Media Freedom - The Times Of Central Asia

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Central Asia-EU Relations

EU Deepens Central Asia Ties as Rights Record Varies Across Region

The European Union is rapidly deepening its trade, investment, and political ties with Central Asia, even as its latest assessment points to worsening human rights conditions across much of the region. The latest assessments are contained in the EU’s annual Human Rights and Democracy in the World country reports, which separately examine all five Central Asian states. In Kazakhstan, the EU notes judicial and political reforms, as well as continued implementation of measures aimed at strengthening protection against gender-based violence. Brussels also points to a shrinking space for civil society, growing pressure on journalists and independent media, increased oversight of NGOs, and continued restrictions on peaceful assembly. As part of the UN Universal Periodic Review, Kazakhstan accepted 259 of the 294 recommendations it received. The assessment of Kyrgyzstan is notably harsher. The EU says the human rights situation continued to deteriorate and highlights the new media law, mandatory registration for all media outlets, a 35% cap on foreign ownership, and prosecutions of media workers that it describes as seemingly politically motivated. Another source of concern was the closure of the National Center for the Prevention of Torture, whose functions were transferred to the Ombudsperson’s Office. In Tajikistan, the main concerns include pressure on independent media and human rights defenders, restrictions on freedom of expression and association, reports of torture and ill-treatment in detention, and the situation of Pamiri activists and journalists. Citing Human Rights Watch, the EU report says at least seven journalists were imprisoned on charges related to their reporting or coverage of protests. Turkmenistan remains subject to some of the region’s most extensive restrictions. Brussels points to continuing restrictions on freedom of movement, expression, the media, association, assembly, and religion, as well as reports of torture and ill-treatment in prisons. The EU also notes some improvements in detention conditions, gender equality and gender-based violence, and cooperation with the International Labour Organization on eliminating forced labor. The EU’s assessment of Uzbekistan is quite severe. According to the EU, the human rights and democracy situation continued to steadily deteriorate in 2025, with backsliding in nearly every area. Brussels points to legal action and imprisonment targeting journalists, bloggers, and human rights defenders, restrictions affecting NGOs, and worsening media freedom. The full report on the July 2022 protests in Karakalpakstan had still not been made public by the end of 2025. The EU nevertheless notes some positive developments, including new measures to protect children, changes to divorce law, and improved representation of women in parliament. The severity of these assessments contrasts with the pace at which Europe is expanding its relationship with the region. The first EU-Central Asia summit, held in Samarkand in April 2025, elevated relations to a strategic partnership. Brussels also announced a €12 billion Global Gateway investment package covering transport links, critical raw materials, digital connectivity, water, and energy. The Times of Central Asia has reported on efforts to move from political agreements toward specific projects. Human rights, however, remain part of the relationship with Brussels. This has been...

Bloggers’ Rights

Uzbekistan’s New Bloggers’ Council Has No Confirmed Leader

Uzbekistan’s Union of Journalists says it plans to help bloggers when officials refuse to provide information or when they face pressure over their work. The proposal follows several prosecutions of bloggers known for reporting on alleged local corruption or criticizing public officials. The initiative immediately encountered a leadership problem: one day after the Creative Council of Bloggers was announced, the blogger expected to lead it said he had declined the position. The Union of Journalists announced the council on August 7, saying the decision reflected the growing role of bloggers in Uzbekistan. According to the union, bloggers increasingly compete with traditional media for audiences and influence public debate. The council is expected to advise bloggers on legal issues, including cases in which officials obstruct access to information or third parties apply pressure. It also plans training in media law and ethics, along with digital security and media literacy. Shukhratjon Oripov, acting chairman of the Union of Journalists, said bloggers had become independent participants in the country’s information landscape. The council’s leadership remains unclear. Journalist and blogger Eldar Asanov was initially named for the post. On August 8, however, Asanov said he had received the offer but declined it. He said he had proposed that the Union of Journalists establish a bloggers’ club instead. Gazeta.uz subsequently corrected its original report. Among the bloggers prosecuted in recent years are Otabek Sattoriy and Olimjon Khaidarov, both of whom had reported allegations of local corruption. Sattoriy, founder of the YouTube channel Xalq Fikri, or People’s Opinion, covered social and economic problems in the Surkhandarya region. Shortly before his arrest, he was reporting on farmers whose land had allegedly been seized by a senior local official and transferred to a company owned by businessman and senator Murtazo Rakhmatov. On May 10, 2021, Sattoriy was convicted on four counts of extortion and one count of slander and sentenced to six and a half years in prison. On February 5, 2024, after about three years behind bars, a court released him and replaced the remainder of his sentence with correctional labor, with 20% of his earnings to be withheld for the state. On December 1, 2023, a court in the Ferghana region sentenced blogger Olimjon Khaidarov to eight years in prison on a large-scale extortion charge and speech-related charges of slander and insult. Khaidarov, who had nearly 30,000 YouTube followers, was known locally for reporting allegations of corruption and criticizing local authorities. One slander charge concerned a claim by the mayor of Kokand that a post about the off-the-books sale of parking spaces had defamed him. Police alleged that Khaidarov had demanded $10,000 from the head of Kokand’s Istiklal bazaar in exchange for withholding negative coverage and said he was detained while receiving the final $2,500. Khaidarov denied wrongdoing and said he had been set up in retaliation for his reporting. Human Rights Watch described his conviction as the latest in a series of criminal cases against bloggers and journalists in Uzbekistan. In Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF)...

