Turkmen Newspaper Readers Not Spoilt for Choice

Despite recent assurances that foreign periodicals will become more widely available in Turkmenistan, most readers are stuck with the heavily-censored output of the local press.

President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov recently told government ministers that popular science journals from abroad must be made available, while media outlets reported that official institutions were taking out subscriptions to foreign publications.

The fact that the head of state instructs ministries what their staff should be reading – he personally checked the list of approved periodicals – is telling. A local official who asked not to be identified said that ministries were being provided with relevant specialist literature, and this did not mean the average reader would get access to foreign newspapers and magazines.

Not only are Turkmenistan's citizens limited to the national newspapers; they are forced to buy the main one, called Neytralny Turkmenistan, if they work in the public sector.

"Our entire team subscribed to Neytralny Turkmenistan," one local schoolteacher said. "No one asked us whether we wanted to – they just withheld seven dollars from our wages."

Since coming to power in 2007, President Berdymuhammedov has increased the number of locally-published newspapers and magazines to around 20, all of them run by the state. The absence of alternative sources of information remains acute. Internet penetration is estimated at under two per cent of the population.

The rules were slightly relaxed two years ago so that small amounts of magazines are allowed in from Russia and Kazakstan. The content is strictly lightweight.

"Magazines with crosswords and about health, recipes and women sell out first," a newspaper vendor said. "But they are expensive and few people can really afford them."

Larisa, a resident of the capital Ashgabat, sometimes buys magazines on handicrafts, although she has to be quick if she wants to get one of the few copies on sale.

"I wish we were allowed to subscribe to anything we wanted," she said. "I wouldn't subscribe to newspapers on politics – I'm not interested in that at all."

Anyone visiting Russia gets asked to bring back a few papers and magazines, which are greatly treasured if they make it through Turkmen customs.

"I like the [Russian] newspaper Trud," a pensioner in the western Balkan region said. "Acquaintances of mine managed to deliver a couple of newspapers on one occasion. I read them until they were tattered and smudged, and then they passed from hand to hand among my neighbours."

This article was produced as part of IWPR's News Briefing Central Asia output, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy.