In July 2011, the NANSMIT Monitoring Service received 24 reports. Seven of them describe the factual situation in the media in the light of socio-legal and political environment and seventeen reports describe direct violations of rights of media professionals.

I. POLITICAL, SOCIAL, ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL CLIMATE IN THE COUNTRY DEFINING THE FACTUAL SITUATION IN THE MEDIA

1. Public speeches and statements of superior officials defining the factual situation in the mass media

14 July
Sukhrob Sharipov, Strategic Research Center under the President’s Office, Dushanbe
On 14 July, Sukhrob Sharipov, the director of the Presidents Strategic Research Center told the media at a poress conference in Dushanbe that the arrest of the BBC correspondent Urunboi Usmonov by the National Security Committee can seriously undermine Tajikistan’s image on the global level.
“This issue has gone out of the framework of jurisprudence gaining political coloration, and the President himself is closely watching the investigation”, — he said.

18 July
Khamrokhon Zarifi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dushanbe
At a press conference in Dushanbe on 18 July in Dushanbe, the Tajik Foreign Minister Khamrokhon Zarifi made comments on the arrest of Urunboi Usmonov, correspondent of the Uzbek service of BBC in Sughd province.
The Minister stressed that Tajikistan is a secular state and any citizen must bear responsibility for any violation of the national law. “This is how it works anywhere in the world. The security and law enforcement bodies must conduct an investigation. We cannot ignore the requirements of law and order for the sake of prestige of our country”, — said the Minister.

2. Negative impact of amendments and changes in the legislation on the media

21 June
All media
The Tajik senators have supported the amendments to the Tajik Criminal-Procedural Code proposed by the government. According to these amendments, materials published in the media can become a ground for initiating a criminal investigation.

Nuriddin Saidov, a member of the upper chamber of the Tajik parliament explained that “such materials must contain powerful evidence of violation of the law to become a legal ground for investigation”. Some experts say that these changes in the legislation are conducive for “settling of accounts” between rivals who might wish to use the media or journalists in their “games”. These changes make the media more vulnerable.

3. Factual situation in the media and the freedom of speech

8 July
All media, Dushanbe“Legal actions against journalists and the media undermine the good image of the Tajik government and its judicial bodies”, — said Nuriddin Karshiboev, chairman of NANSMIT at the round table in Dushanbe on the issues of “The media and protection of honor, dignity and business reputation”.

Karshiboev also stressed the necessity of changing the government decree dated 4 June 1992 “On practical application of the law in protection of honor, dignity and business reputation in courts”.

The growing number of applications in courts and complaints by public officials against journalists and media outlets, as well as their demands to terminate activities of correspondents and the media for the period of litigation are the evidence of persecution of media professionals in Tajikistan.
Six legal cases against eight media were registered in 2010-2011; the total amount the complainants claimed from defendants is $1,845 million. In February 2011, two media outlets paid complainants $67 thousand; the other cases are still pending in courts.

The Tajik Criminal Code has articles and provisions establishing responsibility for defamation, insult, public insult of the President, and insult of public officials. At present, three Tajik journalists are being persecuted for their professional activities.

Media experts say that the current situation makes the media vulnerable and leads to self-censorship among media professionals.

8 July
All media, Dushanbe
On 8 July, NANSMIT and Internews Network conducted a round table in Dushanbe on the topic “The media and the problems of protection of honor, dignity and business reputation”. The event was organized within the framework of a legal project supported by USAID.
Participants developed recommendations for the parliament, the government, judicial and law enforcement agencies and media organizations.

25 July
All media
The Union of Journalists of Tajikistan and the Tajik branch of Internews Network have released a manual on legal linguistic expertise of disputable texts investigated in courts. The project was sponsored by the USAID.
The necessity of releasing such brochure is caused by the growing number of lawsuits and legal complaints against the media accused of libel, insult and extremist statements.

The authors of this manual are Konstantin Brinev, a leading expert of the Association of Linguists and Professors “Lexis”, Russia, and Kirinshoh Sharifzoda, professor of the Tajik National University.

28 July
All media
NANSMIT and Internews Network have released a brochure titled “How to avoid defamation in the media?” The brochure sponsored by USAID is published in Russian and Tajik languages. The release contains thematic materials from the round table “The media and protection of honor, dignity and business reputation” and supplemented by quotes from the Tajik legislation regulating media activities.

