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Category: nurgeldi

  • Journalist Nurgeldi Halykov barred from leaving Turkmenistan

    New York, January 14, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Turkmen authorities’ decision to place a travel ban on Nurgeldi Halykov, a freelance correspondent for the independent Netherlands-based news website Turkmen.news, who was released from prison in June 2024 after serving a four-year sentence on retaliatory charges.

    On January 12, border guards at Ashgabat International Airport, in the country’s capital, prevented Halykov from boarding a flight to the United Arab Emirates, where he had been due to start a job outside of journalism, informing him that he was under a temporary travel ban but without providing a reason.

    “Journalist Nurgeldi Halykov has already suffered appalling retaliation for his reporting. It’s time Turkmen authorities let him get on with his life,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Authorities in Turkmenistan must end their relentless harassment of those who collaborate with the country’s exiled media.”

    Border guards told Halykov to contact Turkmenistan’s State Migration Service for more information about the ban. Turkmen.news Director Ruslan Myatiev told CPJ on January 14 that Halykov had yet to make an inquiry. CPJ emailed the State Migration Service for comment but did not immediately receive a reply.

    Ashgabat police arrested Halykov on July 13, 2020, the day after he forwarded to Turkmen.news a photo that he found on social media of a World Health Organization delegation at a local hotel during the COVID-19 pandemic. Turkmenistan is the only country in the world that says it has not recorded a single case of COVID-19.

    A court in September 2020 sentenced him to four years in prison on fraud charges for allegedly failing to repay a loan.

    Myatiev told CPJ  in March 2021 that he suspected that Halykov’s wider work for Turkmen.news was the reason for his imprisonment.

    The media environment in Turkmenistan is one of the most restrictive in the world, and exile-based news outlets rely on networks of correspondents who generally publish anonymously, a number of whom have previously been jailed on retaliatory charges.

    In November, Turkmen authorities prevented Soltan Achilova, a reporter for Austria-based Chronicles of Turkmenistan, from traveling abroad to collect an award for the third consecutive year.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Turkmen journalist Ruslan Myatiev banned from entering Turkey

    New York, September 12, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Turkey’s July 25 denial of entry to Ruslan Myatiev, director and chief editor of Turkmen.news, a Netherlands-based independent Turkmen news website.

    “Journalist Ruslan Myatiev’s account that Turkey acceded to Turkmenistan’s request to ban him is a startling suggestion of Turkey’s complicity in transnational repression with one of the world’s worst press freedom violators,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Turkish authorities should revoke the travel ban against Myatiev, and Turkmenistan must stop retaliating against exile-based journalists.”

    When Myatiev arrived with his family at Antalya airport in southern Turkey for a holiday, police denied him entrance to the country, citing an entry ban. Myatiev told CPJ that he had not been officially provided with further information, but that he overheard law enforcement officers telling each other the ban was classified under code G-82 — which pertains to “activity against state security” — and had been requested by Turkmenistan. Officers detained Myatiev for four hours and questioned him about his work and travel before escorting him onto a flight back to the Netherlands.

    Turkmen.news is among a small number of exile-based independent media reporting on Turkmenistan, which has one of the most repressive media environments in the world. The news website has repeatedly been targeted by cyberattacks in recent years, and Turkmen.news correspondent Nurgeldi Halykov recently completed a four-year prison sentence in retaliation for his reporting.

    Myatiev told CPJ that cooperation between Turkish and Turkmen law enforcement has significantly increased since protests by Turkmen labor migrants in Turkey in 2020, leading Turkmen journalists working in Turkey to feel insecure.

    CPJ’s emails requesting comment from the Communications Directorate of the Presidency and the Interior Ministry of Turkey, and from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan did not receive any replies. 


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Turkmenistan releases journalist imprisoned for 4 years for COVID photo

    Stockholm, June 10, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is relieved by the Saturday release of Nurgeldi Halykov, a freelance correspondent for independent Netherlands-based news website Turkmen.news, after he completed a four-year prison sentence on trumped-up fraud charges.

    “We are relieved that Nurgeldi Halykov is free after enduring a shockingly unjust prison term in one of the world’s most opaque and fearsome prison systems,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Turkmen authorities must ensure that no more journalists are jailed for their reporting and work to improve the country’s international reputation by liberalizing the media environment so that independent reporters do not have to work clandestinely or under fear of arrest.”

    Police arrested Halykov on July 13, 2020, in the capital, Ashgabat, the day after he forwarded to Turkmen.news a photo that he found on social media of a World Health Organization delegation at a local hotel during the COVID-19 pandemic. A court in September 2020 sentenced him to four years in prison on fraud charges for allegedly failing to repay a loan.

    Turkmen.news director Ruslan Myatiev told CPJ  in March 2021 that he suspected authorities discovered Halykov’s wider work for Turkmen.news during questioning, and that was the reason for the extended prison sentence.

    Turkmenistan is the only country in the world that says it has not recorded a single case of COVID-19.

    The media environment in Turkmenistan is one of the most restrictive in the world, and international news outlets rely on networks of correspondents who often publish anonymously, a number of whom have previously been jailed on retaliatory charges.

    The Prove They Are Alive! campaign, a coalition of human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, has recorded dozens of enforced disappearances in Turkmenistan’s prisons.

    Ogulsapar Muradova, a reporter for U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Turkmen service, died in prison in 2006 after sustaining unexplained injuries.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.