14.05.2013

Inga Sikorskaya

More than two decades after independence, press freedom remains stifled in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The leaders of the Central Asian states of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan like talking about media freedom, and now and then they ask journalists to come out and criticise them. With so many reporters languishing in jail and censorship as dark a presence as in the Soviet era, no one is fooled. This January, a new law came into force in Turkmenistan guaranteeing citizens the right to express their views and access information in the media. It outlawed censorship, state interference in the media, and monopoly ownership. As a piece of legislation, it was unusual in two ways – the… >> подробнее

11.05.2013

Mirakmal Niyazmatov

Despite Turkmenistan’s abysmal human rights record, the EU has been lax in its obligations to address these violations and the total absence of genuine democratic reforms in Turkmenistan.

Later this May, European Union officials will meet a delegation from Turkmenistan during annual human rights consultations. President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov’s authoritarian regime in Ashgabat is one of the most repressive in the world, yet the meeting poses perhaps the biggest test for the EU side. In 2008, the European Parliament formulated human rights benchmarks as a precondition for the European Union’s (EU) relations with Turkmenistan. But since then, EU officials have consistently sidestepped Turkmenistan’s atrocious human rights record as they have sought to engage Ashgabat… >> подробнее

11.05.2013

RFE/RL's Turkmen Service

Turkmenistan is one of the most isolated countries in the world. All media in the country is state-controlled and it remains difficult to obtain information from outside media sources.

An RFE/RL correspondent based in Turkmenistan's northeastern city of Turkmenabat has been detained by local police. Rovshen Yazmuhamedov, 30, has worked for RFE/RL since September. His reports have focused mainly on social issues. On May 9, Yazmuhamedov's relatives informed RFE/RL's Turkmen Service that he had been detained three days earlier. «[Rovshen] left from home at around 2:30 p.m. on May 6, saying he would come back soon. Then he did not return,» his mother, Parcha Yazmuhamedova, explained. «I waited for him until 2:30 a.m. He did… >> подробнее