O n 26 December 1994, the parliament adopted a resolution which is regularly viewed as a legal justification for censorship and suppression of dissent. I t should, however, be said that this resolution in fact followed the gradual extinction of all non-conformity in the media, which had taken place throughout 1994. These serve to inform the management of the outlets what should and what should not be made public.
Objection can mean dismissal, as has been illustrated in more than one case.
All these factors combine to indicate a very intimidating climate. As a recent example, the case of a leading journalist, Marat Durdyev, is briefly outlined below. M arat Durdyev, author of more than 20 different books on Turkmen historical and cultural issues, editorial board member of the major newspaper Neutral'ny Turkmenistan and member of the Academy of Sciences, was forcibly incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital in Ashkhabat in October 1996, immediately after he published a critical article about Turkmenistan in Russia's newspaper Pravda . He was released in November, yet has been dismissed from the editorial boards of the publications with which he was associated as well as from his teaching positions. His membership in the Academy of Science has reportedly been revoked.