Ashgabat (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The internet is "blocked" or very slow - intentionally slowed - in Turkmenistan, despite the insistence of president Kurbanguly Berdymukhammedov in boasting of its liberalisation. Local sources say that for weeks, it has been impossible to access very well-known foreign websites, like Centrasia.ru, Deutsche Welle, RFE/RL, or sites of the opposition, like  Gungodar, Vatan, Turkmenskaya Iskra, or the websites of human rights groups like Chrono-tm.

As recently as April 14, Berdymukhammedov criticised the state-run Turkmentelekom, which is responsible for internet service, for the poor quality and low speed of connections, and decreed that multimedia technology be supplied in new buildings, and in every school and child care centre. He also authorised the first private provider, the Russian company MTS, which already provides service for approximately 180,000 cell phone, 85% of the total in the country.

But since then, the situation has worsened, and the internet has become even slower. Analysts maintain that the secret police are responsible, "sabotaging" the president's policies in order to prevent the exchange of information, and to identify the people who are sending news abroad. They say that the security forces are even interfering with the "asymmetrical" connections, which use a combination of satellites and modems: this is an expensive system (costing as much as 500 dollars), but can be afforded by business owners and international organisations.

Under former president Saparmurat Niyazov, in 2000 all private providers were outlawed, leaving the monopoly to Turkmentelekom, which in the following years made it increasingly complicated to obtain a connection. So in 2004, there were only about one thousand internet users, out of a population of 6.7 million. In the areas on the border with Uzbekistan, the police even tried to confiscate the Uzbek SIM cards, which permit access to the internet. The new president has made internet access one of the symbols of the introduction of greater freedom. But the few internet cafes are too expensive (60 manat per hour, about 5 dollars, reduced to 30 manat since May 1), and they are monitored by the police.