Finally a number of visits paid by distinguished guests to Turkmenistan were completed, and after December 12 the Ashgabat residents gave a sigh of relief.
Every high level event is awaited by the Turkmenistan inhabitants as apocalypse. It is explained by the fact that the visits of senior level officials seriously affect the every day life of the capital. This virtually paralyzes the life with the streets shut off and traffic jams caused by a shortage of motorway junctions, which makes it impossible to get to the destination on time. The international airport named after Turkmenbashi is closed, the flights are delayed or postponed for an uncertain period of time. No cars and taxis are allowed to enter the airport, and the passengers and persons accompanying them are forced to walk several kilometres to get to the airport carrying their luggage.
Thus, when the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy was opened in the capital on December 10 all passengers arriving with the domestic airlines were held inside the airport building and were not released till the evening. Moreover, nobody even bothered to apologize to the large number of people or merely explain the reasons for such measures. Yet, a few Internet users experienced a real challenge. On December 10 no Internet access was available. Apparently it was turned off at the request the Ministry of National Security. Similar cases have already been observed before. When the high level officials pay visits to Ashgabat the web access is either very slow or virtually impossible.
In a nutshell, the Turkmen citizens and foreign visitors had the first hand experience of the Turkmen-style preventive diplomacy practices.
Source: TIHR