Closer to home, the KGB recently took notice of my efforts to gather public support to combat a planned atomic energy complex in Iran. They spoke very respectfully but firmly about the fact that such activity is not correct. We are hoping to organize this effort now primarily from Russia.
This article was originally published in ECOSTAN News, Volume 2/10, October 1, 1994. Reprinted by permission of the author and also of ECOSTAN News, 219 North Avenue, Weston Massachusetts 02193
E-mail: esievers@igc.org and Almaty, Kazakhstan E-mail: ecoalmati@glas.apc.org
Communication costs in Turkmenistan recently went through the roof. A one minute international call now costs the equivalent of between two and ten dollars. Given that half of Turkmenistan's citizens have relatives in the West or in other former Soviet republics, this increase now effectively separates families; average monthly wages are equivalent to only about two or three minutes of conversation. It is now much cheaper to visit overseas than to call.
The ecological quality of agricultural products has actually improved in Turkmenistan over the past two years. Chemical fertilizers and agrochemicals have become too expensive for popular use.
In his latest speech, President Saparmurat [Niyazov] Turkmen-bashi declared that Ogurchinsky Island in the Caspian Sea should become Turkmenistan's principal resort. At the present time, the island is a nature reserve in which several hundred endangered djeiran live.
More good news. Cholera and other dangerous infectious diseases, including AIDS, are outlawed on the territory of Sovereign Turkmenistan. Medical information and statistics are classified and doctors are forced to sign a commitment not to release information. We confirmed that in Tagta-Bazar in August and September there were about fifty cases of cholera, some of them fatal.
While a quarantine was imposed on the village, in the press there was not one word about the event. It's possible that the WHO (World Health Organization) was not informed about this cholera outbreak in Turkmenistan.
The school year has now begun in Turkmenistan and students are memorizing oaths to Turkmenistan: 'For the smallest evil I cause to you, cut off my hand. For the smallest insult against you, take away my tongue. In the hour I betray your holy standard, stop my breath.'
Folk culture has birthed a somewhat different variant of this oath, one closer to the vital realities of life: 'If I receive a paycheck for June, cut off my hand . . . .'
Older schoolchildren and their teachers are preparing to 'voluntarily' travel to agricultural sites to gather cotton. Open protests against this forced labor have not been voiced, and those wishing not to participate bribe doctors for certificates of bad health.
This article was originally published in
ECOSTAN News, Volume 2/10, October 1,
1994. Reprinted by permission of the author
and also of ECOSTAN News, 219 North
Avenue, Weston Massachusetts 02193
E-mail: esievers@igc.org and Almaty,
Kazakhstan
E-mail: ecoalmati@glas.apc.org