. The new accord, it added, included a human rights clause to allow the EU to pursue human rights concerns with the country, and it did not offer any new trade advantages.

Richard Howitt, a Labour member of the foreign affairs committee, who abstained in the vote, said: "I am disgusted and appalled by the regime in Turkmenistan. But isolation of the regime has failed. The idea is to use trade as a leverage on the regime to improve human rights. If they do not do that, Europe should walk away."

Backstory

Saparmurat Niyazov, known as Turkmenbashi (or Father of all Turkmen) is one of the former Soviet Union's most repressive leaders. As president for life, he enjoys supreme powers in Turkmenistan where people are jailed for questioning "the one and eternal" leader.

An old joke says there are three types of people: former prisoners, prisoners and people about to be thrown into prison. The Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, is dominated by a large golden effigy of the 66-year-old, who renamed January in honour of himself.

Opera and ballet have been banned and he has named the month of September after his great tome, the Rukhnama. Reading it aloud three times increases intelligence and sets people on an automatic path to heaven, Turkmenbashi says.