Personnel Reshuffles in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan: Diplomacy under the Control of Special Services
On December 11, the President of Turkmenistan, Serdar Berdimuhamedov, carried out personnel reshuffles in the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). As previously predicted by independent media sources, the changes affected several key figures: two deputy ministers of foreign affairs were replaced, as well as the permanent representative of Turkmenistan to the UN office in Geneva. Reported by Turkmen.News. At first glance, these personnel decisions may seem like a routine rotation of the diplomatic corps. However, their significance becomes clearer when considering one important factor: a significant portion of Turkmen diplomats are actually career officers of the Ministry of National Security (MNS).
The most notable figure among the moved officials was Vepa Hajiyev. For almost twenty years (since 2006), he held the post of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, becoming one of the longest-serving officials in the MFA system, second only to the permanent minister Rashid Meredov. Thanks to his knowledge of Farsi, Hajiyev was actively involved in diplomatic engagement with Afghanistan and regularly represented Turkmenistan in international arenas. In particular, he repeatedly spoke at UN human rights hearings, where he answered the international community’s questions about the situation in the country. This concerned issues such as:
- persecution of political opponents
- the fate of political prisoners
- restrictions on citizens traveling abroad
- the situation of national minorities
Hajiyev invariably presented the official position of Ashgabat, rejecting criticism from human rights organizations. However, behind Hajiyev’s diplomatic biography lies another side. According to sources, he is a general of the Ministry of National Security and spent most of his career specifically in the special services system. After graduating from Turkmen State University, he worked briefly for a private company before being invited to the Committee for National Security (now the MNS). Hajiyev was sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs system in 2002, while remaining a career officer of the special services. Now he has been appointed Permanent Representative of Turkmenistan to the UN office in Geneva — one of the key diplomatic platforms where human rights issues are regularly discussed.
According to sources familiar with the work of Turkmenistan’s security structures, Vepa Hajiyev played a prominent role in coordinating government actions regarding civil activists. According to this data, many decisions related to the arrest of activists, the persecution of independent journalists, and the restriction of human rights defenders’ travel abroad were made with his participation or coordinated with him. Sources claim that for a number of special services operations, Hajiyev’s informal consent was required. If he believed that such actions could cause too sharp an international reaction, the operation could be postponed. In particular, cases related to the restriction of travel for prominent human rights defenders and journalists, including journalist Soltan Achilova, are mentioned.
Sources also claim that Hajiyev himself enjoys significant privileges within the power system. For example, his relatives, unlike the families of many other officials, do not face restrictions on traveling abroad, which are frequently applied in Turkmenistan. According to sources, his daughter Aylar, currently working in parliament, was able to travel freely abroad during her studies, including internships in the United Kingdom and trips to Turkey.
Simultaneously with Hajiyev, Berdiniyaz Matiyev left the post of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Official sources reported only that he was transferred to “another job,” without specifying which one. Two new officials were appointed to the vacant posts. One of them was Ahmet Gurbanov, who previously served as Turkmenistan’s Ambassador to Iran. According to sources, he is also an MNS officer. After Hajiyev’s departure, the MFA leadership effectively could not remain without a representative of the special services, so Gurbanov was urgently transferred to Ashgabat. The second deputy minister became Serdar Muhammetdurdyyev — an official considered close to Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov. Prior to his appointment, he headed the Department of State Protocol and International Relations of the Apparatus of the President of Turkmenistan. Interestingly, after being appointed to the new position, he retained his previous post, officially holding two government positions simultaneously. Muhammetdurdyyev’s name has appeared in the news before. In 2022, he was dismissed following a scandal involving compromising photographs from a sauna. However, just a year later, he managed to return to the civil service, which observers link to support from Meredov.
“Ambassadors in Uniform”
According to sources, there is a whole network of so-called “ambassadors in uniform” in the Turkmen diplomatic system — special services employees directed to the diplomatic service. Among the countries where such representatives work, according to sources, are: Austria, Afghanistan, India, China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, France, Japan, Turkey, Ukraine, and Tajikistan. Most often, MNS employees are sent to countries considered politically sensitive or strategically important. Such a practice causes dissatisfaction among professional diplomats. Many MFA employees build their careers for years, hoping to take the post of ambassador, yet key diplomatic positions often go to representatives of other departments. Special control over the diplomatic service in Turkmenistan began to form after the events of 2002, when former Foreign Minister Boris Shikhmuradov and a number of diplomats went into opposition. In the same year, the authorities announced an assassination attempt on President Saparmurat Niyazov. This event became a pretext for large-scale repressions against opposition politicians and officials. After this, the Turkmen leadership concluded that the diplomatic corps could pose a potential threat to the regime. As a result, the MFA began to be gradually filled with special services personnel. Over time, this practice spread to other state structures — from the migration service and customs to state media.
Special services employees working in state departments have a special status. Those working abroad are considered officers of the special reserve, and employees within the country are officers of the active reserve. It is these people, according to sources, who often exert real influence on the work of state institutions. At the same time, their activities are practically not regulated by public legislation. Neither the Constitution nor the laws of Turkmenistan provide for an open mechanism for embedding special services employees into civilian state structures. Sources who worked in state institutions claim that special services employees can be present in almost every department. For example, a former worker of the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting said that their assistant to the chairman for international issues was always a person who later admitted to colleagues that he was a representative of the special services. According to the source, this employee often provoked conversations about politics and recorded the moods of the workers.
A system in which diplomacy is closely intertwined with security structures raises more and more questions for both international observers and representatives of the Turkmen diaspora. Formally, diplomatic missions should protect the interests of citizens abroad and develop international relations. However, in practice, many Turkmen citizens find that embassies cannot help even in solving basic issues, such as replacing passports or processing documents. As a result, a paradoxical situation arises: the diplomatic system, intended to serve citizens, is increasingly perceived as part of a mechanism of political control.
The political system of Turkmenistan has remained practically unchanged since the time of the country’s first president, Saparmurat Niyazov. After his death, power passed to Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who then handed over the presidency to his son Serdar Berdimuhamedov. Despite the change of generations, the key principles of state management have remained the same: concentration of power, dominance of security structures, and lack of transparency in the work of state institutions. Many analysts warn that a system in which special services gain more and more influence may eventually become a threat even to those who created it. History shows that states in which security structures begin to play too large a role in politics and management often face internal crises. And Turkmenistan, according to observers, is no exception to this rule.
