Turkmen Leader Wages War on Satellite Dishes
The leader of the isolated desert state of Turkmenistan on Tuesday ordered that the country get rid of its ubiquitous satellite dishes, state-run media said Tuesday.
"Dozens of satellite dishes erected on top of every house spoil the appearance of buildings," Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov complained during a government meeting broadcast on state-run television.
The president, who has ruled the ex-Soviet state since 2007, called for "limiting the number of satellite dishes to two or three per building."
Apartment blocks and detached houses bristle with satellite dishes in a country where state media is tightly controlled and broadband Internet access is hugely expensive.
Most Turkmens tune into Russian, Turkish and Arabic satellite television channels to escape relentless government propaganda on the five state-owned national channels.
Turkmenistan is the only former Soviet republic without any privately-owned newspapers, magazines, television or news agencies.
Berdymukhamedov began his campaign against satellite dishes in 2008, when he charged the government with removing the dishes and replacing them with cable television in the capital Ashgabat.
However, the authorities only installed cable television in a small number of apartment buildings along the main avenues, whose residents can watch around 500 channels.
Turkmenistan until 2006 was ruled by eccentric president Saparmurat Niyazov, who developed a bizarre personality cult that included erecting a giant gold statue of himself and renaming the months of the year after members of his family.
His successor Berdymukhamedov had taken gradual steps to remove some of the more eccentric features of the despot's rule.
Source: Agence France Presse
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