The brochure is developed for heads and founders of the media, journalists, lawyers and university students.

II. VIOLATION OF PROFESSIONAL RIGHTS

1. Arrest of a journalist

5 July
EU Delegation to Tajikistan, Dushanbe
The EU Delegation to Tajikistan welcomes the reported decision by Tajik authorities to drop charges relating to BBC journalist Urunboy Usmonov’s alleged membership of “Hizb-ut-Tahrir”. The EU Delegation remains nevertheless deeply concerned by the fact that charges are, however, still being brought against Mr Usmonov, especially since these charges are related to practices which are generally accepted to be standard journalistic activity. The EU Delegation encourages the relevant Tajik authorities to review these additional charges, and requests that Mr Usmonov be released from detention immediately.

The European Union fully recognize the efforts of the Tajik Government to ensure stability and security within the country, but would also continue to stress the importance of media freedom in Tajikistan, and of adhering to transparent international judicial standards.

1 July
OSCE, Vienna
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) representative on freedom of the media has urged Tajik authorities to release detained BBC reporter Urunboy Usmonov.

Dunja Mijatovic said she was still awaiting an official response on Usmonov’s case.

Mijatovic on June 16 sent a letter to Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi in which she called the arrest of Usmonov an attempt to censor reporting on sensitive issues.

Usmonov, who has worked for the BBC Central Asian Service for 10 years, was arrested on June 13 for alleged membership in a radical organization.

12 July
Sherkhon Salimzoda, prosecutor general, Dushanbe
Prosecutor general of Tajikistan Sherkhon Salimzoda told the media that the investigation of the case of Urunboi Usmonov by the Stet Security Committee has been finished and passed to the prosecutor of Sughd province. The official added that his subordinates compile a detailed report on this case for the president of Tajikistan Emomali Rakhmon.

Salimzoda applied to the Tajik media requesting to restrain from premature conclusions.

13 July
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders reiterates its call for the release of Urinboy Usmonov, a reporter for the BBC’s Uzbek-language service in the northwestern province of Sughd, who has been held by the Tajik security services for exactly a month on suspicion of links to a banned Islamist group.

Prosecutor general Sherkhan Salimzad announced yesterday that the investigation has been completed and that the case been passed to the Sughd provincial prosecutor’s office.

“The fact that a ‘summary’ of the prosecution case has been sent to President Emomali Rakhmon suggests that all the appeals by journalists and the international community have been noted,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The justice system should nonetheless remain in charge of the case, and we hope that the completion of the investigation leads quickly to an impartial resolution that respects the rules of international law.

“As the investigation is now over, there is nothing to prevent this journalist’s conditional release. This should take place without delay. The justice system’s credibility would be greatly reinforced if all the judicial irregularities that have occurred since Usmonov’s arrest were also the subject of a serious investigation.”

Usmonov was arrested on 13 June because of his alleged links with Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an Islamist party that is outlawed in Tajikistan. He had been covering a trial of members of the party for the BBC.
http://www.eng.nansmit.tj/news/?id=710

14 July
BBC Statement on the continued detention of Urunboi Usmonov
It is now a month since our colleague Urunboy Usmonov was detained by the security services in Tajikistan.

The Tajik authorities have now confirmed that their investigation has been completed and the results have been handed over to the regional prosecutor’s office.

We also note that the Prosecutor General of Tajikistan has requested a summary of the case to be passed to the head of state, President Emomali Rakhmon for information.

The BBC hopes that this process will come to a speedy conclusion and lead to the release of Urunboi Usmonov and the clearing of his name.

The BBC has been clear that it regards the allegations linking the BBC reporter to Hizb ut-Tahrir as completely unfounded.

We believe that meetings and interviews with people representing all shades of opinion are part of the work of any BBC journalist.

We also remain deeply concerned about Urunboi Usmonov’s well being. BBC colleagues have been able to visit and found him to be frail and frightened.

It is now essential that our colleague is released as soon as possible, so that he can return to his family and his work as a respected journalist and writer.
http://www.eng.nansmit.tj/news/?id=711

15 July
Urunboi Usmonov, BBC correspondent, Sughd province
On 14 July, the BBC correspondent Urunboi Usmanov was released from the Interior Ministry detention center in Khujand, Sughd province. At present, Usmanov stays at home restraining from communication with the media.

