The Malady Called Turkmenbashi
Earlier this week, we reported on the impressive surgical abilities of Turkmenistan's president. Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov not only rode his dentistry skill to the country's top office three years ago; he also can remove a tumor.
The feat attracted much attention not just at the novelty of a head of state taking time off to perform surgery, but because of whom the president succeeded in 2006. The country's former leader was Saparmurat Niyazov, the self-styled Turkmenbashi, or Leader of the Turkmen. Here was a man with a serious fixation on monuments.
We all had good fun at Turkmenbashi's expense before and after his death in 2006. I did so in this promo for Oil and the Glory last year.
But is this all Turkmenistan is bound for? Being a source of humor to the region and beyond? After awhile, my Turkmen friends certainly didn't think all the fussing was funny, and initially Berdymukhamedov attracted good reports for tearing down some of Niyazov's monuments, and reopening schools and libraries.
But it turns out that the surgery incident was indicative of a problem. Berdymukhamedov seems to have contracted the same malady that afflicted Niyazov.
On Tuesday, we heard that Berdymukhamedov launched a book on Turkmen plants with medicinal uses. Now we are told that he's also an expert on the famed Turkmen horse breed, the Akhal Tekke. His book on the subject is called Akhal Tekke: Our Pride and Glory, according to Daniel Kalder at the Telegraph in London.
The day before yesterday, the president's press service reported that Berdymukhamedov is also a pretty good pilot. He took over the controls of a Sikorsky helicopter in order to get "acquainted with the pace of a season cotton treatment campaign, preparation of land for tillage and harvesting of crops." The Turkmen leader then inspected a construction site from the air before being congratulated on his performance by the head of the country's state airline.
This is a man of the people. Berdymukhamedov's caring reaches even the ordinary tree. As the news service noted, after his official inspection, Berdymukhamedov "issued instructions to government officials to 'carefully examine the state of urban plants and establish proper gardening by providing timely watering of plants.'"
Berdymukhamedov is continuing with at least one of his predecessor's grandiose projects -- "Golden Age Lake," in which he is filling up a 77-square mile desert depression called Karashor with cotton-field run-off.
Quite apart from focusing on such $20 billion ventures while his country is mired in poverty, some people think the project could actually provoke war with neighboring Uzbekistan, which like much of the region has a chronic water shortage.
At the project launch a week ago, Berdymukhamedov turned a shovel-full of earth, then got on a horse and rode away to a waiting helicopter.
There was no word on who piloted it.
The feat attracted much attention not just at the novelty of a head of state taking time off to perform surgery, but because of whom the president succeeded in 2006. The country's former leader was Saparmurat Niyazov, the self-styled Turkmenbashi, or Leader of the Turkmen. Here was a man with a serious fixation on monuments.
We all had good fun at Turkmenbashi's expense before and after his death in 2006. I did so in this promo for Oil and the Glory last year.
But is this all Turkmenistan is bound for? Being a source of humor to the region and beyond? After awhile, my Turkmen friends certainly didn't think all the fussing was funny, and initially Berdymukhamedov attracted good reports for tearing down some of Niyazov's monuments, and reopening schools and libraries.
But it turns out that the surgery incident was indicative of a problem. Berdymukhamedov seems to have contracted the same malady that afflicted Niyazov.
On Tuesday, we heard that Berdymukhamedov launched a book on Turkmen plants with medicinal uses. Now we are told that he's also an expert on the famed Turkmen horse breed, the Akhal Tekke. His book on the subject is called Akhal Tekke: Our Pride and Glory, according to Daniel Kalder at the Telegraph in London.
The day before yesterday, the president's press service reported that Berdymukhamedov is also a pretty good pilot. He took over the controls of a Sikorsky helicopter in order to get "acquainted with the pace of a season cotton treatment campaign, preparation of land for tillage and harvesting of crops." The Turkmen leader then inspected a construction site from the air before being congratulated on his performance by the head of the country's state airline.
This is a man of the people. Berdymukhamedov's caring reaches even the ordinary tree. As the news service noted, after his official inspection, Berdymukhamedov "issued instructions to government officials to 'carefully examine the state of urban plants and establish proper gardening by providing timely watering of plants.'"
Berdymukhamedov is continuing with at least one of his predecessor's grandiose projects -- "Golden Age Lake," in which he is filling up a 77-square mile desert depression called Karashor with cotton-field run-off.
Quite apart from focusing on such $20 billion ventures while his country is mired in poverty, some people think the project could actually provoke war with neighboring Uzbekistan, which like much of the region has a chronic water shortage.
At the project launch a week ago, Berdymukhamedov turned a shovel-full of earth, then got on a horse and rode away to a waiting helicopter.
There was no word on who piloted it.
Labels: berdymukhamedov, niyazov, turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan
