Posted on 06/21/2004 8:53:51 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan -- Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, who has built a vast personality cult, on Monday asked government officials to stop praising him.
"I have a request: don't praise me. I even feel uncomfortable appearing at various meetings and events," Niyazov told a Cabinet meeting.
"It upsets me that I'm the only one who gets credit for all Turkmenistan's achievements. In fact, they belong to the entire Turkmen people," Niyazov said.
Last month, in a surprise move, Niyazov ordered removal of his portraits from administrative buildings. No reason was given.
But a new bronze and stone monument depicting Niyazov taking an oath as president was unveiled Monday in front of the parliament building in the capital Ashgabat to mark 12 years since his inauguration as the nation's leader as an independent country.
Niyazov, has ruled 1985 in this former Soviet republic and prefers to be called Turkmenbashi, or "the Father of all Turkmens." He has made himself the central element of independent Turkmen national culture. His image is inescapable in the capital Ashgabat, with dozens of billboards and monuments to him adorning virtually every street corner.
Niyazov's golden statue in Ashgabat's main square rotates to always face the sun.
His face is on the country's currency and his golden profile is the national television's logo, adorning the television screen.
There are more then a dozen Niyazov's monuments around Ashgabat. The new one is next to a similar monument in front of the Defense Ministry building.
Mosque to carry Niyazov's stamp - The president of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov, has ordered that his own words be inscribed alongside verses of the Koran on a new mosque being built just outside the capital Ashgabat, intended to be the biggest in all Asia. The president announced that craftsmen would add lines from his book called "the Ruhnama" on the immense façade.
Isn't that the guy who named the month of January after himself?
At Turkman's request, my previous inadvertent non-praising of Turkman is now officially intentional.
Niyazov's golden statue in Ashgabat's main square rotates to always face the sun.
Even at night!
If he continues to amaze, I’m just not going to be able to refrain from praising Turkman much longer.
The very same.
Is it possible he's repenting of the personality cult thing?
Don't praise Turkman.
Joe I saw this guy on Fox news report with Sheppard Smith
OMG he is Cult of personality in his country that dude scareeeee me
YIKES
This is what happens when you take Soviet-style authoritarianism, add in a good measure of Islamic culture and season with a generous amount of megalomania.
Faux humility is usually the last stop on the journey to proclaiming one's infallibility and deification.
Great. No more fun on Friday nights.
"The celebrations took the form of a nationwide wave of adulation, with political and cultural figures reading long tributes to Niyazov against a backdrop of festive concerts," the Turkmenistan.ru Web site said. "The first secretary of the country's ruling Democratic Party described the president as a "prophet" while the head of a veterans' organization dismissed the idea of presidential elections and said Niyazov must remain Turkmenistan's 'permanent' president," it said.
Niyazov took the oath of office on June 21, 1992, six months after the former Soviet republic in Central Asia became independent following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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