Turkmenistan - The Times Of Central Asia

Viewing results 37 - 42 of 873

Biometric Identification

Turkmen Passport Applicants Sent for Medical Certificates After Fingerprint Scanner Failures

Citizens of Turkmenistan applying for biometric passports or traveling abroad are facing technical failures during fingerprint collection, according to Turkmen.news. Because Migration Service equipment often fails to recognize fingerprint patterns, people are being forced to obtain special medical certificates confirming the “impossibility of undergoing fingerprinting.” According to the publication, the problem does not lie in the absence of fingerprints themselves, but in the operation of the scanners. Many applicants say the equipment is unable to capture data even when clearly visible papillary ridge patterns are present. As a result, citizens are trying different methods to improve the chances of a successful scan, including moisturizing or de-greasing their skin and testing multiple devices. In some cases, this works: one scanner may fail to recognize fingerprints while another successfully completes the procedure. If fingerprinting is unsuccessful, Migration Service staff direct applicants to dermatology and venereology clinics for an official certificate confirming the inability to take fingerprints. This procedure is provided for under Turkmenistan’s legislation. However, possession of such a certificate does not always resolve the problem. Journalists report that in some cases, officials have refused to accept the document, citing an alleged age restriction for citizens under 40, even though no such requirement appears in the official list of documents. The difficulties are not limited to passport applications. The same procedure is required when crossing the border. There have been cases where fingerprints were successfully recorded during passport issuance, but at the airport the system suddenly failed to recognize them, creating the risk of missing a flight. According to Turkmen.news, such incidents occur frequently enough that migration officers treat them as a routine part of the process.

Energy Cooperation

Petronas Turkmenistan Deal Deepens Malaysia Energy Ties

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim arrived in Turkmenistan on June 18 for an official visit focused on energy cooperation, with the two countries signing a new strategic partnership involving Petronas and Turkmenistan’s energy authorities the following day. Anwar and Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov witnessed the signing on June 19, Malaysian media reported. The agreement followed earlier comments by Malaysian Deputy Economy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir, who said Malaysia was seeking to strengthen its energy supply chains through long-term hydrocarbons cooperation with Turkmenistan. Anwar's visit follows Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov’s official trip to Malaysia in 2024, which Turkmen officials have described as opening a new stage in bilateral relations. Energy is the central pillar of economic ties between the two countries. Malaysian state energy company Petronas has operated in Turkmenistan since 1996, when it became one of the first foreign companies to develop offshore oil and gas fields in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea. Since then, the company has invested about $11 billion in Turkmenistan’s hydrocarbon sector. Petronas’ main asset is Block 1, linked to the Kiyanly Gas Treatment Plant and Onshore Gas Terminal on Turkmenistan’s Caspian coast. Block 1 currently produces about 400 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, equivalent to roughly 4.1 billion cubic meters per year, and holds more than 7 trillion cubic feet of gas resources. In 2025, Petronas signed a new production-sharing contract for the block with Abu Dhabi’s XRG, state enterprise Hazarnebit, and state concern Türkmennebit. Under that arrangement, Petronas retained 57% as operator, XRG took 38%, and Hazarnebit held 5%. Berdimuhamedov also approved a resolution authorizing Türkmennebit to conclude an agreement with Petronas and Hazarnebit on the development of licensed offshore blocks in Turkmenistan’s sector of the Caspian Sea. Malaysia’s role in Turkmenistan is smaller than China’s, but more technical and operational. Petronas has been an upstream investor and offshore operator, while China is Turkmenistan’s dominant gas customer. Turkmenistan exports around 30 billion cubic meters of gas a year to China. In April 2026, China and Turkmenistan signed an agreement on the fourth phase of the Galkynysh gas field, under which China National Petroleum Group (CNPC) is to build gas-processing facilities capable of handling an additional 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Reuters reported the project value at $5.1 billion. Turkmen state media said the two countries are also seeking to broaden cooperation across a range of sectors from transport to science and education. Talks in Ashgabat are expected to focus on energy cooperation, investment projects, and expanding trade links.

Saddam Gulamov

Russian Diplomats Report No Complaints From Imprisoned Turkmen Activist Saddam Gulamov

Russian embassy officials in Turkmenistan have visited activist Saddam Gulamov, who is serving his sentence at the LB-E/12 penal colony in Lebap Region. Gulamov was said to have described his detention conditions and food as acceptable, and his health as satisfactory, according to a letter sent by Kamil Magomedov, deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Third CIS Department, to Gulamov’s relatives. According to the document, Russian diplomats met Gulamov in person at the correctional facility in late May. The letter states that during the conversation, Gulamov described his detention conditions and food as acceptable, and said his health was satisfactory. Embassy staff also reported that they had observed no visible signs of health problems. The letter notes, however, that Gulamov intends to file a petition seeking changes to the conditions of his imprisonment. Other inmates at the LB-E/12 colony had earlier told Turkmen.news that, at least until autumn 2025, Gulamov had been held continuously in a disciplinary isolation cell. According to their accounts, the prolonged isolation negatively affected his psychological condition. There were also reports of several suicide attempts. Previously published documents show that Gulamov, who was extradited from Russia, was sentenced to five years in prison. The ruling was handed down by the Ashgabat City Court on May 13, 2024. Before being returned to Turkmenistan, Gulamov had been wanted in his home country over social media posts in which he criticized the authorities and former President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov personally. According to the official wanted persons database, Gulamov was accused of calling for the violent overthrow of the constitutional order and publicly inciting extremist actions through the media. The exact charges under which the final sentence was issued remain unknown. Through Russian embassy staff, Gulamov also informed his relatives that he intends to challenge what he describes as procedural violations with the help of a lawyer. These may concern the circumstances of his arrest and extradition, as well as the trial itself.