15 July
NANSMIT, CPJ, US Embassy
The Tajik National Association of Independent Mass Media (NANSMIT), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the US Embassy in Dushanbe and a number of other organizations and diplomatic missions appreciate the decision of the Tajik authorities on the release of Urunboi Usmanov, the BBC correspondent in Sughd province.

Detailed information is available at:
http://www.eng.nansmit.tj/news/?id=714
http://www.eng.nansmit.tj/news/?id=713

20 July
Abdurakhim Kahhorov, Minister of Interior, Dushanbe
On 20 July, at a press conference in Dushanbe, the Tajik Minister of Internal Affairs Abdurakhim Kahhorov told the media that “the innocence of the BBC correspondent Urunboi Usmonov has not been proven, and he is released on parole”.

According to the Minister, investigation of cases related to extremist organizations, Hisb-ut-Tahrir are under the competence of the National Security Committee.

2. Impediments to professional activities

18 July
Shirinjon Safarov, correspondent, TV Safina, Khatlon province

In March 2011, Shirinjon Safarov, correspondent of TV Safina in Khatlon province applied to Mr. G. Afzalov, head of the administration to discuss cases of violations of journalists and the behavior of certain public officials.
Ever since, Afzalov’s administration has been ignoring requests from TV Safina; there has not been any official response.

3. Ungrounded limitation of access to information

27 July
Farazh weekly, Dushanbe
The antimonopoly service under the government ignores requests of journalists; it provides neither feedback nor comments on publications in media outlets.
During three months, the Farazh weekly published a series of articles requiring comments by the antimonopoly service. Authors of these articles, referring to the President’s Decree #622 obliging public officials to respond to publications containing criticism, addressed very explicit questions to the agency, but received no answer.

Farazh was expecting to get the answers at a press conference organized by the agency on 22 July. However, the head of the antimonopoly agency, Mr. Tagoimurodov told the journalists that “providing feedback on every publication is beyond their responsibilities”.

4. Censorship

22 July
Nigoh weekly, Dushanbe
On 21 July, the Nigoh weekly went out of the printing facilities in an “incomplete format” – one page was missing.

The chief editor Eraji Amon complains that he cannot find out what went wrong, and who was interested in having that page lost. The editor added that this incident is not the first of that kind.

This report is based on compiled materials from the media and private information presented by correspondents of the NANSMIT Monitoring Network

Coordinator of the Monitoring Service
Abdufattokh Vokhidov

Project Manager
Nuriddin Karshibaev

By Yovshan Annagurban

During March’s Norouz celebrations in Tehran, when Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov’s received a two-seater airplane from his Iranian counterpart, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, Jumageldi Mulkiyev made some odd scenes.

Upon the editor in chief of «Turkmen World’s» return from Iran, Mulkiyev was dismissed from his position and put into a psychiatric hospital in Ashgabat. He was then released after eight days.

At the time, 80-year-old pensioner and civic activist Amangelen Shapudakov was already sitting in another psychiatric hospital. Fortunately, thanks to international pressure, he was released after 43 days. According to his account, doctors did not force him to take any medication. But, when he returned home, several elders and the local village leader’s father came to his house to tell him to stop criticizing the authorities.

Both cases are demonstrative of a tried and true tactic of the Turkmen regime: sending critics to mental institutions.

Although both of the above incidents appear politically motivated, Mulkiyev’s «madness» is a bit different. He did not try to form a political party or criticize the government. To the contrary, he was a loyal adherent of former President Saparmurat Niyazov’s personality cult, becoming editor in chief of «Turkmen World» in the process. But it seems that he made a grave mistake in publishing his historical novels.

Under Niyazov, the publishing of Turkmen writers ceased completely because only one book was promoted, Niyazov’s own «Ruhnama» (Book of the Soul). However, thanks to his successor’s repeated demands for more readable books, Mulkiyev became one of the first writers to be published after the death of Niyazov in 2006. Nevertheless, one never knows what might trigger trouble in a lawless country.

Deputy Prime Minister Maysa Yazmuhammedova threatened Mulkiyev by saying that «he first got paid by publishing his novels in a state journal, and then later made money by publishing them in a state publishing house, and that his eyes will be opened in prison.»

