Hell of a country
From Mr J. Morrell Sir: Katie Grant's article ('Democracy: who needs it?', 29 June) on Turkmenistan is being passed around online Central Asian groups with queries as to whether it is a satire or funded by the President. I would simply ask whether she was actually in the correct country.
Never in my extensive travels have I visited anywhere with such a feeling of oppression and joylessness. Has Ms Grant been to other countries in the region where families picnic in the parks unlike the deserted public areas of Turkmenistan?
One day in May I came across a huge group of people being herded on to trucks. A passing woman explained that they were going to work on the cotton harvest for a month. She brightly told me that she didn't think they would get paid, But they do come back!'
Amid the personality cult, the multiple ID checks, the complete lack of free media and rule of law, and official wages which — even when housing and power are taken Out of the equation — hardly cover basic needs. I certainly wouldn't want to live there. Would Ms Grant?
J. Morrell
London W10
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