-Saparmurat Niyasov has accused you personally of attempt on his life. How can you comment on this?


I won't be able to answer this question. Niyasov did not accuse me personally of anything. He stated that "behind the attempt are people like B. Shikhmuradov, N. Khanamov and H. Orazov". That is to say, he named those people who do not attempt to hide their determination to aid to the fall of Niyasov’s regime as soon as possible. He constantly says that he is not afraid of us, but in fact is trying to blame us for all his failures and blunders. But Niyasov is making two mistakes. Firstly, such categorical slander undermines people’s trust, which is negligible anyway; secondly he doesn’t have to be afraid of us, but of the fact
that more and more often people start to realise that one cannot live under the dictator's oppression for ever, and now the time has come to fight for their normal life and well-being of their families.

You worked under Niyasov's leadership for a considerably long time. How stable is his regime?


I already answered this question on many occasions. At first Niyasov was indeed surrounded by sound professionals who had respect and support of the people; that was used by the future dictator to consolidate his position and in the end led him to create the system of absolute personal power. Gradually he got rid of experienced members of staff
with their own opinion and replaced them, surrounding himself with obedient ignorant puppets, whose only concern was fight for survival by participating in dirty games and intrigues of their master. As recent history shows, it doesn’t help them to gain peace of mind and Niyasov’s
protection.
How stable is the regime? Let us turn to facts. Only during the past year alone in the government of Turkmenistan more then 50 deputy prime ministers, ministers, governors, various chairmen etc., have been replaced. Judge for yourself.
How can you substantiate the statement that the assassination attempt was staged by the Turkmen government?


Every action has its own logic and motive. If you want to answer the question "Who?", first find the answers to the questions "What for?" and "Who gains from it?".
During the last few months Niyasov has had ill fortune in all his activities: repeated purges in the law-enforcement agencies and the government, a disaster with cotton harvest, Turkmen diplomacy failure at CIS summit in Kazakhstan and Caspian summit in Ashkhabad, failure of
negotiations with the Russian authorities about the supply of gas; dead-end situations with trans-Caspian and trans-Afgan gas lines, an infamous failure of the negotiations with Uzbekistan about border disputes. And on top of that also regular scandalous press, constant pressure from Human Rights organisations and OSCE to do with regular Human Rights violations … Also a story about disappearance of $41,5 million from the country’s Centrobank. All this was going on, while the opposition was becoming significantly more active inside Turkmenistan itself, as well as abroad.
Niyasov realised that he was losing control over the whole situation and started to seek to save his rather destabilised position. The endless talk about the opposition’s cunning and inhumanity needed some material
sustenance. At the same time he had to demonstrate to his own people that he is still great and strong. And so he chose a barbarian method to do so — he has invented enemies and now is mercilessly doing away with them.
Do you expect Niyasov to demand of the foreign states the extradition of the members of the opposition (on the pretext of the fight against international terrorism or otherwise)?

What you are asking about, takes most of Niyasov’s working day. He gets on the telephone and starts phoning everyone demanding to "hand over his enemies to him" immediately. Russia is the one to suffer most as Niyasov does not have a command of any foreign language. It doesn’t occur to him
that Russia is a state functioning in accordance with the constitutional law, and unlike in Turkmenistan, for a decision like this it takes something more than a capricious president’s hysteria.
Of course, we cannot feel completely safe while we pose a real threat to the regime of dictatorship. But this is not a question of personal safety; it gives way to the thought about the salvation and safety of the people of Turkmenistan, who are experiencing one of the most terrible episodes in their history of many centuries.

At present, what is the state of the opposition groups in Turkmen territory, if they exist as such?


People’s Movement for Democracy in Turkmenistan for a long time has had well-established connections with groups of activists operating on the territory of Turkmenistan in all five regions of the country. Certainly we would like to have an open debate with Niyasov, but at present this
is, unfortunately, impossible due to tough policing terror in the country called "democracy according to Niyasov". By being mobile and using modern means of communication, the groups of our supporters in Turkmenistan are leading propaganda campaign among the population, distributing information, giving help to those who have suffered due to
the actions of the authorities. We also receive information from them on the regular basis about the general mood of the public, and using this information, adjust our plans and act accordingly.

How, in your opinion, will the situation in Turkmenistan develop in the next few years?


The unbridled regime of Niyasov’s dictatorship has become utterly obsolete. Somebody said that when people start making up jokes about the dictator, it is a dictatorship no more. This is exactly what’s happening in Turkmenistan now. People have raised their heads and are determined to stand up for their rights. They are not afraid of Niyasov’s cruelty and lawlessness because they know that there is no way back. He has declared war on his people; people have accepted the challenge and are not going to fall back.
I have said it many times and I can say it again: people of Turkmenistan have enough potential for a normal civilised development in a modern democratic state. We have enough intelligent, determined people, specialists in economics, politics, science, culture and state administration to take a new course of development for the country with the benefit of the international experience and according to the demands of our age. Turkmenistan deserves to join the international relations scene as an equal, providing the whole range of rights and freedoms for its citizens; and our mission — mission of the democratic opposition —
is to do our uttermost for Turkmenistan to take that path as soon as possible.

How, in your opinion, could Russian authorities and Russian society help people of Turkmenistan in their present situation?


First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Russian Human Rights organisations for their active intolerance of civil rights and freedoms violations by the Turkmen authorities. In our view, during the past year there has been a significant shift in the Russian media towards a more objective, balanced and critical appraisal of
Niyasov’s regime. The dictator understands it, and that is the reason why he has banned the import into the country of Russian printed materials, as well as virtually deprived the Turkmen people of the opportunity to watch Russian TV. In the conditions of total oppression of the population it’s very important to develop cultural connections
between Russia and Turkmenistan. We must not allow them to be cut, which is what Niyasov aspires to. We need Russian schools, Russian literature and Russian language films. We cannot do without the enormous scientific base. In these matters a great deal depends on the position of Russia.
30 November 2002