Turkmenistan opened its first two internet cafés on Friday as new President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov moved to fulfil promises of limited reform in the Central Asian nation.
The curtailing of the internet was one of the hard-line moves ordered by late dictator Saparmurat Niyazov.
There was no immediate rush to the two cyber-cafés opened in the capital, Ashgabat, though the order issued by Berdymukhammedov within hours of his inauguration on Wednesday was seen as a sign of willingness to carry out some degree of liberalisation.
”Our aim is not only to save the results achieved since independence but [also] to reinforce … state policies and to implement them in the interests of the country’s prosperity and people,” Berdymukhammedov told Chinese journalists.
Niyazov, who died in December after 15 years as Turkmenistan’s only post-Soviet leader, largely sealed off the country, relying on natural-gas exports to Russia and Iran to fill state coffers and building an elaborate personality cult.
Internet cafés and subscriptions to foreign newspapers were banned and restrictions imposed on travel abroad. Even now, the state firmly controls what sites can be opened, blocking those of opposition parties, which all operate from exile abroad.
On Friday, interest in the new cafés seemed muted. ”We haven’t had any visitors today, but then we haven’t done any advertising,” said an employee from the state-run proprietor TurkmenTelekom at one café.
The café was equipped with five terminals, a portrait of the late leader and charged the equivalent of a dollar for 15 minutes’ internet use. Average salaries in Ashgabat are $50 a month.
Under Niyazov, the president’s own writings, chiefly a pink and green volume known as the Rukhnama (Spiritual Guide), were the main permitted reading. They were compulsory reading in schools, universities and work places and part of the driving test.
Last year, just 0,73% of the country’s population of five million had internet access, according to the Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union.
Niyazov’s death in December prompted renewed competition for influence over this energy-rich country among outside powers China, Russia and the United States.
Berdymukhammedov was declared president after voting this month that the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said marked an improvement but could not be described as a genuine election. All the candidates were from the country’s sole political party.
On Thursday, US State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack described the presidential vote as a ”modest step” towards democracy for a country making its ”first baby steps” beyond a ”cult of personality dictatorship”.
In another sign of willingness to make concessions, the new president signed a decree on Thursday restoring an extra year of mandatory education that was cut under Niyazov.
The cutting of the number of years of basic education from 10 to nine was widely criticised because it stopped parents from getting their children into Russian universities, seen by many as the best option.
The decree describes the new 10-year period of schooling as the ”foundation of education, allowing Turkmenistan’s citizens to gain deep knowledge”.
More internet cafés are to be opened in other regions of the country, officials said. — AFP
