On July 27, 2020, a message was broadcast on the channels of the Mir TV and radio company from its own correspondent in the Republic of Tajikistan, Azamat Ziyaev, in which there was information that the hot weather expected in the coming days in Tajikistan was caused by the flow of warm air coming from Iran through the territory of Turkmenistan.
The Turkmen side considers such a statement as professionally illiterate and emphasizes that long-term observations of hydrometeorological centers of Turkmenistan and other states indicate that wind flows from the Middle East region, affecting the formation of the climate in Central Asia, are changing their direction, facing the features of the geographic relief. At the same time, in many cases, the wind speed decreases and their impact on the climate of countries located at a considerable distance from the desert-steppe zones of the Near and Middle East and surrounded by high mountain ranges is minimized. In this context, the statement that “hot” wind streams from Iran through Turkmenistan reached the territory of Tajikistan these days, does not stand up to criticism. This fact is confirmed by the data of objective observations of the Hydrometeorological Service of Turkmenistan.
At the same time, the Turkmen side, taking into account the current situation in the world in connection with the spread of coronavirus and other infections, considers the above message of the Tajik journalist to be politically incorrect. This is due to the fact that at present, when the world community is consolidating its efforts in the fight with the pandemic, research intensified in the field of virology, in particular in such a direction as the study of the nature of the origin of the coronavirus. One of the serious conclusions of 239 scientists from 32 countries of the world was the recognition of the fact that viruses can stay in aerosol droplets in the air for a long time. Accordingly, the airborne transmission of viral infections is the most likely and common. In July of this year, the above specialists sent an open letter to the Director General of the World Health Organization.
Based on the foregoing, we believe that any mention of a specific name of a country in the context of the movement of air masses from / or through its territory may raise suspicions of the transfer of dangerous infections to other countries.
Therefore, the Turkmen side, noting the political myopia of the correspondent who prepared and disseminated the above information, emphasizes the unacceptability of violating the norms of political ethics established in international practice.
At the same time, drawing attention to the special danger to human health of infections and, first of all, viruses carried by air currents, the Turkmen side implements a position in accordance with which the countries of the world are encouraged to cooperate in solving serious environmental problems.
One of them is the tragedy of the Aral Sea.
It is here, in the zone of ecological disaster caused by the drying up of the Aral Sea, that air masses are formed, which have an extremely negative impact on the nature, climate, health of people living in the Aral Sea region and far beyond its borders. Dust-salt storms, carrying especially harmful substances from the bottom of the dried Aral Sea, spread over thousands of kilometers and pose a real danger to human life.
Leading the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) in the period 2017-2019, Turkmenistan has taken a number of significant steps to revitalize the activities of this international structure. In particular, as a result of the organizational measures taken, it became possible for all bodies and commissions of IFAS to work on a systematic basis. For the first time in many years, the Summit of the Heads of the Founding States of the IFAS was held in Turkmenistan in August 2018. During the three years of the Turkmen chairmanship of the Fund, important decisions and documents were adopted aimed at further joint work of the Central Asian countries to reduce the negative impact of the consequences of the Aral Sea ecological disaster on the solution of environmental, socio-economic, humanitarian issues in the region.
Turkmenistan is also actively promoting in the UN and other international platforms the initiative to develop a UN Special Program for the countries of the Aral Sea basin. There are noticeable results in this process.
The Turkmen side hopes that Tajikistan, which currently acts as the chairman of the IFAS, will make appropriate efforts to continue the constructive initiatives of Turkmenistan within the framework of joint work in the Fund.
We are convinced that well-coordinated activities to resolve the complex of issues of the Aral Sea problem are especially in demand today, when the whole world is fighting a serious global threat – the coronavirus pandemic.
Based on the foregoing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, noting the counterproductiveness of any information attacks that hinder the normal development of constructive cooperation, emphasizes the need to focus the attention of states on the continuation of a broad multilateral partnership aimed at solving urgent issues on the regional and international agendas.
/// MFA Turkmenistan, 27 July 2020