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Euro Parliament Adopts Resolution on Turkmenistan and Central Asia

STRASBOURG, October 23, 2003 The House adopted a joint resolution deploring the deterioration of the human rights situation in Turkmenistan. The House urges the Turkmen authorities to respect Turkmenistan's obligations under international law and stop attacks on and torture and ill-treatment of political opponents. MEPs call on the Turkmenistan government to conduct impartial and thorough investigations into all the reports of the deaths and custody of Amanmukhamed Yklymov, A. Prokofiev and the former parliamentary Speaker, Tagan Khallyev.

Furthermore, the House calls on the Turkmenistan government to immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience including Nikolay Shelekhov and Kurban Zakirov and the political prisoner Mukhametkuli Aymuradov, convicted in 1995 in an unfair trial.

MEPs also request that the Turkmen authorities ensure that independent observers are granted access to criminal trials. MEPs also call on the government of Turkmenistan to respect the principle of religious freedom, abolish all restrictions on activities of religious minorities, and repeal the presidential ruling that restricts registration of religious groups. The House also wants the Turkmen authorities to abolish compulsory exit visas and restore the right to study abroad.

On Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the House welcomes the release of the political prisoner, Mukhtar Ablyazov by the Kazakh authorities. However, MEPs call on the government of Kazakhstan to unconditionally release the remaining political prisoners, notably Galymzhan Zhakiyanov, co-founder of the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan, and Sergei Duvanov, an independent journalist. The House also calls for the immediate release of the opposition leader Felix Kulov in Kyrgyzstan and the opposition leader Muhammad Bekjanov in Uzbekistan;

The House calls on the Commission to develop and strengthen the TACIS democracy programmes for these countries, with a view, in particular, to promoting media freedom and the independence of the judiciary. Finally, the House calls on the Council to adopt a Common Strategy for the Council Central Asian Republic, to as to make the relations of the EU with those countries more effective, consistent and coherent.

European Parliament