'Father of the Turkmen' dies

[Ya Sam]

another character from Inner Asia


"Known as Turkmenbashi, or Father of all Turkmens, Niyazov was renowned for 
such peculiar acts as ordering citizens to get gold teeth extracted, 
outlawing opera and banning men from listening to car radios.

During a 21-year rule he turned his country into a hymn of praise to 
himself: kindergartens, towns, factories and a month of the year (January) 
were named Turkmenbashi. He erected a revolving gold statue of himself in 
the capital Ashgabat and giant billboards of the leader hung all over the 
country.

He often feigned embarrassment at the adulation. "I'm personally against 
seeing my pictures and statues in the streets - but it's what the people 
want," he once said.

But the pressure to worship the leader was relentless. Children in the 
gas-rich state were forced to learn his book of poetry, the Ruhnama, at 
school, and a copy of the book was sent into space for good measure.

Official propaganda had it that Turkmenbashi brought his people into a new 
"golden age" but in reality they were held in almost total isolation and 
political dissent was crushed."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1976842,00.html

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