Ashgabat More Affluent, But Poisoned By 'Atmosphere Of Political Repression'

Turkmenistan has been called the "hermit kingdom" and the North Korea of Central Asia. Foreigners are watched when they enter the country, and the Turkmen government goes to great lengths to keep foreign media from reaching its people. Many businessmen visit Turkmenistan, as the country is rich in oil and natural gas, but few people visit as tourists, and fewer yet have visited more than once. According to human rights and media freedom organizations, Turkmenistan has one of the most repressive governments in the world. A recently released report from the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, for example, lists Turkmenistan as one of the worst countries in the world in terms of media freedom, ranking it 164th out of 167 nations.