Kuren Kurenov, who has overseen Garabogaz since 2016 when it was incorporated in the Turkmenbashi district, held meetings with local residents together with other local officials. He was briefed on the problems with access to drinking water, housing and foodstuff.

Police officers arrested Matalaev at home during the night, just two days after ATN published his forced labour report and the day the Minister of National Security was severely reprimanded by the Turkmen President at a State Security Council meeting for weak control over subordinates in the country.

For those who cannot leave, survival depends entirely on casual work that comes and goes. The rates of family breakdown and suicide in the city rise as despair takes hold. The last time drinking water was delivered to the city was in December.

Guga, as his friends call him, has a passion for expensive wristwatches. After monitoring his social media activity and cataloguing the watches he ostentatiously shows in his photos and videos, we calculated the total retail price to amount to more than $1 million.

People were happy to work where they could receive a pay of 0.2 manat per kilogram of cotton, and where they were treated respectfully. However, such conditions were rare. The only way for public servants and replacement workers to protest the conditions of forced labor was to pick less.

This strict protocol was imposed for female students, women married to Turkish citizens, even if they had no problems with the Turkish authorities and all their documents and permits were in order. Passengers who possessed work permits in Turkey and were returning home for a visit also experienced similar checks.

Since December 1, Turkmenistan’s Central Bank and all licensed lenders stopped currency exchange operations for entrepreneurs who trade with foreign suppliers and import products from abroad.

President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov, perhaps the most important racing car driver in the country, popularly known as “Schumacher”, seems to be constantly checking the population’s pulse to see how much more authorities will be able to squeeze out of the common citizens before they react.

In December, traffic police officers started warning female drivers that they would face fines. In January, according to ATN sources, traffic police have already stripped several female drivers of their license and confiscated their vehicles.