Tariq Saeedi
Turkmenistan’s permanent neutrality, unanimously recognised by UN General Assembly Resolution 50/80 of 12 December 1995, received its modern, active and operational character under Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who led the country as President from 2007 to 2022 and has since continued to shape its foreign policy as National Leader (Arkadag) and Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty.
In the previous two articles we documented the initial shift to “positive neutrality”, the establishment of the UNRCCA, the major UN resolutions on energy and transport, the Group of Friends of Neutrality, the Charitable Foundation, the TAPI pipeline, the 2025 Constitutional Law, and the general preparatory activities for the 30th anniversary.
The Inspiring Saga of Arkadag and Neutrality
The Humanitarian Heart of Neutrality: How Arkadag’s Vision Shapes Turkmenistan’s Compassionate Global Presence
We will concentrate here on the elements that were either only briefly mentioned or entirely absent in the earlier texts.
The decisive philosophical deepening occurred at the 20th anniversary conference in 2015, when Berdimuhamedov explicitly redefined neutrality as a “strong moral framework” that projects Turkmenistan’s internal values – peace-loving disposition, consent, tolerance and humanity – onto the international arena. This turned neutrality from a mainly legal-defensive status into an active foreign-policy methodology that allows the country to analyse and address any global or regional problem through the specific prism of neutral principles.
This methodological turn made possible a series of concrete diplomatic successes that were not merely the fruit of neutrality but its direct application:
- simultaneous resumption of gas supplies to Russia (2019) and deepening of the strategic partnership with China without joining any bloc;
- peaceful resolution of long-standing Caspian delimitation issues with Azerbaijan (2021) and the finalisation of border demarcation with Iran;
- transformation of energy and transport corridors into genuinely depoliticised projects that all parties can join without fear of geopolitical pressure.
After stepping down from the presidency in March 2022, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has retained direct strategic oversight of the neutrality doctrine. In 2025, under his guidance, the Constitutional Law “On the Policy of Peace-lovingness and Trust” was adopted, providing the most up-to-date legal formulation of neutrality yet.
Throughout 2025 he has personally chaired the organising committee for the 30th anniversary celebrations and repeatedly inspected the new architectural complex around the Neutrality Monument.
In the final phase of preparations he has advanced two major new initiatives that demonstrate the continued dynamism of the doctrine:
- A draft UN General Assembly resolution entitled “Neutrality in the Service of Peace and Security” (to be tabled in the current session);
- The concept of an international Code of Conduct for states during armed conflicts, built on the principles and practice of neutral states.
The International Conference on Women scheduled for 9–10 December 2025 in the Avaza National Tourist Zone constitutes a practical illustration of this latest evolution: for the first time, neutrality is explicitly employed as the organising prism for discussion of gender equality, women’s role in peace-building, and the protection of women and children in conflict zones – issues that no previous neutrality-related forum had placed at the centre.
Thus, over eighteen years of continuous leadership, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has taken Turkmenistan’s neutrality through three distinct phases:
- 2007-2014: from passive-legal to positive and proactive;
- 2015-2021: elevation to a moral-philosophical framework and preventive-diplomacy tool;
- 2022-present: full operationalisation as a universal prism for analysing and addressing any contemporary challenge while strictly preserving non-alignment.
The flagship event of 12 December 2025 in Ashgabat, preceded by the Avaza women’s conference, will therefore present not only a celebration of thirty years of neutrality, but the public demonstration of its latest, most mature phase – a flexible, active and universally applicable instrument of peace that Turkmenistan, under Arkadag’s guidance, offers to the world. /// nCa, 4 December 2025