There will be no problems if you do not talk about them. This approach is formed by the authorities of Turkmenistan among the inhabitants of the country. The advice given by negligent leaders to people is not to tell the employees of radio “Azatlyk” about the problems of the state – Turkmen service “Radio Freedom”, as well as not to read foreign media and “be patient”.
Keep your mouth shut and don’t give information – in the “best” traditions of the Soviet Union, and sometimes even surpass it. The inhabitants of Turkmenistan want to be placed in an information vacuum in which the bright face of the supreme ruler is inviolable, and problems cannot be talked about. The communist regime also struggled with foreign media. Radio Liberty, as well as the Voice of America and the German Wave, as in Turkmenistan, were almost the only sources of the real picture of the world – people on high-powered radios tuned to short-wave frequencies and listened to the voice of “abroad” which were trying to jam several towers installed on the western borders of the USSR.
New technologies have made their adjustments – the Turkmen authorities are trying to isolate people from the Internet, so that citizens have no access to other resources, except those controlled by the regime. Authorities like “authorities” are used to create the appearance of support in society.
At a meeting in Turkmenbashi with the participation of employees of the Ministry of National Security, representatives of the city administration and public organizations discussed leaks of information from citizens to independent media. The representatives of the authorities asked the citizens to contact the local authorities and law enforcement agencies on any issues.
“Sooner or later, all problems will be solved. The time will come, when and water supply will be normalized, and there will be fewer problems with electricity outages. The government is working day and night to solve the problem of shortage of flour rations. This too will solve. We have people if only a week can not withdraw cash from the ATM, who immediately complain to anyone. And then information, photos, and videos about this appear on the pages of Azatlyk,” said the elder speaking at the event.
The approach itself is already shocking – the elder is dissatisfied with the fact that people demand minimal comfort from the authorities. While even in relatively developed countries, bank transfers take place in a matter of seconds and the system operates around the clock, the pseudo-authority asserts that people should not complain about a week’s lack of access to the ATM.
The regime has deliberately kept the country in the past century, ignoring technological progress and the just aspirations of the people. After all, this is the only way to preserve the power of a small group of people – the power of the Berdymukhammedov family. And it is access to free information that brings about the end of the regime, and with it a normal standard of living. It is pointless to argue about the advantages of democracy – mankind came to this more than two thousand years ago, in ancient Greece. And any attempt to hold on to the dictatorship will fail sooner or later, so the story is clear.