According to Mulkiyev’s former colleague, after hearing this, he couldn’t sleep and made «madman’s» gestures during the Norouz celebration in Tehran. Some others say that Mulkiyev might have feigned insanity in order to avoid being sent to prison. After his release from the psychiatric hospital in Ashgabat, according to local journalists, Mulkiyev was taken to Mary province by his relatives to rest. As a Turkmen saying goes, «Stay away from the kicker» or «Bail out your head from the bad.»

Little Room For Dissent

Shapudakov has a different story. He traveled to Ashgabat to complain to the Interior Ministry about local corruption. As he told RFE/RL, police officers in the Kopetdag district of Ashgabat beat him up, drove him back to his home village of Garrygala, and told him that if he returned to Ashgabat again, worse would happen to him.

Sazak Durdymyradov, a civic activist from Baherden and the leader of the unregistered Advantage Party, was also forcibly put into a psychiatric hospital for two weeks in 2008.

Shapudakov and Durdymyradov, two «inconvenient» people, are known to international human rights groups, as they have been held in mental institutions for voicing their criticism ever since Berdymukhammedov came to power over four years ago. However, because Turkmenistan is a closed country, there are cases where people put into mental institutions or imprisoned for their opinions go unnoticed.

One such instance is that of Nurmuhammed Agaev from the Kahka district, who has been held in a psychiatric hospital in Boynuzyn since 2006. The reason for his detainment was selling radio receivers that receive RFE/RL signals. One day, a man approached Agaev in the bazaar, asking for such radio receivers. When Agaev replied that he sold them, he was immediately taken to a madhouse.

The case of 69-year-old pensioner Kakabay Tejenov’s case is another untold story. On January 4, 2006, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for writing critical letters to the government. However, the following month, the Turkmen delegation to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe claimed in a statement that Tejenov «has never been detained and he is not confined in any medical institution.»

This assertion was contradicted, however, when Gurbandurdy Durdygulyyev, another outspoken critic of the government, was released from the psychiatric hospital in Boynuzyn on April 11, 2006, and revealed that Tejenov was indeed being held there. (When Tejenov was released, he told RFE/RL that, as a side effect of medications he was given, his urinary tract was blocked and he was forced to undergo surgery at a urology department of the hospital in Turkmenaba).

Durdygulyyev had been forcibly confined to a psychiatric hospital in 2004, after asking President Niyazov for authorization to hold a peaceful political demonstration. He was only released after 54 U.S. congressmen wrote an open letter to Niyazov protesting his imprisonment.

…Or Political Opposition

The carting off of political dissidents to mental hospitals is not something that started with the detainment of Durdygulyyev seven years ago. In the mid-1990’s, Niyazov twice committed a senior teacher of Turkmenistan’s Polytechnic Institute, Durdymyrad Hojamuhammedov, to a psychiatric hospital.

Hojamuhammedov was the co-chairman of the Democratic Party, which attempted to gain official recognition in 1991 soon after Turkmenistan became independent. Hojamuhammedov’s second stay in hospital abruptly ended in April 1998, just before an official visit by Niyazov to the United States. At the same time, however, the Turkmen government was holding other dissidents such as Meretmuhammed Berdiyev, Valentin Kopisev, and Rufina Arabaova in psychiatric hospitals as well.

The other leader of the unregistered Democratic Party, Handurdy Hangeldiyev, had been put into a psychiatric hospital in 1982 for criticizing the government and the ruling Communist Party. But he was released three months later upon the death of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Hangeldiyev’s freedom, however, did not last for more than a week, as he was recommitted to the hospital after criticizing the appointment of a local party official in the Gazanjyk district.

Hangeldiyev was told that the appointment was made not because of party machinations but because the «people had spoken.» Hangeldiyev replied: «Gazanjyk is my birthplace. If I start a campaign, perhaps people will elect me.» For this, was put back into a psychiatric hospital, and released after a month.

After his second release, he focused on writing scientific papers. However, he didn’t get a chance to defend his dissertation due to political obstacles that the authorities put in front of him. When he wrote complaints to the Kremlin, he was confined to a psychiatric hospital for a third time. Doctors released him after four months with a final warning that if he continued to dissent, he would be sent to a more rigorous mental institution in Tashkent.

