Today, the “MIR TV” and radio company broadcast a message from its own correspondent in the Republic of Tajikistan, Azamat Ziyayev, in which, in particular, it was reported that the reason for the expected hot weather in Tajikistan in the coming days was the flow of warm air from Iran through the territory of Turkmenistan. This weather review is also published on the “MIR24” website.

On this occasion, the Ministry of foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan published a press release on its website, in which it criticized the report of the “MIR” correspondent.

Here is the full text of the press release:

"The Turkmen side considers such a statement as professionally illiterate and emphasizes that long-term observations of hydro meteorological centers of Turkmenistan and other States indicate that wind flows from the Middle East region that affect the formation of the climate in Central Asia, when faced with the peculiarities of the geographical terrain, change their direction. At the same time, in many cases, the wind speed decreases and their impact on the climate of countries located at a considerable distance from the desert-steppe zones of the Near and Middle East and surrounded by high-mountain massifs is minimized. In this context, the claim that" hot " wind flows from Iran through Turkmenistan reached the territory of Tajikistan in these days does not stand up to any criticism. This fact is confirmed by the data of objective observations of the hydro meteorological service of Turkmenistan.

At the same time, the Turkmen side, taking into account the current situation in the world due to the spread of coronavirus and other infections, considers the above-mentioned message of the Tajik journalist to be politically incorrect. This is because at the present time, when the international community consolidates efforts to fight the pandemic, intensified research in the field of Virology, particularly in such field as the study of nature origin, coronavirus. One of the major conclusions of 239 scientists from 32 countries was the recognition of the fact that viruses can stay in aerosol droplets in the air for a long time. Accordingly, the airborne route of transmission of viral infections is the most likely and common. These specialists sent an open letter to the Director General of the world Health Organization in July this year.

Based on the above, we believe that any mention of a specific name of a country in the context of the movement of air masses from/through its territory may raise suspicions of the transfer of dangerous infections to other countries.

Therefore, the Turkmen side, noting the political shortsightedness of the correspondent who prepared and distributed the above-mentioned information, emphasizes the unacceptability of violating the established norms of political ethics in international practice.

At the same time, drawing attention to the special danger to human health of infections and, first of all, viruses carried by air currents, the Turkmen side is implementing a position in accordance with which the countries of the world are called upon to cooperate in solving serious environmental problems.

One of them is the tragedy of the Aral Sea.

It is here, in the zone of ecological disaster caused by the drying up of the Aral Sea, that air masses are formed, which have an extremely negative impact on the nature, climate, and health of people living in the Aral Sea region and far beyond its borders. Dust and salt storms that carry particularly harmful substances from the bottom of the dried-up Aral Sea extend for thousands of kilometers and pose a real danger to human life.

As the head of the international Fund for saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) in 2017-2019, Turkmenistan has taken a number of significant steps to activate the activities of this international structure. In particular, as a result of the organizational measures taken, the work of all IFAS bodies and commissions became possible on a systematic basis. For the first time in many years, the Summit of the IFAS founding Heads of state was held in Turkmenistan in August 2018. During the three years of the Turkmen presidency, the Fund adopted important decisions and documents aimed at further joint work of the Central Asian countries to reduce the negative impact of the consequences of the Aral environmental disaster on environmental, socio-economic and humanitarian issues in the region.

Turkmenistan is also actively promoting the initiative to develop a Special UN program for the countries of the Aral Sea basin in the UN and other international platforms. There are notable results in this process.

The Turkmen side hopes that Tajikistan, which currently serves as the chair of IFAS, will make appropriate efforts to continue Turkmenistan's constructive initiatives within the framework of joint work in the Fund.

We are convinced that coordinated efforts to address the complex issues of the Aral Sea are particularly in demand today, when the entire world is fighting a serious global threat – the coronavirus pandemic.

Based on the above, the Ministry of foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, noting the counter productivity of any information attacks that hinder the normal development of constructive cooperation, emphasizes the need to focus the attention of States on the continuation of a broad multilateral partnership aimed at solving topical issues on the regional and international agendas," the press release of the Ministry of foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan reads.