Once new president Serdar Berdymukhamedov came to power, internet blocking and restriction of access to information have intensified in Turkmenistan.
In mid-April, global service Cloudfare Radar identified “near complete internet shutdown” in Turkmenistan. Problems with the internet and access to information had been before, but the policy and practice of restrictions have become even more sophisticated once Serdar Berdymukhamedov came to power.
It is a reminder that in February 2022, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov announced that he would resign, and on March 12, his son Serdar won the election. With the start of the “election campaign”, the speed of the Internet fell to critical values, VPN services and other anonymous proxies were blocked, pressure on programmers who installed such applications on computers and gadgets of ordinary users increased.
Now instead of blocking individual IP addresses, whose number has reached tens of thousands, the Internet gets blocked in general, with some “gaps” allowed, namely particular websites proved to be loyal.
The first to come under attack were numerous private entrepreneurs, representatives of small businesses. During the lockdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which continues up to now, they were able to organise advertising, acceptance of orders for services and goods via the internet and their delivery to buyers. Main platforms such as social media and messengers were previously available through VPNs, but since mid-April these features have almost disappeared. Intimidated by threats of reprisals, VPN installing programmers stopped providing these services under the counter.
With the support of foreign donors, electronic trading platforms began to appear in Turkmenistan – aggregators of goods, restaurant food delivery services, public taxis and so on. But these websites usually have only large retail chains, firms and stores, leaving numerous small businesses behind.
Major international e-commerce platforms like AliExpress, Amazon and others were blocked, so were all mechanisms of payment for goods ordered, including websites of large foreign banks, online payment services and transmittances.
In the absence of free currency conversion in Turkmenistan and its international transfers, other semi-legal loopholes, which were used by small businesses to pay for and import goods from abroad, are now unavailable.
“As slow as a turtle”
The history of internet development in Turkmenistan is peculiar to a totalitarian state. The first independent commercial companies that were dynamically developing the online service market were destroyed by the authorities in the 2000s. And then they took control of everything related to the Internet.
It used to be impossible for some time in Turkmenistan to get a new private account to access the internet – the authorities deliberately restrained its development and almost did not invest in the infrastructure development, which remained primitive.
After the death of the first President of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov, presidential candidate Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov dedicated a special place to the internet in his electoral campaign. Back in 2007, when Berdymukhamedov came to power, the first internet cafes began to emerge in the country, although all of them belonged to a state provider, and internet access was possible only on presentation of a passport. At the same time, it became possible for all or almost all residents of large cities to connect to the internet, although this connection was established via telephone lines (dial-up), where speed and quality could be better.
And only in 2016-2017, just before the Fifth Asian Martial Arts Games, Ashgabat began laying fibre optic lines. First, it was an alternative to the mass destruction of satellite TV antennas that provided access to cable TV and then to the internet. At the same time, the claimed maximum speed of 2 Mbit/s remained declarative, in fact it could hardly reach half of the stated value. And the prices were about 100 dollars per month for unlimited connection.
But all this applied and continues to apply to large cities. The internet penetrates into the countryside mainly via mobile internet, whose history is even sadder. In the country, after the expulsion of the foreign company MTS, there was only one public provider of mobile services – TmCell. Even in the capital, the provider can hardly provide 4G communication and not in all districts.
Meanwhile, the authorities of Turkmenistan block all social media and messengers, video and streaming services, cloud services, access to all or almost all online libraries, websites of most newspapers and magazines, as well as Apple and Microsoft update services to prevent users from downloading applications allowing them to bypass internet censorship.
There is a real hunt for programmers who install VPN software, and the Criminal Code of Turkmenistan provides for up to seven years in prison for installing VPN software and similar applications on phones and personal computers. Articles 3351 “Illegal distribution of electronic sources of information with a limited permission” and 3352 “Provision of services of installing internet resources pursuing illegal purposes” were introduced to the Criminal Code back in 2015, but have been “inactive” since then, and were put into use relatively recently.
On the one hand, all these restrictions are related to the desire to completely stop access of the population of Turkmenistan to independent information about the country published abroad. This applies especially to the ban on access to the websites of Turkmen immigrants who cover political opposition, human rights and even cultural topics, as well as to the websites of the Turkmen Radio Liberty Azatlyk.
To the same end, YouTube was also blocked in parts where it posts videos from dissident Turkmen political emigrants, videos about corruption investigations inside the Turkmen authorities and the president’s family, human rights violations and even simple cuts of the official video, where the president and his team look ridiculous or bizarrely to anyone living outside Turkmenistan.
The authorities, in rare statements on internet blocking, speak about the prohibition of access to and distribution of pornography, as well as materials with radical and extremist content. But they often refer to the increased civic activity of Turkmen immigrants related to the problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the failure to return to Turkmenistan, the difficulties with money remittances and calls for change or overthrow of power as extremism. Relatives of activists residing in Turkmenistan are also exposed to punitive measures.
No photography or filming here
The same or even more control is exercised over what information goes beyond Turkmenistan. Well-trained “volunteers” always present at the city bazaars and carefully watch so that no market visitors take pictures of products or prices. Supermarkets have signs prohibiting photography and filming. In case of suspected unauthorised filming, “volunteers” try to detain the perpetrator and immediately call the police and representatives of security services.
Prohibitions also apply to photography and filming in other public places, especially public and administrative buildings, mass events and so on. During the 2017 Asian Games, phones were taken away from the visitors of events at the entrance to prevent any photography and filming. Those who refused to hand in their phones were simply not allowed into the territory of the Olympic town.
Up to now, almost anyone with a phone in their hands can be stopped by the police or “people in civilian clothes” and asked to show the contents of the phone without any sanction or reference to existing norms of the law. Those who do not hew to the demand are being detained and their phones are searched by force. If something suspicious is found, such people and their gadgets will be referred to a more thorough search and interrogation.
The situation is similar when crossing the border of Turkmenistan. Now, those who were stuck abroad because of the pandemic enter the country by rare outbound flights. They are placed in quarantine camps in the eastern province, their gadgets – phone, tablets and laptops are taken away and checked for the presence of any sign of rebellion from the point of view of the authorities. Filming in the quarantine camp is strictly prohibited, and the conditions of stay there are dramatically different from those declared by the authorities.
Such control and examination of equipment at border crossing points has been carried out on a random basis before. There are numerous cases of arrest and fabrication of criminal cases against stringers, bloggers and ordinary activists who sent photos, videos, texts for publication on websites located abroad.
Unfortunately, there is no example where international involvement has led to a remission of a sentence. On the contrary, the authorities are increasingly tightening control over both filming and internet as a channel for the transmission of information.
Blocking the internet has also affected the public perception of Ukrainian events in Turkmenistan. The only available source of alternative information was the Russian television broadcasting the viewpoint of the Russian side via main federal channels of Russia. The national media of Turkmenistan do not report on these events at all, and there are no Ukrainian or other sources of information available to the people in broadcasting packages.
The damage from such internet blocking is yet to be assessed. Not only business contacts and related opportunities have been interrupted. All student, educational, academic contacts are also up in the air.
For example, organisation of online conferences was possible only from the authorities-verified and controlled “access points” or from the premises of missions of international or foreign organisations. However, the authorities blocked these opportunities too. Now all similar international contacts of Turkmen citizens are possible only if approved by the relevant security services and in the presence of a representative of security services during the event.