Further Restrictions on Foreign Press in Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan’s president Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov, who two years ago won credit for lifting a longstanding ban on imported foreign newspapers, has clamped down on them again. 

Berdymuhammedov told cultural officials in late August that Turkmenistan produced enough newspapers, magazines and books to keep everyone happy, and he complained about the quality of imported newspapers.

Newspapers from Russia, in particular, are one of the few sources of information for readers in Turkmenistan, who see their own state media as rigidly censored, full of propaganda and devoid of useful information or interest.

When he came to power in 2007, Berdymuhammedov reversed his late predecessor Saparmurat Niazov’s ban on foreign press sales, and he even allowed people to subscribe to Russian newspapers.

However, the fact that this liberalisation never really took off has softened the blow of the latest about-turn in policy, although many readers are concerned it will further reduce their access to information.

Newspapers and magazines, mostly from Russia but some from neighbouring Uzbekistan, are smuggled in and sold at local markets. They range from the serious Moscow papers to fashion and cooking magazines.

“Traders have to find newspapers and magazines in Moscow, bring them in, and pay bribes at the airport,” one trader said. “It’s hard work but businessmen find loopholes because people will buy up everything out of hunger for information.”

Traders say the effect of official restrictions on importing and selling newspapers often comes down to the size of the bribes that they have to pay.

For example, the Turkmen authorities have tried to stem imports of newspapers in recent months, probably to stop people reading too much about the ethnic clashes that shook southern Kyrgyzstan in June.

“At that point, supplies stopped, and the size of the bribes increased,” a local businessman said. “Suppliers had to bribe not only customs officials, but also staff at the post office, where they have to have import and sales contracts.”

The businessman said he and his colleagues had got together and were pooling resources to pay the larger bribes.

He fears that the effect of the latest ban will be to make officials demand even larger bribes, forcing traders to raise the already high prices at which Russian newspapers retail at markets.

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