Internet Restrictions

Internet Restrictions in Central Asia: How the Five Countries Differ

There is no single Central Asian internet. Crossing a border can turn a freely accessible website into one that is blocked or reachable only through a virtual private network (VPN). The contrast is starkest in Turkmenistan, where years of censorship have created a black market for access to the open internet. Freedom House’s 2025 Freedom on the Net assessment covers three of the five Central Asian countries. Kyrgyzstan scored 47 out of 100 and retained its Partly Free status. Kazakhstan scored 37, while Uzbekistan scored 29; both were classified as Not Free. Turkmenistan has the most restrictive system in the region. The largest measurement study of its internet censorship to date tested 15.5 million domains and found that more than 122,000 were blocked. Researchers also identified filtering rules that inadvertently made more than 5.4 million additional domains inaccessible. Bypassing these restrictions has developed into a market of its own. In July 2025, VPN keys were being sold for around $50 a month, while access through a connection exempt from government filters cost up to $2,000. Turkmen officials were also alleged to have been involved in selling such access. Such claims are difficult to verify independently inside one of the world’s most closed countries. Even so, the market illustrates the effect of years of blocking: for some residents, a working VPN can provide access to large parts of the internet that would otherwise remain unavailable. The situation in Kazakhstan is different. The internet is far more accessible than in Turkmenistan, although the authorities also use technical controls. A study published by the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) found evidence that at least 17 news websites and 73 sites for circumvention tools were blocked between June 1, 2023, and June 1, 2024. The affected sites included independent media and major VPN services. Researchers also found evidence of Transport Layer Security (TLS) man-in-the-middle attacks, in which a third party intercepts an encrypted connection between a user and a website. This can allow the third party to read or alter the data passing through the connection. Similar technology prompted an international dispute in 2019, when internet service providers in Kazakhstan instructed users to install a government-issued security certificate capable of intercepting encrypted web traffic. Major browser developers responded by blocking the certificate or preventing their software from trusting it. Kazakhstan does not, however, operate a closed network. OONI found that some circumvention tools remained accessible, unlike in Turkmenistan, where stable access to the open internet can itself be difficult. Kyrgyzstan’s online environment has traditionally been more open than those of its Central Asian neighbors, though restrictions have increased in recent years. Freedom House kept the country in the Partly Free category in 2025, lowering its score from 48 to 47. It cited the detention of journalists and activists, as well as pressure on online media. Government control has also extended to internet infrastructure. In July 2025, President Sadyr Japarov signed a decree giving state-owned operator ElCat a temporary monopoly on international internet traffic. The decree set the one-year trial...

Human rights

Rights Groups Urge EU to Tie Turkmenistan Relations to Human Rights Progress

Rights groups have urged the European Union to take a tougher line on Turkmenistan, warning that closer ties with Ashgabat should be tied to measurable progress on human rights. The call came in a briefing by the International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) and the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights (TIHR) ahead of the EU-Turkmenistan Human Rights Dialogue, scheduled for June 22, 2026, in Ashgabat. The organizations called on European institutions to press Turkmen authorities to take concrete steps to improve civil liberties, freedom of expression, and human rights protections. Turkmenistan remains one of the world’s most closed and repressive states, according to the briefing. It highlights severe restrictions on independent media, expanding internet censorship, the absence of independent civic space, persecution of government critics, transnational repression, impunity for torture and enforced disappearances, and continuing violations of women’s rights. The groups urged the EU to link any further development of relations with Turkmenistan, including ratification of the pending Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, to measurable progress on human rights. They also called on European officials to demand regular reporting from Turkmen authorities on the implementation of international recommendations and to share this information with independent civil society representatives. Media freedom is a central focus of the briefing. According to the 2026 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders, Turkmenistan ranked 173rd out of 180 countries. The authors state that state-controlled media continue to function primarily as propaganda outlets, promoting an official image of prosperity despite economic hardship and systemic human rights violations. Access to alternative sources of information remains heavily restricted because of extensive internet censorship. The briefing also references cases involving the blocking of circumvention tools and raids targeting owners of Starlink satellite equipment. Rights advocates further argue that civic space in Turkmenistan is effectively closed to independent activity. Much of the public sector is controlled by government-linked structures, while many public-sector employees and students are pressured into financially supporting pro-government organizations. The briefing also highlights the continued practice of forced mobilization for mass state events. According to the organizations, civil servants, university students, and even children are regularly compelled to participate in large-scale public campaigns and rehearsals that can last for extended periods, raising concerns about health and safety. Despite official pledges to cooperate with international institutions, Turkmen authorities continue to restrict access to the country for independent observers and UN experts, the briefing says. It also lists cases of pressure and intimidation targeting journalists, activists, and human rights defenders. The organizations also expressed concern over discrimination against women, entrenched patriarchal practices, and the effects of the country’s prolonged socioeconomic crisis, which they say disproportionately affects women, labor migrants.

