Digitalization Turkmen-Style: When the Internet Does Not Work, Starlink Is Confiscated, and Teachers Are Forced to “Digitize” Bureaucracy by Hand

Digitalization Turkmen-Style: When the Internet Does Not Work, Starlink Is Confiscated, and Teachers Are Forced to “Digitize” Bureaucracy by Hand The authorities of Turkmenistan continue to present the country to the world as a “modern digital state,” speaking of modernization, innovation, and technological development. Yet the reality inside the country increasingly resembles not digital transformation, but managed digital collapse. Recent developments confirm this once again: authorities have begun raids to confiscate Starlink satellite terminals, which citizens had turned to because of the catastrophic condition of the national internet infrastructure. At the same time, schools are being forced to transition to electronic journals despite having effectively non-functioning internet, requiring teachers to pay for internet access out of pocket while maintaining triple reporting systems. In practice, “digitalization” in Turkmenistan increasingly resembles not development, but a form of administrative pressure, censorship, and restriction of fundamental human rights. Internet as a Privilege, Not a Right Access to information and the internet has long become an essential component of the realization of fundamental human rights in the modern world: the right to education, freedom of expression, access to information, professional activity, and communication. Yet in Turkmenistan, internet access has effectively been turned into a controlled privilege. Despite extremely high tariffs, the population receives one of the slowest, most unstable, and most censored internet services in the world. For monthly fees comparable to Starlink, citizens are offered dramatically lower speeds, while access to hundreds of thousands of resources remains blocked. Users regularly face: repeated connection outages; mass blocking of foreign platforms; restrictions on Google services; degradation of network quality and critically high packet loss; inability to work, study, or conduct business online effectively. It is under these conditions that many residents sought an alternative — and found it in Starlink. When the State Cannot Provide Internet, It Bans the Internet That Works Although Starlink does not officially operate in Turkmenistan, demand for it among the population has grown rapidly. The reason is simple: people do not need “secret Western internet”; they simply need internet that works. Most Starlink users in Turkmenistan relied on it not for any “subversive activity,” but for basic necessities: remote work; online education; conducting international business; using modern digital services; communicating with relatives abroad; accessing unblocked information. But instead of improving national infrastructure, the state chose its usual course: to confiscate the functioning alternative. According to independent reports, officers from the Ministry of National Security, police, прокуратure, and Ministry of Communications are conducting raids on residential and commercial properties to identify and seize Starlink terminals. The logic is painfully simple: if the state cannot provide quality internet, then no one else should have it either. Censorship Under the Guise of Cybersecurity Particular concern surrounds the activities of the so-called Cybersecurity Directorate, which according to reports is behind the latest wave of network degradation and blanket blocking measures. This body is reportedly responsible for: introducing technical restrictions that degrade network quality; blocking services without explanation; restricting international platforms; creating conditions in which even sending simple messages can take minutes. Instead of protecting the country’s digital infrastructure, the institution supposedly created to secure it is effectively paralyzing it. The particular cynicism of the situation lies in the fact that, according to numerous accounts, representatives of this system themselves enjoy unrestricted access to the global internet, while the general population is left in digital isolation. “Digitalization” of Schools: A New Level of Bureaucratic Absurdity Against the backdrop of degrading internet infrastructure, the authorities have introduced electronic school journals through the eMekdep platform. On paper, the idea appears progressive: automation of record-keeping, reduction of paperwork, and improved efficiency. In practice, the result has been the opposite. Teachers are now required to: maintain the electronic journal; continue maintaining the official state paper journal; keep additional personal records “for safety.” As a result, instead of one journal, teachers must maintain three parallel reporting systems. Digitalization at Teachers’ Expense At the same time, in many schools: stable internet access is absent; there are not enough functioning computers; Wi-Fi barely works; local networks collapse if several users connect simultaneously. As a result, teachers are forced to: use personal mobile internet; pay for home internet to fulfill work duties; complete digital entries at home after working hours; manually transfer data from handwritten notes into the digital system. In other words, the state is not merely implementing a dysfunctional system — it is shifting the costs onto education workers, many of whom receive very modest salaries. Control Instead of Efficiency The true purpose of the eMekdep system appears not to be digitalization, but control. Moderators strictly monitor timely data entry. A separate supervisory hierarchy has been built around the platform. Grades must be entered within rigid deadlines. Teachers who fail to comply are required to submit written explanations. This applies even when delays are caused by: lack of internet access; system malfunctions; illness; family circumstances; inability to afford home internet. Thus, a digital tool supposedly intended to ease teachers’ workload has instead become an instrument of additional pressure and surveillance. The Problem Is Not Technology — It Is the System It is important to understand that digitalization itself is not the problem. Electronic journals, online services, and digital platforms are a normal part of development in any modern country. The problem in Turkmenistan lies elsewhere: technology is introduced not to improve citizens’ lives, but to: strengthen control; simulate modernization; increase reporting burdens; create a decorative “digital showcase” for external observers. As a result, a potentially beneficial reform is transformed into yet another bureaucratic mechanism of pressure. Digital Rights Violations as State Policy What is occurring in Turkmenistan today cannot be viewed as isolated technical failures or unsuccessful reforms. It reflects a systemic state policy of restricting digital rights, including: restricting the right to access information; restricting freedom of expression; restricting the right to education; restricting the right to work and modern forms of employment; creating digital inequality between the authorities and the population. In the twenty-first century, lack of access to quality internet is no longer merely an inconvenience. It is a form of social and professional exclusion. Conclusion While the rest of the world sees digitalization as a tool of development, in Turkmenistan it has been turned into a tool of control. While other states expand internet access, the authorities of Turkmenistan confiscate functioning satellite internet from citizens. While modern schools use technology to ease the burden on educators, Turkmen teachers are forced to maintain triple reporting systems through malfunctioning software while paying for connectivity themselves. While officials report digital progress, the population continues to live in digital isolation. And the central question is no longer technological. The central question is this: Can a state that systematically deprives its citizens of access to information, communication, and modern tools of development truly call itself digital? Or is this merely another façade behind which censorship, control, and fear of a free society are concealed? Sources: Turkmen.news — Authorities Begin Confiscating Starlink Antennas in Turkmenistan https://turkmen.news/2026/04/22/v-turkmenistane-nachali-izymat-antenny-starlink/⁠� Turkmen.news — Digitalization in Turkmen Schools Increases Teachers’ Workload and Errors in Documentation https://turkmen.news/2026/04/24/v-turkmenskih-shkolah-cifrovizaciya-povysila-nagruzku-na-uchiteley-i-chislo-oshibok-v-dokumentah/⁠� Turkmen.news — Internet in Turkmenistan Continues to Deteriorate Amid Growing Restrictions https://turkmen.news/2026/02/14/v-turkmenistane-degradiruet-internet-i-usilivayutsya-blokirovki/⁠� Human Rights Platform of the Civil Movement “Dayanç” / Turkmenistan Official Website: https://www.dayanchcivil.com/⁠