Umida Bekchanova. Still from Bekchanova’s video report
Turkmen activist Umida Bekchanova has been detained in Turkey and is facing deportation to Turkmenistan, despite having lived and worked in the country legally for several years. The news was first reported on May 31 by exiled Turkmen opposition figure Khalmurad Soyunov on his YouTube channel.
According to Soyunov, who cited Bekchanova’s lawyers, Turkmen security services and diplomats in Turkey had long been attempting to locate her in Istanbul.
Bekchanova was ultimately apprehended on May 30, allegedly after Turkish police located her niece-in-law, who had recently arrived in the country for work. Plainclothes officers identifying themselves as police reportedly used the niece-in-law to deceive Bekchanova into revealing her location. She was then detained, held for four hours in a minibus, and transported to a deportation center. Bekchanova managed to contact both her attorney and fellow activists during this time.
Soyunov suggested that the operation was orchestrated by Turkmen intelligence using Turkish police as intermediaries. He believes the timing was intentional—on a Thursday—allowing authorities to exploit the weekend lull in legal services to expedite her deportation before any legal intervention could be mounted.
On June 1, Turkmen.news reported that Bekchanova was transferred from the deportation center to the airport for expulsion to Turkmenistan. Her supporters said she had no identification documents with her. Lawyers are currently attempting to halt the deportation.
Bekchanova has been an outspoken critic of the Turkmen regime from Turkey for several years. Authorities in Turkmenistan have retaliated by targeting her family. Her younger son is currently imprisoned on what Bekchanova has described as fabricated charges. She has publicly stated that he was tortured with electric shocks during the investigation.
The activist has also received numerous threats from unknown individuals. Amid the recent kidnappings and deportations of Turkmen bloggers Farhad Meymankuliev and Merdan Mukhammedov, as well as the arrests of other online activists like Alisher Sakhadov and Abdulla Orusov, Bekchanova had been living in seclusion, caring for an elderly person and avoiding public exposure.
She began speaking out against the Turkmen government in 2020, following the deaths of dozens of Turkmen labor migrants in Turkey, the regime’s silence over a devastating hurricane in the country, and its refusal to acknowledge the COVID-19 pandemic.
