Home » Turkmenistan » Turkmenistan

This is a report of a solo-trip to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, undertaken during July/August 1994.

Turkmenistan

Pierre.Flener
2004-04-03 19:02:45

Displayed times (last time: )

despite the letter of recommendation from the Ankara consul, I ask for another calendar page and apply for a transit visa towards Turkey, not without adding my business card and signing as Prof. Dr. Pierre Flener. Minutes later: "I'm sorry, I cannot give you a transit visa either." The business card doesn't come back, though. On the next calendar page, I ask: "Why?", signing Prof. Dr. Pierre Flener again. Sensing the ridicule in his way of dealing with me, the consul finally comes out to see me, and explains that the land-border is still closed to non-CIS citizens and non-Iranians. Once again, the misinformation syndrome has struck, and I cannot even challenge him on that, because he's definitely the authority here, not his distant colleagues in Ankara: the right paper is more important here than the promise or the person. Pleading turns out useless, because he is about as friendly and cooperative as a prison door, and even if I flew to Tehran (at a cost that would have exhausted my cash travelbudget, credit cards and traveler checks being yet unknown in Turkmenistan), he would only grant me a transit visa of three days, which could be shorter than the bureaucratic hassle needed to extend the visa once in Tehran. (Later, back in Ankara, the Iranian consul told me that my second application had actually been accepted, but under the proviso that I go on a package tour, which is very expensive of course. I didn't have the guts yet to investigate whether that border is really closed for me or not.) He even dares suggest I apply again for a tourist visa, and wait in Ashkhabad for 4-6 weeks until the answer comes in! A strange sense of humor, or no notion of time? I briefly curse the fact that I wanted to do this trip within five weeks only, because otherwise I'd have more time to patiently seek for solutions to the obstacles that are being thrown into my path. Having first assured myself that he sees "absolutely no solution" (I'm thinking of baksheesh ...