Ultimately, Niyazov did not allow the recognition of Hojamuhammedov’s and Hangeldiyevs’s Democratic Party. But he borrowed one idea from them, renaming Turkmenistan’s Communist Party the Democratic Party and bestowing membership on almost all former communists.

‘A Home For The Sane’

In 1984, a young colleague of mine published a collection of poems by Annasoltan Kekilowa, who had been forcibly put into a psychiatric hospital, and where she passed away 12 years into her institutionalization. In the book, he presented a note written by doctors at the hospital: «The patient recovered, stopped writing complaints, and admitted that her former thoughts about our party’s mistaken policies and her involvement in politics were due to her own health issues.»

My old colleagues tell me that in the 1960s, another Turkmen poet also faced this kind of death. Payzy Orazov attempted to form the People’s Party and was consequently imprisoned in Moscow’s Butyrka prison. His rescue came in the publishing of a poem titled «Long Live Castro» in the «Izvestia» daily. In truth, he was released with the support of the editor in chief of «Izvestia» at the time, Aleksei Adzhubei (Nikita Khrushchev’s son-in-law). But he was subsequently put into a psychiatric hospital in Turkmenistan. Orazov ultimately had to move to Tajikistan after being released.

Finally, there is the case of Bazargeldi and Aydjemal Berdiyev, who got rich in the construction business and consequently attracted the attention of the regime. In late 1998, they were unlawfully detained, beaten, and their assets were unlawfully confiscated. Aydjemal, who was pregnant, suffered a miscarriage. Their search for justice, and their battle to retrieve their property, resulted in Aydjemal being placed into a psychiatric hospital as a result of her interview with RFE/RL.

Paradoxically, Turkmenistan’s mental institutions have become a home for the sane.

Yovshan Annagurban is a broadcaster with RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service. The views expressed in this commentary are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL

Источник: http://www.rferl.org/content/commentary_short_distance_sanity_madness_turkmenistan/24280051.html

Educators, journalists, scholars can submit proposals for a conference.

Journalism Interactive 2011 will bring together educators, journalists, scholars and students to explore how journalism schools are meeting the challenge of the digital age.

During two days of workshops, training, presentations and provocative dialogues, we will explore how social media, mobile reporting and other digital tools are being used in news and teaching, and to what effect.

The event is hosted by the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism and sponsored by publisher SAGE/CQ Press. The conference venue is the Marriott Inn & Conference Center adjacent to the University of Maryland.

The deadline for proposals is Friday, July 29. If your idea is selected, you will receive free conference admission and expense-paid travel to attend this two-day event. Panelists will be notified by mid-August.

For more information, click here: http://journalisminteractive.com/2011/call-proposals

http://journalisminteractive.com/2011/call-proposals

ALMATY, Kazakhstan — A prominent Kazakh journalist says her online news portal, guljan.org, has been blocked since it suffered a massive hacker attack, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reports.

Gulzhan Ergalieva, the website’s founder and owner, told journalists in Almaty on July 21 that her website has been under attack since July 15. She said the attack was likely connected to the content on the website.

Ergalieva added that she had sent letters to the major Internet provider in Kazkahstan, KazakhTelecom, and the Communications and Information Ministry to urge them to find the attackers and «neutralize» them.

She said she has also asked international Internet organizations to assist her in resolving the problem.

Ergalieva had launched her online news portal last month. The new project received mixed reviews from readers after the 59-year-old journalist promoted her new project with a promotional campaign called «The Naked Truth Is Better Than A Dressed-Up Lie» that culminated in a racy online video.

In January, Ergalieva stepped down as the chief editor of the Kazakh newspaper «Svoboda Slova,» which has been critical of the government. She said her resignation was motivated by the campaign for a referendum to prolong President Nursultan Nazarbaev’s term in office until 2020.

Ergalieva founded «Svoboda Slova» in 2005 and had served as its chief editor until her resignation.

In 2001, a group of masked men broke into her Almaty apartment, beat her, and tied her up before torturing her husband in front of her for several hours, leaving him handicapped. The attackers were never found.

Ergalieva and her colleagues say the attack was organized by officials in retaliation for her critical articles about the country’s political, social, and economic situation.

http://www.rferl.org/content/prominent_kazakh_journalist_website_attacked_blocked/24273734.html

DUSHANBE, 20 July 2011. – The Preparatory Human Dimension Implementation Meeting supported by the OSCE Office in Tajikistan to discuss human rights issues in Tajikistan will be held on 21 and 22 July.

