Heavy Hand Grips Turkmenistan ; Ngo Role in Civil Society Eroded

Summary

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Turkmenistan's one-party state continues to hold tight control over civil society and education more than a decade after the nation won independence from the breakup of the Soviet Union, speakers at a briefing said last week.

"The capacity of the Turkmen state is relatively strong; the scope of what the state thinks it's supposed to do is still very broad in definition, and its governing philosophy is unrepentantly authoritarian," said Gavin Helf, former Central Asia director at the International Research and Exchanges Board, an international nonprofit organization that supports independent media and civil- society programs.

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Extract

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Heavy Hand Grips Turkmenistan ; Ngo Role in Civil Society Eroded

Unlike many of its Central Asian neighbors, Turkmenistan doesn't spout rhetoric about democracy, Mr. Helf...

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