Initial reports from an MEPs' visit to Turkmenistan paint a grim picture of the Central Asian country, amid concerns that the EU's interest in the country's energy reservoirs undermines its stand on human rights.
"It's the most repressive country I've ever been to," British conservative MEP Martin Callanan told EUobserver on Monday night (26 June) after a five-day long trip last week. "Human rights standards don't exist."
The MEP visit comes a few months after the European Commis...
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.