Today, 07/03/2023, in the evening at about 18.00 in Istanbul, a Turkmen migrant - Nurberdy (known in society as Nurmurad) Bazarov, born 10/08/1988, went out onto the street and made a half-hour Tik Tok stream.
The main theme of his very emotional speech was an appeal to the Turkish government to protect him and his family from the lawlessness of the Turkmen regime.
From the video clip you can see how Nurmurad Bazarov shouts to the whole street that because he demands his legal rights, because of his speeches on the Internet, he is insulted (by pro-government bloggers), persecuted, called a traitor to the motherland, a terrorist : “In addition, they swear at my parents, they call my 72-year-old mother a prostitute. My mother lives by honest work. She worked for 35 years for the benefit of the state.
Where is our government headed? Where is the evidence for all these accusations, I demand facts...
Meet this kind of country we have, this is Turkmenistan.”
Passers-by called the police, who took him to the police station at 6:35 p.m., but soon released him. Bazarov assured his friends that he would not stop there.
Nurmurad Bazarov is a native of Lebap province, the city of Sakar, the father of 4 children. In Turkmenistan he served as a foreman in Takhtabazar border service of Mary province. In September 2016, he came to Istanbul as a labor migrant and got a job in the textile industry.
“I cannot remain indifferent when the rights of my compatriots are violated. Therefore, I carefully monitor all news and activist speeches. Since 2016, I began leaving comments under video speeches of opposition movements under the name Murad Dovranov. And since 2020, I have already started performing under my real name and opened my own Tik Tok channel. Usually between 30 and 400 people listen to me. I am not a member of any movement.
In 2021, Turkmen secret service workers came to my home in Lebab several times. My parents are afraid to tell me about this. I learned this from my neighbors, so they don’t know exactly who came, what rank, or employees of what service.”
Turkmen Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights