Free Republic

Rahim Esenov, one of the most well-known Turkmen writers who openly refused to follow the orders of the Central Asian nation's authoritarian leadership, has died in Ashgabat at the age of 95. Esenov's relatives and friends told RFE/RL on April 25 that the writer died over the weekend. No cause of death was given. Esenov openly rejected the cult of personality that was created by Turkmenistan’s first President Saparmurat Niyazov in the 1990s and was blacklisted for his refusal to go along with the leader. He rejected Niyazov's demand to change the plot of his book The Crowned Wanderer which...

ASHGABAT: Turkmenistan's authoritarian President Saparmurat Niyazov, who has ruled the gas-rich Central Asian country for 20 years, died early Thursday, two government officials told foreign news agency on condition of anonymity. He was 66. "This sad event occurred early this morning. We are all in shock," a senior government official said. Another official, who also asked not to be identified, said: "Today the Turkmen president died unexpectedly."

Long hair or beards will no longer be tolerated in Turkmenistan, following a presidential decree. President Saparmurat Niyazov said on Thursday that the Education Ministry should be in charge of checking people's hair and facial arrangements. The self-styled "Turkmenbashi the Great" also announced the launch of a textbook on good behaviour to add to a school curriculum already dominated by his "philosophical" works. The volume, entitled Upbringing, is based on the "wisdom of the ancient traditions of the Turkmen people who through the ages developed clear-cut norms of behaviour and socialisation". Dictator Niyazov has clung to power since the end...