Fears mount over fate of missing Turkmen dissidents in Turkey

A pair of dissident bloggers from Turkmenistan have been missing in Turkey since July 24, rights groups say, raising fears they may have been targeted by Turkmen intelligence agents.

Alisher Sakhatov and Abdulla Orusov have not been heard from since July 24, according to Human Rights Watch. That is when they are believed to have been released from a Turkish deportation center, where they had been held since April 28, the New York-based watchdog said. The men were set free after the Constitutional Court overruled a lower court’s decision to deport them.

The bloggers may be “in grave danger of physical harm” in Turkey or of “secretly being expelled to Turkmenistan,” where they would face serious risk of torture, arbitrary imprisonment and persecution, warned Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Denber added that the possibility that the bloggers — both fierce critics of Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhamedov's regime — were being held by Turkmen spies or their associates could not be ruled out.

Turkey has a history of expelling dissidents from countries with which it maintains close ties or shares common interests, according to Freedom House. They include Uighurs from China, Iranians, Uzbeks and Turkmens, Freedom House reported in 2022. Last year, a pair of Tajik dissidents, Nasimjom Sharifov and Suhrob Zafar, went missing in Istanbul and have not been heard from since. Muhammed Mammadov, a 30-year-old stand-up comic and blogger, was beaten to death in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, in October 2023 following his return from Turkey, where he had lived for many years.

The murder followed Ankara’s cancellation of visa-free travel for Turkmens in response to the Turkmen regime’s demands. Under the previous arrangement, Turkmen nationals were allowed to stay in Turkey for up to 30 days without a visa. Thousands of Turkmen nationals have been deported since. 

Turkey has also offered sanctuary for a broad array of foreigners fleeing repression and war. They include almost 4 million Syrians, making Turkey the biggest host of asylum seekers worldwide.

Turkey is itself increasingly involved in transnational repression, particularly since the failed attempt to overthrow Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016. Scores of followers of Fethullah Gulen, the late Sunni cleric who was accused of organizing the putsch, have been snatched by Turkish intelligence operatives from across the globe and held at black sites, as reported in detail by Al-Monitor.