Ministry of Internal Affairs (Turkmenistan)


The Ministry of Internal Affairs is the interior ministry of Turkmenistan. The ministry directly controls the Turkmen police force, consisting of about 25,000 personnel, and works with the Ministry for National Security on matters of law enforcement and defense of the country. The primary tasks of the police force include maintaining law and public security, crime prevention and investigation, passport control, road and fire safety, and international cooperation. They work with INTERPOL. The current minister is Mammetkhan Chakiyev. It was founded on February 19, 1998 by order of President Saparmurat Niyazov, who signed a decree “On the formation of the police of Turkmenistan”.

History

In April 2007, the President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow removed the minister of Internal Affairs Akhmamed Rakhmanov from his position on suspicions of bribery and corruption.
In 2012, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkmenistan worked with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to train its police force on the issue of protecting human rights and countering terrorism.
In May 2016, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs conducted a course for officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the topic of drug trafficking and related interventions.
In August 2017, the Agreement on Cooperation between the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkmenistan was signed by the ministers of each country.
In 2017 and 2018, Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow severely reprimanded his Minister of Internal Affairs Isgender Mulikov at multiple occasions, stating "the poor execution of his job responsibilities, negligence in personnel issues".

Organization