Tag Archives: media

Tajikistan lifts Facebook ban

JUNE 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Tajikistan lifted a ban on Facebook and YouTube imposed after a police chief defected to the radical group IS in Syria last month, the AFP news agency reported.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 235, published on June 11 2015)

US criticises Tajikistan

JUNE 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The US embassy in Dushanbe issued a statement criticising the Tajik government for block- ing access to various websites. It said that Tajikistan should lift restrictions on the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Facebook websites. These have been inaccessible since May 28.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)

RFE/RL quits Azerbaijan

MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) officially closed its office in Baku, 6 months after Azerbaijani police raided it. Relations between Azerbaijan and the West have worsened over the past year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Court shuts Uzbek newspaper

MAY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Tashkent ordered the closure of Noviy Vek, a privately owned weekly newspaper for, apparently, undermining the moral values of the country. Uzbekistan has one of the worst records for free press in the world.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Turkmenistan cracking down on media

MAY 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The New York-based Human Rights Watch accused the Turkmen government of using new rules which ban satellite dishes from apartment blocks because they are an eyesore as a pretext for cracking down on independent information sources.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)

Azerbaijan’s jailed reporter wins award

APRIL 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Increasing pressure on Azerbaijan over its treatment of journalists, the Swedish National Press Club gave its Freedom of Speech Award to imprisoned Azerbaijani reporter Khadija Ismayilova. The award was set up in 2006 after the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Kyrgyz newspaper complains

APRIL 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A major newspaper in Kyrgyzstan complained of repressive action ordered by President Almazbek Atambayev in the build up to a parliamentary election later this year, Eurasianet reported. The Vechernii Bishkek newspaper supports the opposition, Eurasianet reported.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Turkmenistan plans to ban satellite

APRIL 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Turkmenistan plan on banning households from owning satellite dishes in an effort to block access to stations critical of its government, the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). RFE/RL said that it was the government’s main target.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)

Uzbekistan bans Child 44 movie

APRIL 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan followed Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan and banned the new Hollywood movie Child 44 because of the apparent negative way that it portrays the Soviet Union.

Child 44 was based on a book about the hunt for a serial killer in 1950s Soviet Union. It was produced by Ridley Scott, famed for several blockbuster films including Aliens, Blade Runner and Gladiator.

Last week, the Russian culture ministry said: “The distortion of historical facts and original interpretations of events before, during and after the Great Patriotic War is why we decided to ban this movie on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Victory.”

Victory refers to the annual May 9 celebrations of the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

In the past few years, Central Asian countries have been at the centre of controversies around celebrations for the end of World War II.

Preferring to favour their own national building efforts above Soviet symbolism, Central Asian leaders have striven to tear down Soviet symbols, statues of the founder of the Soviet Union Vladimir Lenin being a particularly favoured target.

The movie Child 44, though, appears to have had the opposite impact and former Soviet states have been quick to spring to the defence of the USSR.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)

Azerbaijan’s press freedom remains low

APRIL 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan is one of the top 10 most repressive states in the world for journalists, the New York-based lobby group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said. Azerbaijan is the only former Soviet state to feature on the list.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)