Internet Enemies: Turkmenistan
| Publisher | Reporters Without Borders |
| Publication Date | 12 March 2009 |
| Cite as | Reporters Without Borders, Internet Enemies: Turkmenistan, 12 March 2009, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4a38f9842.html [accessed 5 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Domain name: .tm
Population: 5,136,262
Internet-users: 70,000
Average charge for one hour's connection at a cybercafé: officially about 6 euros but 1.5 euros on the unofficial exchange rate
Average monthly salary: not available
Number of private Internet service providers: 0
Number of public Internet service providers: 1
Number of imprisoned bloggers: 0
Two years after Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov came to power, on 14 February 2007, the spectre is fading of former president, Saparmurat Niyazov, the "Turkmenbashi" who turned the country into "Europe's North Korea". But the Internet remains one of the areas that the new government keeps under tightest control.
Turkmen generally keep themselves informed through satellite television. But the government in January 2008 decided to forbid satellite dishes and to close companies that sold them, making the Internet a vital source information in such an isolated country. The Turkmen service of Radio Free Europe is one of the very few sources of independent news, but its journalists are regularly threatened by the authorities.
Progress has been made in access to the network, with several cybercafés opening in the capital, Ashgabat, and in some provinces. Today, there are around 15 across the country, as promised by the new president when he took office. Moreover, access is no longer reserved for ministries, foreign embassies and international organisations with a presence in the country. Some businessmen and even ordinary individuals can get online.
Repression hidden behind technical obstacles Since June 2008, private connections are authorised by the country's sole access provider, Turkmen Telekom, which plans to connect 2,000 people mostly in the capital. But a private connection remains expensive, about 6 euros a month in a country in which the average salary is equivalent to around 150 euros. Also, the connection is slow and it can take an hour to check emails.
In addition, cybercafés are open during working hours and closed on weekends and public holidays. And a customer going into a cybercafé for the first time has to produce a passport and enter personal information on the customers' list.
A WiFi network became available in June 2008, provided by the biggest Russian access provider, MTS. It is available in Ashgabat, Balkanabat and Turkmenbashi, in the west of the country. However use of this network is sporadic because its existence is not well known in Turkmenistan where news and information is not readily available. The Internet is used by just over 1% of the population and Turkmen Telekom, under state control, operates very strict filtering.
As websites run by human rights organisations and those of many news agencies are blocked. Internet users try to get onto these sites by getting round censorship but are fearful of the consequences.
A cybercafé in the Dashoguz region in the north of the country, was closed in May 2008 after a customer tried to get onto several websites that are banned by the government.
However, the government did raise hopes that there could be liberalisation, when on 10 October 2007, EU representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, and special central Asia representative Pierre Morel visited the country. It was even possible to leave comments on the official government website www.turkmenistan.gov.tm during their stay.
But Turkmen Telekom operates in the name of a special department linked to the National Security Committee, a government agency answerable to the interior ministry. It is this access provider that blocks sites and monitors messaging services. Turkmen Telekom says that no messaging account has been created in the country since 2002.
Links:
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarchive/country/turkmenistan.html: Turkmen service of Radio Free Europe (English)
http://www.eurasianet.org: news website on central Asia (English and Russian)
http://turkmenistan.neweurasia.net/: collaborative website on Turkmenistan. Neweurasia is an aggregator of central Asia blogs
http://www.newscentralasia.net/: US-based news website on Turkmenistan
http://www.untuk.org: UN website on Turkmenistan, launched on 8 February 2008.
http://www.chrono-tm.org: website created by the human rights organisation "Turkmen initiative for human rights".
