When he was a teenager, Beckmurad Hoxhaev was hiding from his parents to smoke. Fifty years later, the pensioner from Turkmen is still hiding, but this time by police.
“I smoke in my apartment. But if I feel like smoking in the city, I find a place without observation cameras to avoid a fine-alias, a dead end, behind some tall shrubs or trees, an empty place,” the 64-year-old builder told AFP.
The retreating central Asian country of seven million people, where the percentage of smoking is already very low, swore to eradicate the habit completely by the end of the year.
Hoxhaev said he had already been fined for smoking near his home.
“Since then, I’ve been trying not to catch myself anymore,” he said.
The goal of without tobacco was set in 2022 by the country’s supreme leader Gurbanguli Berdimuhamedov, a former dentist.
Only four percent of Turkmen smoke, according to the World Health Organization.
There are great taxes and restrictions on cigarettes and smoking in almost all public places are already prohibited.
Khodjayev says he buys cigarettes in private pavilions, as state stores run by the Ministry of Trade do not have them.
In his pavilion in the capital, Ashgabat, the seller Maylis said cigarettes come from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Iran.
“Most of the time I sell single. Not everyone can afford a whole package, it’s too expensive,” the 21-year-old told AFP.
– steep fines –
According to several smokers in Turkmenistan, the package can cost between 50 and 170 mana ($ 14.20 to $ 48.50), while individual cigarettes cost between two and five mana.
Therefore, the package is about 11 percent of the average monthly salary, which was approximately 1500 mana in 2018, according to Turkmen’s most official statistics.
Comparisons with other countries are complex due to the double currency course in Turkmenistan – official, state -controlled and real -life, which works on the black market.
At a hospital in Ashgabat, Soltan, a doctor, welcomes the “active fight against the government against tobacco”.
“We are treating tobacco addiction. The health ministry has created centers where smokers can receive free tips for refusal,” she said.
Authorities rely on more comprehensive methods with various bans on smoking, import restrictions and fines that can reach 200 mana.
“After receiving a few fines, I decided to stop finally after the time I was caught smoking in my car in a public parking lot,” said Ilyas Baeshimov, a 24-year-old entrepreneur.
– Public apologies –
The Berimhamedi – Gurbanguli and his son Serdar – have ruled the country for almost 20 years with almost absolute power.
After calling Serdar Berdimhamedov in 2023 for the “no compromise” to fight smoking, about 20 people were shown on state television, promising not to smoke water pipes or to import tobacco illegally.
There are also regular public burns on smuggled cigarettes, accompanied by shows of traditional Turkic dances and singing.
Only a few months until the end of 2025, the authorities did not claim to win the eradication of smoking.
Related to AFP, the health ministry declined to answer – it is not surprising in a country where receipt and verification of any official information is extremely difficult.
Smokers seemed doubtful about a complete ban.
“Cigarettes will not disappear completely, but they will become much more expensive and there will be a black market,” says 60 -year -old Haidar Shikiev, builder.
Seller Galina Soyunova said that cigarettes “will always be available under the hob, but even more expensive.”
“Who will buy cigarettes for the price of gold? Nobody. The question of tobacco addiction will be resolved,” she said.
Al-bk/dt/mmp/phz/jhb