Aygyl Tajiyeva

Who is Aygyl Tajiyeva?

Aygyl Tajiyeva was a Turkmen activist and politician.

Tajiyeva was a member of the Assembly of Turkmenistan during the early 1990s following the independence of Turkmenistan from the Soviet Union. She became an opposition critic of the President of Turkmenistan Saparmurat Niyazov and his government's increasingly repressive policies.

Tajiyeva and her family were forced to leave Turkmenistan in 2002. She settled as an exile in Sweden.

She became a contributor to Radio Free Europe's Turkmen Service while in exile. She gave her last interview to Radio Free Europe on July 21, 2009, but ended the session early because she did not feel well.

Aygyl Tajiyeva died of a stroke on July 22, 2009, in Sweden at the age of 64. She was buried on July 24, 2009, near Stockholm, Sweden.