Yovshan Annagurban is a broadcaster in RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service. Prior to joining RFE/RL in 2002, he wrote and published the first Turkmen online magazine, based in Bergen, Norway (yurt.annagurban.com). After graduating from Turkmen State University, Yovshan worked for Turkmen media for over a decade. His work focused on social and cultural issues as well as politics and human rights in Turkmenistan. In 1992-1993, he worked as an adviser to the President of Turkmenistan on media and public relations and later held the post of Deputy Editor for the bilingual Diyar (Homeland) magazine, based in Ashgabat. In 1993, after resigning from his editorial position to protest increasing state censorship, he was labeled a “suspicious person” by leading Turkmen newspapers and was banned from being published in Turkmenistan. In 1995, Yovshan was arrested for publishing anti-government leaflets and holding a speech in front of protesters. In 1996, he was pardoned and began to work for RFE/RL’s Turkmen service as a freelance journalist from Ashgabat. In 1997, he was arrested by Turkmen security agents at the Ashgabat airport while en route to Prague. Due to international pressure, he was released after 13 days and later immigrated to Norway. Yovshan’s 2004 project about Turkmen freedom of expression won an Osher Fellowship at the Hoover Institution, and he recently completed his first significant work in English based on his own experiences in Turkmenistan.