You're reading: OSCE tells Turkmenistan to liberalize media

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) — A leading trans-Atlantic rights and security group has urged the isolated Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan to ease media restrictions and bring about greater access to the Internet.

Dunja Mijatovic, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s media rights representative, made the call in a statement late Tuesday following a visit to the authoritarian former Soviet country.

Until 2007, Turkmenistan limited Internet access to officially approved organizations and journalists.

Many foreign websites remain blocked and the International Telecommunications Union says the Internet penetration rate is about 2.2 people per 100, among the world’s lowest rates.

Mijatovic hailed the government for allowing at least one nongovernment newspaper.

But the paper is run by the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and features exclusively pro-government content.