The meeting, held ahead of the OSCE-wide annual Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw, serves as an open forum for dialogue between government and civil society. This year’s sessions will focus on mechanisms for human rights protection, freedom from torture, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, access to justice, human rights and counter-terrorism, property rights and forced resettlement, rights of individuals belonging to national minorities, rights of persons with disabilities and children’s rights.

Journalists are invited to the opening at 9:00am on 21 July as well as the sessions on both days at Kokhi Vahdat.

Contacts: [url=Shakhnoza.Mansurova@osce.org]Shakhnoza.Mansurova@osce.org[/url], Tel.: +992-(37)-2265014/-15/-16/-17

Temur had a choice. When applying to university in Dushanbe, Tajikistan’s capital, he could try to win a scholarship that would cover his expenses and fees, or pay the annual $600 tuition. But there was a third, more practical option, too.
“I paid $100 to the dean to enter the university on a government-funded scholarship [with a monthly living stipend]. This meant I didn’t have to pay $600 per year for five years, so I saved a lot,” said Temur, a 23-year-old a recent graduate who spoke on condition his full name not be printed. “Some get in for free because of good test scores, but I wasn’t sure. That’s why I paid.”
Graft in higher education has long been common throughout the former Soviet Union, where instructors’ meager salaries and a culture of corruption have made paying extra fees for the right grade, or the right entrance exam score, a preferred option for many young people. Some education experts in Tajikistan estimate that only few students obtain a university diploma without paying bribes somewhere along the way. The national Anti-Corruption Agency lists the Education Ministry as the most corrupt state body, the Asia-Plus news agency reported last October. In one instance, an administrator at a medical school asked a prospective student for a $20,000 bribe to be admitted, local media reported in July 2010. To put that figure in context, roughly 47 percent of Tajiks live in poverty – that is, making due with under $2 per day – according to the most recent World Bank data.
The trend is having long-term adverse effects outside the classroom: The lack of qualified experts in every field will cause “a very big problem” for Tajikistan, said Oynihol Bobonazarova, who runs a legal-support clinic, Perspective-Plus, in Dushanbe.
“Our students are very weak in terms of the knowledge they receive,” Bobonazarova said. “Those who have the money can easily afford enrollment in any university, but the smart guys who cannot afford this remain unable to master their area of study. This is the biggest hazard for Tajikistan. Corruption leads to instability. It undermines everything – like a tree that is healthy in appearance, but which has worms eating at its roots.”
Existing flaws seem to be deeply entrenched. “Once I needed a 4 [on a 5-point grading scale] to keep my stipend, but I got a 3 on the exam,” said Temur. So I paid 30 somoni [$6.50] and the professor gave me a 4 and I got my stipend – 50 somoni every month. The math is simple.”
Commenting on condition of anonymity, a professor who himself accepts bribes explained to EurasiaNet.org how entrance fees are determined. For matriculation into a liberal arts program, students are expected to pay from $1,000 to $3,000 “depending on the prestige of the department.” Law or economics programs cost between $4,500 and $10,000 to enter.
University faculty tend to target students who are absent and do poorly on exams, the professor said, to supplement their salaries of between 450 and 1,200 somoni ($96 and $257) per month. The reasons for bribe-taking vary “but are mostly due to low salaries — to somehow feed one’s family. Mostly the students themselves force [professors to do this] in order to graduate from university at any cost,” he said.
“The students themselves don’t acknowledge, or don’t want to acknowledge the consequences of this type of learning,” the professor added. “In Tajik society, the prestige of a degree is far higher than the prestige of knowledge.”
Temur believes students share much of the blame.
“Our students only study for the diploma, not knowledge. Our students know it is easier and most common just to pay. If you study, they rarely ask you for money, though some teachers do want money no matter what you do,” he told EurasiaNet.org. “I blame the students. If our students are studying, if they want to study, they will pass. Every teacher who wants to get money will just get it from lazy students. Only 5 to 10 percent of students study.”
Officials are well aware of the problem and are working on a solution, according to Savzali Jafarov, director of the government’s new National Testing Center, which plans to implement nationwide standardized tests for university entrance by 2014. [Editor’s Note: The National Testing Center is supported by the OSI-Assistance Foundation Tajikistan, which, like EurasiaNet.org, operates under the auspices of the Open Society Foundations.]
Under the current system, “each university makes its own test, its own rules. Students apply to a university and take their [admissions] test,” Jafarov explained. “By making the tests automated [and standardized], we will eliminate the human factor.”
Though the project’s first stage will only tackle exams and the “fees” related to entry into university, many hope the system will one day confront students’ propensity to pay for grades. One recent graduate of the prestigious, Russian-government-funded Slavonic University in Dushanbe said he estimates that only three of the 40 students in his department graduated without paying bribes. Most expensive are courses in medical departments, law, business and dentistry because they are connected to professions in which graduates can quickly recoup the money they pay out, the graduate said.
“Tomorrow these will be the leaders and they are taught by the system that everything in life can be purchased. They are not prepared to live any other way,” he said.
“The big danger is that corruption will influence the knowledge base of our society,” said Jafarov at the National Testing Center. “Of course, it also influences high school education. The parents of high school students know their children don’t need knowledge to go to university and this undermines their interest in their children’s education. This is the greatest danger.”

