Turkmenistan / Europe & Central Asia

  
Ashgabat-based Turkmen photojournalist Soltan Achilova. (Photo: Soltan Achilova)

Journalist Soltan Achilova on covering COVID-19 in Turkmenistan, one of the few countries with 0 confirmed cases

Soltan Achilova is a freelance photojournalist based in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, who covers social issues for independent foreign-based media outlets including Khronika Turkmenistana.

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President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, relinquished ownership of Turkmenistan's newspapers, but journalists are still appointed by his decree. (Reuters/Stoyan Nenov)

Turkmenistan opens up media–in name only

Turkmenistan is trying to burnish its image by passing its first law on press freedom. On January 4th, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov signed a law that bans press censorship, bars the government from monopolizing news outlets, and grants the public access to all forms of information, including independent and foreign reporting. Unfortunately, reform appears to be…

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Fighting bogus piracy raids, Microsoft issues new licenses

CPJ has documented for several years the use of spurious anti-piracy raids to shut down and intimidate media organizations in Russia and the former Soviet republics. Offices have been shut down, and computers seized. Often, security agents make bogus claims to be representing or acting on behalf of the U.S. software company Microsoft.

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The ‘cruel censorship’ of Turkmenistan

Even though Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov announced two years ago the necessity of universal Internet access, the Web is more than restricted in the country. This is connected to cruel official censorship, the serious limitation of the availability and speed of Internet connections in cities, and its total absence in villages. I haven’t even mentioned…

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