Rule of law

American Professor and Longtime Central Asia Researcher Denied Entry to Kyrgyzstan

Professor Steve Swerdlow of the University of Southern California (USC) arrived at the Bishkek airport at 4:30 am on May 19, leading a group of 16 students for a trip of a lifetime: two weeks in Kyrgyzstan and two weeks in Kazakhstan. Swerdlow, a veteran Central Asian researcher who had previously worked for Human Rights Watch in Uzbekistan (2010), Kazakhstan (2011), and Kyrgyzstan (2012-2019), had led similar trips to Kyrgyzstan with USC students in 2022 and 2024. This time, however, there were problems immediately upon his arrival at Bishkek. “I was taken out of line at passport control and whisked away to the departure area, and then taken to a little room,” Swerdlow told TCA. “There were three guys there and they said, almost with a smirk, that we only work here and were told not to allow you into the country.” Swerdlow attempted to get clarification as to why he was being denied entry to Kyrgyzstan, but the border officials merely said their instructions were that Swerdlow was not to be admitted. They told him that an official letter stating the reason for the denial of entry would come, but Swerdlow said he was never given such a document. The border officials said he was to be deported on a plane to Istanbul that was due to leave at 10:00 am. The officials gave Swerdlow his passport with a letter in it addressed to the people at Turkish Airlines, who later showed Swerdlow the contents. It said only that Swerdlow was being denied entry to Kyrgyzstan because entry to Kyrgyzstan was “closed” to him. Swerdlow’s passport was returned to him when he reached Istanbul, but there was another complication. Kyrgyz border control officers had told Turkish Airlines that Swerdlow was being sent all the way back to Los Angeles, so his luggage was transferred at Istanbul to a flight preparing to leave for California. He managed to retrieve his luggage from that flight but remains in Istanbul, where he is trying to coordinate with his students, USC, and officials in Kyrgyzstan. The students are Swerdlow’s main concern. The trip was organized with help from the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, so the students have accommodation, and there are people who speak English helping them. During previous trips, students met with people from Kyrgyzstan’s presidential administration, the human rights ombudsman, and visited parliament. It is unclear if this group will now be able to do the same. Some parts of the trip will almost surely be canceled. Swerdlow mentioned that the group had yurts reserved at Tamga on the shore of Issyk-Kul, the immense alpine lake that is Kyrgyzstan’s premier tourist attraction. “It was going to be a cultural event,” Swerdlow said. “We were going to watch a kok-boru match, attend some cooking classes for local dishes, and a reading of Manas.” Kok-boru is a national sport in Kyrgyzstan, something like polo with players on horseback trying to drag a replicated sheep carcass to goals at either end...

Iran Media Threats

Iran Warns of Military Action Over Iran International Broadcasts via Turkmenistan Satellite

Iran has warned of potential military consequences for countries and organizations cooperating with the independent television channel Iran International, raising concerns about infrastructure linked to satellite broadcasting, including resources connected to Turkmenistan. Iranian officials said that “certain institutions and countries” that continue to support the broadcaster could face serious repercussions. According to a statement released by Iran International, facilities and infrastructure involved in transmitting its signal “may be included on the list of targets for the Iranian military.” The channel cited reports in Iranian state media quoting a representative of the Iranian Armed Forces’ Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base. In remarks reported by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, the military representative accused Iran International of seeking to “create tension, spread false information and rumors, and conduct psychological warfare against the Iranian people in pursuit of the goals of the U.S. and Israel.” The statement also included a warning that continued support for the broadcaster could result in those cooperating with it being placed on a list of potential targets. Iran International broadcasts from the United Kingdom using the TürkmenÄlem 52E / MonacoSAT satellite. The same satellite platform carries a range of international media services, including the BBC’s Persian-language programming, Radio Farda, a project of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, as well as numerous other television and radio channels. According to the broadcaster, direct warnings had previously been sent to Turkmenistan and Monaco, which host infrastructure enabling signal transmission.