Ministry of Internal Affairs (Turkmenistan)
The Ministry of Internal Affairs () is the interior ministry or national police force 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 national defense. 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 in law enforcement. The ministry works with INTERPOL. The current minister is . The ministry was founded on February 19, 1998, by decree of President Saparmurat  Niyazov “On the formation of the police of Turkmenistan”. History. In April 2007, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow removed then-Minister of Internal Affairs Akmämed Rahmanow 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 (OSCE) 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. On 12 occasions, Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow severely reprimanded then-Minister of Internal Affairs Isgender Mülikow, citing "poor execution of his job responsibilities, negligence in personnel issues". In 2019, Mülikow was fired, demoted, arrested, charged with multiple crimes, convicted, and sentenced to a 25-year prison sentence.