Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when his Department last raised human rights concerns at ministerial level with the government of Turkmenistan.

On 24 November I raised human rights in a meeting with Turkmenistan’s Minister for Education, underlining the UK’s readiness to support further reform in Turkmenistan. Our Embassy also discusses human rights with both Ministers and senior officials in Turkmenistan at appropriate opportunities, including during a meeting with First Deputy Foreign Minister Hajiyev in November 2014.