How Does Turkmenistan have ZERO Reported Covid-19 Cases?

In order to understand the incomprehensible reality of how Turkmenistan citizens are not being allowed their basic rights as humans during this pandemic is to recognize the oppression that they have faced even since their departure from the Soviet Union in the 90s. The tyranny that these people have endured over the years is intensified in the fact that most of them don’t even know what life aside from it is like. Right now, the despotism is hiding a silent killer from the masses.

History of Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is a country of 5.8 million in Central Asia and shares borders with Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and the Caspian Sea. It is largely covered by the Karakum Desert and is known for its archaeological ruins, as well as its “unique” (I prefer the term eccentric) leadership.

Saparmurat Niyazov was the first president of Turkmenistan after it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. He was known for paying extreme homage to himself and his family, creating impractical rules, going on banning sprees, and other bizarre behaviors.

Niyazov called for a large portion on of the country’s money to be reallocated into a “special presidential fund”, which funded projects such as the Neutrality Monument. The eye sore of a monument was a three-legged arch, which atop sat a gold statue of Niyazov that consistently rotated to always face the sun. He also called for a “Golden Age Lake” to be built in the desert, which cost around six billion dollars!

He banned operas, ballet, and the circus because they were deemed “un-Turkmen”, as well as long hair and beards on men. He renamed days of the week, months of the year, and even bread. Bread began being called “Gurbansolta”, after his mother. He prohibited lip syncing at concerts and owning dogs as pets because he didn’t like their smell.

Niyazov, who in his mind was a scholar of literature, wrote the “Ruhnama”, a book consisting of poetry, history, and moral guidelines. It was required to be memorized before one could graduate from school or even get a driver’s license. It was placed in every library, mosque, school, and government office and was immortalized in the huge sculpture below.

Turkmenistan’s second and current president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow is a former dentist. He declared that the country would have an annual beauty contest for horses and also performed in a rap video with his grandson. Not entirely the most stable of leaders either.

The Second Most Censored Country in the World

Turkmenistan has been labeled as the second most censored country in the entire world, trailing only behind North Korea. Individual internet access was only authorized in 2008. Currently only around 21% of the country’s citizens has access to the internet.

The government is able to block independent online publications and websites, including social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.

All domestic media sources are state-owned, and state controlled. They are also known to detain, assault, and jail journalists who come into the country without their permission, as well as their own citizens who attempt to share the truth of their dictatorship with others around the world.

Coronavirus Spreads Worldwide

Beginning in March 2020, every country in the world began feeling the effects of Covid-19. Every country that is except (supposedly) Turkmenistan.

Nine months after the pandemic began, Turkmenistan has yet to report a single positive Covid-19 case.

How is this possible?? Well, you can’t catch a disease that doesn’t exist right? Turkmen authorities have all but banned the term “coronavirus”, even going to great lengths to remove the word from health information brochures. It has also been reported that plain-clothes police officers were arresting those who were wearing masks or even just speaking about Covid-19.

Recently, and fortunately for the Turkmen public, Berdymukhammedov did recently order the fumigation of all public spaces with the fumes of the burning the plant Peganum harmala, which is believed to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

While Turkmenistan has suspended international flights, closed their borders, began requiring the wearing of masks, and implementing quarantining and social distancing guidelines, the government still insists that it is only being done in an effort to “prevent” the virus from reaching Turkmenistan, as the government only refers to it as an external problem.

While there is an obvious increase in the amount of people being admitted to the hospital and having symptoms, the government insists that it is only due to a rise in the amount of dust in the area and a radical surge of pneumonia.

In July, WHO traveled to Turkmenistan and after 10 days in the country, went along with the government’s claim that there were no confirmed cases of Covid-19.

In August, WHO returned and finally received permission from the government to conduct independent Covid-19 testing. So far, over 60,000 tests have been conducted in the country, but the results have not yet been published. Also in August, the US Department of State issued a travel advisory for Turkmenistan, urging travelers to avoid the country due to Covid-19.

The Rumor

There were reports in September that Turkmenistan officials approved an amendment to the law that obligated people who suspect that they have contracted a dangerous disease seek medical treatment and those who are hospitalized with illnesses are not to leave the facilities. Disobeying this law could result in two to five years in prison.

It’s obvious for most to assume that if there are no coronavirus infected persons in the country, then there shouldn’t be a need for such a sudden amendment.

However, something even more unfathomable than an entire country not being affected by something that has overtaken almost every other inland country in the world, is that those infected could possibly be being murdered by their own government in order to keep it quiet.

Turkmen.news, an independent website, reported on September 1, 2020 in regard to Sapa Gurbangulyev of the Vekilbazar district police. At the end of June, Gurbangulyev began feeling ill and was admitted to the regional infectious disease hospital in Mary where he received treatment for fever and fluid in his lungs. After he began having breathing problems, he was transferred to another hospital in Yolotan.

On July 3, Gurbangulyev called his wife and told her to come quickly to get him from the hospital. When she arrived, she was unable to enter the hospital due to quarantine guidelines.

When she called her husband to tell him, he stated “Then they will give me an injection now and kill me.”

Thirty minutes later, staff from the hospital called his wife to advise her that he had died.

There have been multiple (but unconfirmed) reports of others sharing similar stories with various media outlets. They claim that patients who showed signs of the coronavirus were given injections that killed them. Bodies returned to the families are wrapped in plastic and they are instructed to not unwrap the body, but to leave it in the plastic and bury it immediately.

Claims such as these have left citizens of Turkmenistan in fear of seeking medical treatment in hospitals, no matter how severe their symptoms.

This suspicion induced lack of medical treatment, not to mention those who can’t afford it, coupled with the blatant denial of the government is killing Turkmenistan citizens. Not only does their government refuse to accept that this monster has invaded their borders, but there is the unbelievable possibility that they are murdering their sick. However, this country has a history of the unbelievable, so it actually isn’t so surprising, just sad.

Sources:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/turkmenistan-stranger-in-a-very-strange-land-1814127.html

https://www.neatorama.com/2007/06/11/craziest-dictator-ever-turkmenbashi/

https://editorials.voa.gov/a/a-41-2006-05-16-voa3-83105712/1479573.html

https://www.dental-tribune.com/news/covid-19-oddities-why-does-turkmenistan-have-zero-cases/

https://thediplomat.com/2020/08/death-and-denial-in-turkmenistan/

https://caspiannews.com/news-detail/who-gets-go-ahead-from-government-to-begin-covid-19-testing-in-turkmenistan-2020-8-11-0/

https://www.rferl.org/a/analysis-turkmenistan-coronavirus-deadly-rumor-avoiding-hospitals/30829700.html

***Note: Article previously published on my Medium profile.***