“I can’t believe it, my dream has come true,” says a young Turkmen reacting to the news that Turkmenistan will soon  acquire its first national space satellite.  The satellite is intended to accelerate the development of communications systems and internet connectivity in the country, according to official Turkmen news  reports.  Indeed, aside from boosting national pride and invoking trust in the country’s development , it does in reality means good news for the country’s internet and mobile phone users.

Of course, a satellite isn’t exactly what Niyazov had in mind when he vowed to put Turkmens into space during the 21st Century.  But then, since becoming president, Berdimuhammedov has envisioned greater internet access as one way to improve Turkmenistan’s relations with the outside world.

Will the internet free us?

In his famous speech at Columbia University two years ago, Berdimuhammedov remarked,

Let me tell you frankly that the atmosphere today in Turkmenistan is just incredible. Our children feel such a strong and intense yearning for knowledge that we just can’t fail and let them down.

Since then new schools have been equipped with computers and nternet services in the main cities have improved.  Yet, internet penetration here is still the lowest among the southernmost states of the former Soviet Union and government interception of emails remains ubiquitous.

There is a dark side to the internet:

“Don’t forget that the same technology bringing new freedoms can also be used to restrict those freedoms,” remarks a Turkmen activist who does not want his identity to be disclosed.

Farid Tuhbatullin,  an exiled human rights activist from Turkmenistan based in Vienna, says that Turkmenistan does not need a national satellite to improve internet and  telecommunications:

The government can make use of the already available satellites. Turkmenistan lacks local specialists that a national satellite requires.  If they are intent on improving the internet and tele communications , they should allow private , non-governmental  business companies to set up and operate.

Yet, I feel that when progress comes, it comes very slowly and needs to be appreciated.  Remember that under Niyazov only government officials, diplomatic staff, and employees of international companies were allowed to surf the internet.

A new, albeit small, online community is already emerging among Turkmens with new sites and blogs linking up.  This new “Turkmenet” is carefully experimenting with a new kind of freedom that wasn’t available a few years ago and which could prove to be only temporary, depending on the politics of the Turkmen regime.

To be true, there seems to be much chaos about the official politics about the Internet. For example while some websites critical of the government or opposed to them are banned, pornographic sites are not censored which raises eyebrows among conservative members of the society.

Nevertheless, the cybernetic potential in a country like this is huge. Politics being surrounded by secrecy, media heavily censored, and books are hard to get.  Increasingly, people seek to bypass these shortages via the internet.

Again, it’s also true that there are limits it to this experience: many don’t know how to use the new medium, so the Turkmenet still has long while to mature.   Yet, we cannot underestimate how much, due to this free medium, young people may develop a mentality of free thinking and fast information exchange that is seen as important if the country is to continue on its  much proclaimed “great era of revival”.

I have high hopes for my nation’s burgeoning online community.  They are embarking upon what could end up becoming an incredible cybernetic adventure into the wider world and into their very selves.