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From an IWPR bulletin: The Institute for War and Peace Reporting today launched a unique radio project providing reporting on Turkmenistan, one of the world’s most closed states. Inside View, a radio program made by Turkmen journalists in their own language, is being beamed into the country as part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s regular broadcast. Turkmenistan is an extreme dictatorship, with a secretive leadership and virtually no international profile. Life inside the country is harsh - poverty combined with state repression is compounded by the almost total lack of access to independent news and opinion. State broadcasters and press mouth the president’s latest thoughts, and freedom of expression has been entirely stamped out. In this repressive atmosphere, IWPR, which has been active in the region since 2000, has been one of the lone voices reporting first-hand from Turkmenistan. Now, in conjunction with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, it is drawing on its expertise to produce a series of radio pieces made by Turkmen reporters for broadcast to the country. “Dictators clamp down on free journalism because they know what an impact it can have,” said IWPR Executive Director Anthony Borden. “But courageous journalists continue to report on Turkmenistan, and IWPR is delighted to be able to provide them with this unique platform.” IWPR builds peace and democracy through free and fair media (see www.iwpr.net ). The Turkmen radio project complements IWPR’s expanding portfolio of media development activities in two dozen countries on four continents. From training Iraqi journalists and giving a voice to Afghan woman reporters to providing ready-to-air news bulletins for radio stations across Uganda, IWPR is at the front line of free speech and peace-building. The first edition of Inside View went out on February 9-10 on RFE/RL’s Turkmen language service. The programs, in Turkmen language, will be posted on the IWPR website as soundfiles, together with transcripts in Turkmen, Russian and English.

With disappointment growing around Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s government and the March 24 Tulip Revolution, it is hard to deny the local NGO’s leverage in setting today’s political agenda. Kyrgyz NGOs played an important role in mobilizing crowds following the rigged elections of early 2005, and continue to be active participants of political life almost a year after the revolution. Representatives of civil society are involved in the commissions on the constitution and national ideology. The full text of this article from the Central Asia - Caucasus Analyst is available at the following URL: http://www.cacianalyst.org/view_article.php?articleid=3961

Reporters Without Borders has condemned censorship by the Kazakh government, which has removed the right to use the .kz suffix from two websites it finds troublesome. The article is accessible at the following URL: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/71136/