Handbills Criticizing Turkmen President Appear in Istanbul

Posters denouncing Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov have been put up in Istanbul’s Aksaray district, an area popular with citizens of Turkmenistan. The handbills in Turkmen and Russian are posted in underpasses, on buildings and noticeboards. The text of one handbill says (misspelling the president’s surname): “You too speak out against the illegal power of dictator Gurbanguly Berdymummedev.”

Another poster remembers Turkmen political prisoners and carries the hashtag #getOffyourKnees in Russian, Turkmen and English.

It’s not known for certain who put up the posters, but turkmen.news sources saw one poster with an inscription “Democratic Liberal Party of Turkmenistan.”

There’s hardly any information about the party on the Internet, just that it was created by “Turkmen students studying abroad.” Its leader is Azat Khaytbaev. He was unable to get in touch with turkmen.news before publication.