Nearly 100 Turkmen migrants deported from Turkey on a plane that flew from Istanbul were reportedly subjected to extreme questioning and screening by National Security Ministry (MNB) officials on arrival in Ashgabat.

Azatlyk, citing anonymous sources, this week reported on how events unfolded when the plane landed in the Turkmen capital. The extent of the single-day, single-plane deportation was unprecedented.

Turkey, complying with requests from the Berdimuhamedov regime that maintains Turkmenistan as one of the tightest controlled countries in the world, has gradually withdrawn visa-free travel and other rights from Turkmen migrants in recent years. Human rights groups suspect it of working with Turkmen intelligence agents who, pursuing transnational repression, grab “wanted” individuals for special rendition back to Turkmenistan.

There are many Turkmens living and working illegally in Turkey and many others with legal status. Turkmenistan’s authoritarian rulers are nervous of Turkmen opposition movements in-exile gaining strength and popularity. There have been several cases of prominent individuals, who were activists leading such movements in Turkey, disappearing.

Human Rights Watch is pursuing the case of two Turkmen bloggers, Alisher Sakhatov and Abdulla Orusov, who have been missing since July 24, 2025, when they were reportedly released from a Turkish deportation centre.

Twenty or more of the passengers who disembarked from the plane were reportedly businessmen and MNB employees, who were immediately transferred from the screening zone.

Each of those interrogated were questioned alone in one of five rooms by several secret police officers, a source was reported as saying.

"They called the deportees one by one, checked their phones and had them answer all the questions asked by the MNB officers," the source said, adding that each interrogation lasted several hours and that each deported person who underwent the intensive questioning had to wait for a long time to complete the processing.

"People whose phones were taken from them were forced to reveal their phone's security code, and the information contained therein was examined by MNB officers and IT specialists. Questions such as 'Which social networks did you visit and who did you talk to? What did you like on YouTube channels?' were asked, and IP addresses and e-mails were examined," a source added.

"Suspected citizens, suspected of having contacts with people who are considered opposition figures, who have left the country and who previously worked in government jobs and have been critical of the Turkmen government for many years, were not released to their homes but taken to a district department of the National Security Ministry," the source also said, adding that he did not know the exact number of people detained in this way.

One observer familiar with matters told Azatlyk: "Our citizens living abroad are being systematically deported from Turkey and other countries according to requests made by the Turkmen government through diplomatic channels. They are then banned from re-entering those countries for five years.”

Interviewed migrant workers said Turkmens who arrive in Turkey on a several-month visa often eventually find themselves in a difficult situation.

"Turkmen citizens travel to countries like Russia and Turkey with a three-month visa, after which they are not granted a long-term visa. After three months, they are left like men in the jungle, living in fear and on the run, but having to work and raise a family," one migrant was quoted as saying.