Paper abstract:

There have been nonviolent presidential transfers of power between 2016 and 2021 in three Central Asian republics – Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan – all of which Freedom House classifies as “consolidated authoritarian regimes.” The three governments continued to constrain freedom of expression after the transitions, despite constitutional provisions nominally guaranteeing that right. Thus, a hoped-for liberalization of individual rights, in particular press freedom, failed to materialize, a situation that is consistent with anti-press policies and practices in Central Asia since these five republics gaining independence in 1991. This study provides an overview of the media environment in the three countries. It draws on documentary sources such as reports, correspondence, public statements, and petitions from international press and human rights defender groups, to compile governmental violations of press freedom since the most recent transfers of presidential power in Uzbekistan (14 December 2016), Kazakhstan (10 March 2019), and Kyrgyzstan (28 January 2021). Other data comes from interviews with experts such as human rights and press rights, activists, and journalists. The findings strongly suggest that even with a peaceful transition of power and some form of election, mere regime change in authoritarian and semi-authoritarian post-Soviet countries is unlikely to generate increased protection for press freedom. Based on that record, it is also likely to prove true in the case of repressitarian Turkmenistan, where a peaceful transition in presidential power occurred in March 2022.