Digital Development

Turkmenistan’s Digital Push Gains Ground Despite Tight Internet Controls

Turkmenistan remains one of the world's most tightly controlled online environments. Yet its state services portal now advertises more than 500 services, the country has more than 100,000 registered mobile-banking users, and the flagship city of Arkadag has launched a 5G network. The figures are official or state-linked and difficult to verify, and the scale remains modest by regional standards. Taken together, however, they point to a shift: digitalization is beginning to move beyond government rhetoric and into everyday administrative and financial life. A Shift That Is Hard to Measure Turkmenistan's digital transition is difficult to quantify. Official statistics are incomplete and independent checks are rare. That makes smaller, observable indicators - portal use, mobile-banking registrations, network launches, and infrastructure projects - especially useful. According to DataReportal, Turkmenistan had 3.53 million internet users in October 2025, equivalent to 46.1% of the population. Using the same source, internet access stood at 93.4% in Kazakhstan and 89.0% in Uzbekistan. Other estimates put Turkmenistan's rate lower, underscoring the uncertainty around even basic connectivity data. DataReportal also counted 5.24 million active cellular connections, representing 68.5% of the population, although a connection does not necessarily include mobile internet access. Social media use remains far more limited: the same report estimated 388,000 social media user identities in October 2025, or 5.1% of the population. Those figures coexist with severe controls. Human Rights Watch said in its World Report 2026 that internet access remains tightly controlled. The authorities have also seized and dismantled Starlink equipment and intensified internet blocking. However, targeted infrastructure projects are moving ahead. The 5G network launched in Arkadag in 2025 was implemented with Huawei and the Ministry of Communications and, according to official accounts, is intended mainly to support smart-city systems. The ministry says it is also developing a fiber-optic route toward Herat and a submarine cable with Azerbaijan to add international links and transit capacity. E-Government Moves Beyond the Legal Framework Turkmenistan launched its unified public services portal, e.gov.tm, in 2019. The Law 'On Electronic Government' came into force in July 2022, formally setting out how public bodies could provide services through information and communication technologies and exchange data electronically. The portal is available through a website and Android and iOS apps. It allows users to pay utility, communications, and education fees, book tickets, join the electronic queue for migration services, and submit applications to government agencies. Published service counts vary sharply. In April 2025, Orient referred to 46 services; in March 2026, the same publication said the portal offered more than 500. The reports do not explain the rise, but the larger figure appears to use a broader definition that includes informational pages and other functions, not only fully interactive services. In October 2025, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov approved the Concept for the Development of the Digital Economy for 2026-2028. A state program and implementation plan followed in January 2026. The documents call for wider use of digital systems across government and the economy, while separate work with the United Nations Development...

Smartphones

Turkmen Schools Introduce New Rules for Smartphone Use

Turkmen authorities have approved new regulations governing the use of personal mobile devices in educational institutions, introducing formal rules for smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other devices used by students and teachers. The document, prepared by the Ministry of Education, outlines how digital devices may be used in the learning process. Under the new rules, such technology may serve as a source of information and be used to access electronic libraries, educational platforms, and distance-learning tools. Schools have been assigned a number of responsibilities. Educational institutions must ensure access to essential digital services, specialized software, and data networks. They are also required to train staff in the use of modern technologies and provide students with methodological support in configuring devices for academic purposes. A separate section of the regulations addresses digital discipline and safety. Students are required to use devices exclusively for educational purposes and only with a teacher’s permission. During lessons, devices must be switched to silent or airplane mode. The document also prohibits taking photos or videos of participants in the educational process without their consent. The document says the new measures are intended to strengthen preventive work with students and parents, with a focus on protecting children’s moral and physical well-being. Oversight of compliance with the new regulations has been assigned to the relevant departments of Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Education.

Education

Turkmenistan Sets New Rules for Mobile Devices in Schools

In 2020, Turkmenistan’s schools banned the use of mobile phones during classes. Now the government has introduced new rules regulating the use of portable devices in academic settings, seeking to use them as learning tools while addressing concerns about distraction and other potentially negative effects on students. A Ministry of Education order recognizes the value of mobile devices in education, saying they must provide access to learning resources, including multimedia content, and help students organize files that contain textbooks, courses, and other materials in electronic form. The devices must improve “the quality of educational management, especially in educational systems that do not have access to an internet connection,” the order says. However, the ministry order urges educational institutions to be aware of “the potential harm to students' health of small-screen mobile devices that limit the types and amounts of information,” the need to provide storage for mobile devices and the fact that bandwidth capacity decreases when a lot of users connect to the wireless network. It also mandates “ethical rules” that are designed to avoid disruption – setting devices to “silent” or “flight” mode and barring video, photo or audio recordings of students and teaching staff without their permission. The ministry issued the order on May 19 and the Ministry of Justice registered it in early June. In a report in March, UNESCO said that global monitoring showed that 114 education systems had a national ban on mobile phones in schools, representing 58% of countries worldwide. That was a significant increase over 40% in 2025 and just 24% in 2023, according to the U.N. cultural agency. “The growth reflects mounting concerns about declining attention in classrooms, cyberbullying, and the broader influence of digital environments on children,” UNESCO said. But it noted that the global picture was nuanced, with not all countries opting for full bans and instead establishing policies that govern the use of mobile devices in schools. The agency said that the various approaches to mobile device usage in schools show that “countries are still searching for the right balance between limiting distraction and teaching responsible technology use.” Turkmenistan’s new order applies to smartphones, tablets, laptops, smartwatches, and other personal electronic devices, and comes amid wider school digitalization efforts. The country maintains tight controls over internet access and online content.