A former dentist, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has been serving as the President of Turkmenistan since 2007. Photo / Getty
A former dentist, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has been serving as the President of Turkmenistan since 2007. Photo / Getty
Landlocked by Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Iran, Turkmenistan is one of a handful of countries who have recorded no Covid cases to the World Health Organisation.
Current statistics from the WHO state the totalitarian dictatorship has zero confirmed cases of Covid-19, with zero deaths. It's also administered 7,580,976 vaccine doses, meaning 53.2 per cent of their population is fully inoculated.
A former republic of the Soviet Union, the country joins North Korea, and the Pacific Islands of Nauru and Tuvalu who have yet to report a single case. Previously, the Kingdom of Tonga was also part of this exclusive list, however a positive infection from a returning expat via New Zealand plunged the island into lockdown on Monday.
But Turkmenistan's spotless record has been put into question by activists and organisations operating away from the country's government-controlled media.
From rumours of the country suffering three waves of Covid, to the death of a foreign diplomat who wasn't able to be treated for Covid and bizarre remarks from President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, the country's handling of the pandemic has been thrown into question.
In a damning allegation against the Turkmenistan government, Guizide Uckun – the widow of Turkish diplomat Kemal Uckun – alleges authorities actively covered up his illness.
Speaking to Netherland-based, independent publication, Turkmen.news, Ms Uckun said references to Covid-19 were actively not allowed, with doctors refusing to diagnose her husband with the disease, despite him displaying "a high temperature, fever and shivers, exhaustion, shortness of breath, constant sweats, and a bad cough".
"He couldn't talk on the phone because of his problems breathing. He said that his lungs were burning," she said.
"I think his room had been bugged. Whenever we talked on the phone, the doctors would come in and persuade Kemal that he had pneumonia, not coronavirus.
"They said they had saved patients in a worse condition and persuaded him he would get over it in 12 days. But in 12 days my husband died."
Due to the lack of information, Ms Uckun sent Mr Uckun's X-ray results and a list of medications to three hospitals in Turkey, who agreed "without hesitation" that he had Covid.
However, after his death, Mr Uckun's body was embalmed which meant an autopsy was unable to confirm whether he died of Covid-19.
"The Turkish doctors thought their Turkmen counterparts were not giving patients the right medication," said Ms Uckun "But the forensic experts recognised it without any doubt from the X-rays."
Turkmenistan has continued to close its borders to travellers as a way to ensure their citizens don't catch Covid-19. Photo / Getty
'Why aren't you saying what it is?'
Speaking to BBC in September this year, a Turkmenistan man the publication called Sayahat Kurbanov shared a similar story.
Mr Kurbanov was also suffering with difficulties breathing and despite testing positive with Covid, the doctors referred to his condition as pneumonia.
"I couldn't inhale – it was as if everything inside me was glued. I had panic attacks since I couldn't breathe. It was as if I had dived under water and couldn't surface," he said.
He was also unable to receive official documentation confirming his diagnosis, despite visiting two hospitals.
Mr Kurbanov was also unable to receive official documentation confirming his diagnosis, despite visiting two hospitals, with staff refusing to use the words Covid or coronavirus.
"They would say 'this virus' or 'this disease'", he said. "I would push them, 'Why aren't you saying what it is? Is it Covid?' And they would nod silently."
Similarly, CNN reported that activists have placed Covid-related deaths "in the thousands".
The editor of Turkmen.news and Turkmenistan exile, Ruslan Myatiev, also told the publication he's verified the Covid-related death of over 60 people through health records and X-rays, with the patients showing signs of "severe lung damage and medical treatment consistent with coronavirus victims".
Turkmenistan women seen cleaning sweeping in a park in the country's capital of Ashgabat, Photo / Getty
'Licorice cures Covid'
Meanwhile, Mr Berdymukhamedov has continued to dismiss reports of Covid in his country.
Instead, in December 2020 he ordered the National Academy of Sciences to study licorice root as a method to stop "coronavirus from developing: He further claimed that even a "weak concentration of a water-based extract' could have "a neutralising effect".
"Scientists from every country are looking for effective cures, running various studies, and one of them could be licorice root," he said.
On the international stage however, Mr Berdymukhamedov said the pandemic shouldn't be "politicised".
Now widowed, Ms Uckun said it was this culture of government secrecy which has killed hundreds.
"President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has declared the Epoch of Might and Happiness in Turkmenistan, so nothing bad can happen in the country," she said, referring to the words used to describe Mr Berdymukhamedov's current term of government.
"There's supposedly no coronavirus either, so the Turkmen authorities hide it, killing hundreds of people in the process, as long as they don't appear in the Covid reports in the international media."