Editor’s note:
David Trilling is the Central Asia editor for EurasiaNet.

David Trilling, EurasiaNet.org

Источник: http://www.eurasianet.org/node/63910

Dushanbe, Tajikistan, July 19, 2011 — The Embassy of the United States of America welcomes the release of BBC journalist Urunboy Usmonov and the General Prosecutor’s Office’s decision to drop charges related to Hizb ut-Tahrir affiliation.

Mr. Usmonov, like all journalists, must meet with a wide range of individuals to properly perform his legitimate work as a journalist. We call on the authorities to drop the remaining charge against him of failure to inform the authorities of illegal activities.

http://dushanbe.usembassy.gov/

RFE/RL has written elsewhere about the disaster in Turkmenistan on July 7, when a series of massive explosions struck a military munitions depot in the town of Abadan, with a population 50,000, located less than 20 kilometers from Ashgabat, the capital. The explosion killed dozens of people.

But that’s not the only thing that’s significant about the incident. The deadly explosions also mark the unprecedented emergence of citizen journalism in one of the world’s most isolated countries.

Soon after the initial blast, the government shut down the Internet and telephone lines in Abadan. The town was evacuated and completely sealed off to all but emergency services.

Hours went by, but the state-controlled media still hadn’t provided any radio or TV reports about the disaster. The only thing that emerged from the authorities was a brief statement:

«Today an emergency joint session of the Cabinet of Ministers and the State Security Council of Turkmenistan has discussed the situation regarding the ignition of pyrotechnical goods, intended for fireworks, stored at a special warehouse. The fire started as a result of the hot weather.»

This sort of thing is par for the course in Turkmenistan. Privately owned media do not exist in the country. TV and radio are tightly controlled by the state, which also closely monitors citizens’ contacts with the outside world. Even a disaster like this would normally go unreported.

But this time, events took a different turn. One of the factors was the unprecedented activism of citizen journalists who reported the event to the outside world even as it was still unfolding — in some cases risking their lives in the process. It’s the first time in the history of Turkmenistan that anything like this has happened.

«Smoke reportedly started rising at the depot at 2 p.m. Turkmen time on July 7, and the first explosion took place at 4 p.m.,» says Farit Tukhbatulin, head of the Vienna-based Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights, which runs a website with contributions from Turkmen citizen journalists. He says he first received word about two hours after that and posted it on the site. It was soon picked up by other media, including RFE/RL.

At around 7:30 p.m., EurasiaNet.org presented a more detailed version of the story. The following day, Radio Azatlyk, RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service, made unique video footage of the event.

But the reporting really got going with two pictures of the damaged buildings (posted later the same day) on the Turkmen version of the online social chat site teswirler.com.

«People: I just escaped from that place when the explosions started,» wrote Jeronimo87, an apparent eyewitness to the explosion, in a comment posted on teswirler.com.

The post continued, «God keep us under his protection from what just happened. An artillery shell fell next to me. I barely escaped even with a car.»

Another user, aylale, wrote: «One of the [shells] fell on my relatives’ home. Thank God that they were able to escape in time.»

