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Internet Restrictions

A Signal from Uzbekistan: How Turkmen Border Villages Reach the Outside World

In Diýýar, a village in northern Turkmenistan close enough to catch Uzbekistan’s mobile signal, a foreign SIM card inserted into a small Wi-Fi router can turn a barely functioning 2G connection into usable home internet. In early July, police reportedly entered around ten households in the village, identified Uzbek-connected routers, and confiscated the SIM cards. Similar inspections have been under way across close to 60 settlements in Dashoguz Province, according to Radio Azatlyk, the Turkmen Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The campaign covers parts of Shabat and Görogly districts, including Kirov, Diýýar, Bedirkent, Aýlak, and Nyýazow, in areas where Uzbek mobile signals cross the border. The Internet Across the Border What the authorities are removing is more than a foreign phone number. Residents told Radio Azatlyk that Turkmen Telecom internet is either unavailable or extremely slow in several border villages. TMCell, the mobile brand operated by the state-owned Altyn Asyr network, often provides only 2G service, while home Wi-Fi is unavailable. Households able to obtain an Uzbek SIM card use networks such as Ucell and Uztelecom, placing the card in a router that supplies internet throughout the home. Residents said YouTube and Instagram become accessible through these connections, although TikTok and many foreign websites still require a VPN. One resident described the Uzbek service as “300 times” faster than the Turkmen alternative, a personal estimate rather than a measured comparison. The cards arrive through an informal chain of traders and other residents who regularly cross into Uzbekistan. A Dashoguz source said they sell for around 200 manats and that sellers also help buyers complete the registration. The arrangement depends on geography, personal contacts, and a signal strong enough to reach across the frontier. One local source said many people from Dashoguz work abroad, including in Russia, Poland, and Germany. For households with relatives overseas, a usable connection can provide a direct link beyond the village. It also opens independent news sites and social platforms that remain blocked or unreliable on Turkmen networks. Residents confronted by police sometimes say they use the internet only to pass the time, reportedly hoping to avoid a fine. A Signal Treated as Suspicion The reported consequences vary. Some first-time offenders receive a warning, particularly when they cannot afford a penalty. Others are threatened with fines of up to 50,000 manats or imprisonment. That amount is about $14,300 at Turkmenistan’s official exchange rate and roughly $2,500 using the widely reported informal rate. Residents said officers described the use of foreign telecommunications services as possible espionage on behalf of another country. The reports cite no court case or published provision under which simply possessing an Uzbek SIM card constitutes espionage. The threat itself, however, raises the stakes around an ordinary household connection. Police and security officers reportedly do not use specialist equipment to locate the routers. Local sources said they rely instead on informants in villages, schools, and local administrations. They allegedly gather information through schoolchildren as well. Residents who travel regularly to Uzbekistan, including small...

Digital Rights

Turkmenistan Fines Citizens Over Social Media Likes as Digital Controls Tighten

Authorities in Turkmenistan have tightened control over citizens’ online activity, with district courts in Ashgabat reportedly hearing administrative cases daily against people accused of liking or commenting on posts critical of the government on TikTok, YouTube, and other social media platforms. The cases were reported by Chronicles of Turkmenistan. The platforms in question remain inaccessible in Turkmenistan without VPN services, which the government has systematically tried to block. According to available information, security services are identifying citizens who regularly visit banned online resources. Those individuals are then summoned to police stations, where they are interrogated and warned about the consequences of further online activity. The cases are then transferred to lower courts. In most instances, first-time offenders are fined approximately $10. There have also been separate cases in which obscene language online has served as grounds for administrative prosecution. In Turkmenabat, authorities have begun transferring internet subscribers from outdated ADSL connections to Ethernet. As previously reported by Chronicles of Turkmenistan, telecommunications workers are replacing old cables and installing new lines in apartments at no charge. However, users must purchase their own routers, which currently cost between $25 and $30 in local markets. According to the latest CIVICUS report, Turkmenistan has significantly tightened digital controls and restrictions on access to uncensored information in recent months. In its updated assessment, CIVICUS notes that despite official statements about improving digital infrastructure, Turkmenistan’s government has also increased pressure on alternative internet access channels, including equipment linked to Starlink. The organization warns that the expansion of Ethernet networks may also be intended to increase centralized monitoring and control of internet traffic. In neighboring Tajikistan, the legal direction has been different. As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, President Emomali Rahmon signed a law in May 2025 decriminalizing likes and other reactions to social media posts that had previously carried criminal liability. Turkmenistan’s practice of fining citizens for online activity points in the opposite direction, toward tighter state control over the internet in a country where access to independent information remains severely restricted.

