Internet: Turkmenistan government website to allow comments

Radio Free Europe reports that the Turkmen government's official website recently added a new feature that allows readers to post comments to articles. The new feature appears to be a major change in a country where the government strictly controls all media and public dissent is not allowed.

The website, Altyn Asyr (The Golden Age), which was launched about two years ago in Russian, features articles about the national and local governments and the meetings and foreign trips made by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov.

The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) welcomed the development.