Turkmen.news exclusive: President Berdimuhamedov at Clinic in Germany

Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov is at a clinic in Munich, an informed source has told turkmen.news. It is not known whether the president is undergoing a routine medical or receiving treatment.

Berdimuhamedov was on board the government plane that landed in Munich from Ashgabat on June 21. He went straight from the airport to the clinic.

The government aircraft, registration number EZ-A780, landed at 06.40 local time. Just over an hour later the plane flew to Frankfurt where it remains. On the return flight to Ashgabat on Thursday June 23 it will stop in Munich to pick up the important patient.

Turkmen.news wrote in its previous report on the government flight that the plane was first to fly from Ashgabat to Frankfurt. It seems that the authorities decided to reroute the flight at the last moment.

The Watan evening news program on Turkmen television indirectly confirmed that the president is not in the country. On June 21, though it was a Tuesday, the program began with a congratulatory letter from Berdimuhamedov to participants in a culture week being held in Mary region. The newsreader read the report. Then she read his letter to cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko congratulating him on his birthday. No reports were shown featuring the head of state, which is unusual for Watan.

The previous Tuesday, June 14, the president flew to Iran on an official visit. On his return he visited Mary and Lebap regions, and on June 20 met the head of the Chinese National Oil and Gas Corporation (CNPC), Hou Qijun.