EU-Turkmenistan Relations

EU-Turkmenistan Human Rights Dialogue Presses Ashgabat on Rights

The European Union used its latest human rights dialogue with Turkmenistan to press Ashgabat on the gap between outward engagement and domestic control. The 18th annual EU-Turkmenistan Human Rights Dialogue was held in Ashgabat on June 22. It came during a period of slightly more visible contact between Turkmenistan and the outside world, including a rare visit by a Reuters reporting team earlier this year. Reuters said its journalists were able to travel unescorted and report freely, an unusual development in a country long known for strict visa controls and heavily managed media access. Whether that points to a genuine opening remains unclear. Turkmenistan has also spoken of simplifying its visa regime, joining the World Trade Organization, and diversifying its heavily state-led economy. The human rights picture remains highly restrictive. Rights groups continue to rank Turkmenistan among the world’s most closed states for journalists, civil society, and political dissent. The country placed 173rd out of 180 in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index. The Turkmen delegation at the dialogue was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Mehri Byashimova. The EU delegation was headed by Dietmar Krissler, head of the Central Asia Division at the European External Action Service. Brussels’ public account of the meeting focused on areas where it wants Turkmenistan to go further. The EU called for stronger anti-discrimination measures, tougher action against sexual and gender-based violence, the criminalization of domestic violence, and the decriminalization of consensual same-sex relations between adults. The bloc welcomed Turkmenistan’s cooperation with the International Labour Organization on eliminating forced and child labor. That issue has long been central to outside criticism of Turkmenistan, particularly in the cotton sector. Earlier this year, the EU and ILO launched a project aimed at strengthening action against forced and child labor in the country. The dialogue also reached some of Turkmenistan’s most sensitive rights issues. The EU raised concern over human rights defenders, including reports of transnational repression, and handed the Turkmen delegation a list of individual cases. Prison conditions were another focus. The EU cited reports of torture and ill-treatment, and urged Turkmenistan to work more closely with civil society on enforced disappearances. Rights groups have repeatedly called on Brussels to tie closer relations with Ashgabat to measurable progress on such cases. The EU praised Turkmenistan’s efforts to reduce statelessness, while also calling on the authorities to ensure equal access to consular services for all Turkmen citizens living abroad. Turkmen overseas have reported difficulties renewing passports and obtaining basic consular support, leaving some in precarious legal positions. The EU also called for unrestricted internet access and a safer environment for civil society organizations. The meeting reflects the tension in the EU’s current approach to Turkmenistan. Brussels is engaging Ashgabat more actively, as it is with the rest of Central Asia, but continues to keep human rights on the formal agenda. For Turkmenistan, even limited external access and more regular dialogue can be presented as movement. For the EU and rights groups, the test is whether that access leads...

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.