Other bloggers described families who’d lost their homes sitting by the side of the road.

There were dozens of other comments posted on the website describing the event, and they’ve attracted dozens of responses.

This discussion was taking place while official Turkmen media were broadcasting their usual cheery songs and reports glorifying the president and all of his marvelous works. Some of the reporters got the word out from Abadan itself before the local communication networks were shut down. In the hours that followed, they kept the story going by moving to parts of the country where the Internet and mobile phone networks were still functioning.

«I’ve never seen reporting about an event in the country like this,» says Tuhbatulin. «We’ve never seen anything like the activism of these citizen journalists in Turkmenistan.» He calls their reporting «an information war» against government control, and says that «it was a clear victory for them.»

By the next morning, despite the official blackout, news of the explosion was everywhere — just not in the Turkmen media.

Only on July 10, three days after the event, did official media run a report saying that «a fire indeed started at a fireworks warehouse, but later spilled over to the arms depot, leading to the death of 15 people.»

This is still fairly far removed from the unofficial version of the story reported by citizen journalists, who say the disaster actually started at the depot and led, in the end, to more than 200 deaths.

But by then it didn’t matter what the government had to say. The citizen journalists had already made their point.

What remains to be seen is how the government will respond to its defeat. The authorities could try to adapt to the new reality and implement needed changes in media policy. Or they could try to tighten the screws even further.

Muhammad Tahir

http://www.rferl.org/content/citizen_journalism_scores_breakthrough_in_turkmenistan/24266428.html

New York, July 14, 2001 — The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release today of Urinboy Usmonov, a BBC World Service correspondent, detained in June in Tajikistan and calls on authorities to fully exonerate him and remove restrictions on travel.

Tajik authorities released Usmonov on bail but continue to charge him with extremism while imposing a travel ban, according to the BBC.

“We are relieved that after a month in prison, Urinboy Usmonov is reunited with his family,” said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. “Usmonov’s arrest was unjustified and we call on Tajik authorities to drop their unfounded charges and remove any restrictions on travel.”

Authoritiesarrested Usmonovon June 13 on charges of belonging to a banned Islamist group and indicted him with making «public calls to forcibly change the constitutional system of Tajikistan,» according to press reports and CPJ interviews. Unable to prove the initial charges, authorities amended the indictment.

http://cpj.org/2011/07/bbc-reporter-released-in-tajikistan.php

ASHGABAT — An RFE/RL correspondent in Turkmenistan has been warned by the authorities about his reporting on the deadly explosions at a weapons depot near the country’s capital last week, RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service reports.

A fire at an armory on a military base in the city of Abadan on July 7 is believed to have set off a series of explosions that sprayed ammunition throughout the city, causing tens of thousands of people to be evacuated as many homes and other structures were burnt down or damaged.

Eyewitnesses say that scores of people were killed and injured by the blasts, but the Turkmen government said only 15 people died.

RFE/RL correspondent Dovletmurad Yazguliyev, who reported on the event, was summoned by security officials on July 14 to appear at the police department in the small town of Annau, a suburb of Ashgabat, where he lives.

Yazguliyev told RFE/RL he went to the station and was questioned by a member of the National Security Ministry who identified himself as Altymyrat Berdiyev. Yazguliyev said he did not think that was his real name.

Yazguliyev was accused by the security officer of «slandering and disseminating provocative information» regarding the Abadan blasts. But he said he replied that he stood by the reports in the blogs he wrote for RFE/RL and suggested that he and the security officers visit Abadan to investigate the facts in his reports.

Yazguliyev, who is in his 40s, said he was treated well and in a polite manner while being questioned.

But he said he was warned that if he is summoned by security forces again because of his blogs he will be charged with «disseminating defamatory information through the media» and «causing national, social, and religious provocations.»

Yazguliyev, who has worked for RFE/RL for about three years, would face prison sentences of two and five years for those charges, respectively, if tried and found guilty.

In his blogs, Yazguliyev was highly critical of the authorities — and the State Security Council — for their slow reaction to the deadly event.

Government officials said for nearly three days that there were no casualties and only minor damage as a result of the explosions.

Yazguliyev also wrote that there were not 15 dead, as the government claimed, but rather that hundreds of people had been killed.

http://www.rferl.org/content/turkmen_journalist_threatened_over_blast_reporting/24267114.html