Forced Labor

ILO Urges Turkmenistan to Abolish Cotton Quota System

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has again criticized Turkmenistan over the continued use of forced labor in its cotton sector, calling on the country to dismantle its state-imposed cotton quota system and submit a detailed progress report by September 1. The call followed discussions at the annual International Labour Conference in Geneva, where the ILO’s Committee on the Application of Standards reviewed Turkmenistan’s compliance with Convention No. 105 on the Abolition of Forced Labour. This was the fifth time Turkmenistan’s implementation of the convention had been examined by the committee. The country ratified the convention in 1997, but concerns persist over the mobilization of public-sector employees for the annual cotton harvest. Turkmenistan’s delegation was led by Khalbibi Tachjanova, deputy minister of Labour and Social Protection of Population, who reaffirmed the country’s commitment to the convention and outlined reforms introduced in recent years. Tachjanova cited amendments to the Labor Code imposing a full ban on child and forced labor, as well as a draft presidential decree intended to explicitly prohibit any form of coercion during the cotton harvest. According to Tachjanova, labor inspectors carried out 3,867 inspections in 2025, identifying violations in 2,352 cases and imposing 3,040 administrative sanctions. She also said wages in the sector had doubled between 2023 and 2024 as part of the reforms. Yusup Gylychdurdiyev, a senior official from the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan, spoke for employers. He said the country’s 340 dehkan farmer associations were gradually moving into private management structures and argued that private businesses lacked the administrative tools to coerce workers. Mekan Ovezov of the National Trade Union Center spoke for workers and cited cooperation between trade unions, government agencies, employers, and the ILO, as well as training and labor rights programs. However, labor and employer representatives on the ILO committee gave a far more critical assessment. Canadian labor lawyer Jackie VanDerMeulen, speaking for employer members, noted that the ILO had already issued observations on Turkmenistan’s cotton sector nine times. She said that despite some positive changes, the 2025 monitoring results showed serious violations remain. Stephen Russell, representing the United Kingdom’s Trades Union Congress, said labor rights abuses persist and pointed to the lack of independent public monitoring mechanisms and the absence of independent trade unions in the country. The findings show that Turkmenistan remains under international scrutiny over one of its most important export industries. Observers continue to call for changes in a sector long associated with state-driven labor mobilization.

Saddam Gulamov

Extradited Turkmen Activist Sentenced to Five Years in Prison

Turkmen activist Saddam Gulamov, who was extradited from Russia to Turkmenistan last year, has been sentenced to five years in prison, according to Turkmen.news, citing documents it said were obtained from Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office. The new information appears to revise earlier reports that Gulamov had received an eight-year sentence. Those accounts were based on sources in Turkmenistan’s law enforcement system and on information from inmates at the LB-E/12, also known as the Seydi Prison Labor Camp, where Gulamov is reportedly serving his sentence. According to Turkmen.news, Turkmenistan’s Prosecutor General’s Office requested Gulamov’s extradition. Russian authorities approved the request on December 20, 2023, and transferred him to Turkmen law enforcement agencies on March 1, 2024, after the decision entered into force. The documents cited by the outlet say the Judicial Panel of the Ashgabat City Court sentenced Gulamov on May 13, 2024, to five years in prison. They do not specify the charges or the legal provisions under which he was convicted. Turkmen.news also reported that Russian Embassy employees in Turkmenistan had visited Gulamov in prison and asked about his conditions of detention. No details about the outcome of those visits have been made public. The outlet said records from Turkmenistan’s wanted persons database showed that, as of 2021, Gulamov was being sought under Article 175, Part 2, of the country’s Criminal Code, which concerns public calls to violently change the constitutional order through mass media, and under Article 175-2, Part 2, which concerns public calls to extremist activity through media channels. Both offenses carried maximum prison terms of five years. As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, Gulamov publicly criticized Turkmen authorities and former president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on social media in 2020 and 2021. His posts focused on food shortages, economic difficulties, the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the official response to a destructive hurricane. In several posts, Gulamov called on citizens not to be afraid of what he described as authoritarian rule. Human rights organizations have repeatedly expressed concern about the treatment of political activists and government critics in Turkmenistan, one of the world’s most closed countries, where independent political activity and public dissent remain tightly restricted.