Turkmenistan
Türkmenistan
Turkmenistan is an ideal Playgroundist nation. The first president Saparmyrat Ataýewiç Nyýazow (Saparmurat Niyazov) was hitherto the first president of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Mälikgulyýewiç Berdimuhammedow (Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow) was elected. He ruled with an iron fist and made very strange laws which correspond with the Playgroundist idealogy. He saw himself to create a Turkmen identity after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He renamed himself Turkmenbashi or leader of all Turkmens. The airport in Ashgabat, streets and schools all over Turkmenistan, a 670-pound meteorite which landed in 1998, and the large port of Krasnovodsk was renamed, guess what? TURKMENBASHI! He also renamed the months. January is now Turkmenbashi and April Gurbansoltan edzhe after his mother. Bread which was called chorek is now also Gurbansoltan edzhe. The image of Turkmenbashi’s face is used as the logo of all three state-run TV stations, and is legally required to appear on every clock and watch face as well as on every bottle of Turkmenbashi brand vodka.
In 2001, not surprisingly, he published the Ruhnama (Persian for Book of the Soul) which included poetry, revisionist history, moral guidelines, and possibly hidden Playgroundist philosophy. It is now required to be displayed in all bookstores and government offices, and next to the Koran in mosques. Memorization of the book is required to graduate from school and to get a state job or even a driver’s license. Schoolchildren spend one entire day once a week reading it. Since all Soviet-era book have been banned, most Turkmen libraries have only the Ruhnama and other books written by Turkmenbashi (why am I not surprised?). Of course, in 2006 Turkmenbashi made reading the Ruhnama a requirement to get into heaven.
His influence permeated every sphere of Turkmen life. When he quit smoking after major heart surgery in 1997, he ordered all his government ministers to do the same and prohibited smoking in public places. In 2004, he announced a crackdown on young men wearing beards and long hair, and decreed that newscasters could not wear makeup. Why? Because he said he couldn’t tell the male and female news readers apart and this made him uncomfortable . Opera and ballet were outlawed as “unnecessary.” So too was the Internet, video games, opposition political parties (no duh) and pensions for the elderly and disabled. Listening to car radios and the playing of recorded music on television and at public events was forbidden. He even ordered a ban on lip-synching at all cultural events and even at private parties, citing “a negative effect on the development of singing and musical art.”
Facts:
In Ashgabat, there is a gold statue of him that rotates.
He banned gold tooth caps and gold teeth, and "suggested" that tooth preservation could be more easily accomplished by chewing on bones (?).
In 2000 he ordered that a giant lake be created in the desert along with a huge forest of cedar trees. He said "it would help to moderate Turkmenistan’s climate."
In 2004, he ordered that a giant ice palace be build in the middle of the same desert, the Karakum – the hottest location in central Asia. It will include a zoo with penguins (if ever finished)
His gold statue, boy is he modest
Turkmenbashi Brandy
Gurbanguly
Turkmenbashi
Turkmenistan
Soon to be home to a large lake and a cedar forest...YA RIGHT
The Ruhnama
In 2001, not surprisingly, he published the Ruhnama (Persian for Book of the Soul) which included poetry, revisionist history, moral guidelines, and possibly hidden Playgroundist philosophy. It is now required to be displayed in all bookstores and government offices, and next to the Koran in mosques. Memorization of the book is required to graduate from school and to get a state job or even a driver’s license. Schoolchildren spend one entire day once a week reading it. Since all Soviet-era book have been banned, most Turkmen libraries have only the Ruhnama and other books written by Turkmenbashi (why am I not surprised?). Of course, in 2006 Turkmenbashi made reading the Ruhnama a requirement to get into heaven.
His influence permeated every sphere of Turkmen life. When he quit smoking after major heart surgery in 1997, he ordered all his government ministers to do the same and prohibited smoking in public places. In 2004, he announced a crackdown on young men wearing beards and long hair, and decreed that newscasters could not wear makeup. Why? Because he said he couldn’t tell the male and female news readers apart and this made him uncomfortable . Opera and ballet were outlawed as “unnecessary.” So too was the Internet, video games, opposition political parties (no duh) and pensions for the elderly and disabled. Listening to car radios and the playing of recorded music on television and at public events was forbidden. He even ordered a ban on lip-synching at all cultural events and even at private parties, citing “a negative effect on the development of singing and musical art.”
Facts:
In Ashgabat, there is a gold statue of him that rotates.
He banned gold tooth caps and gold teeth, and "suggested" that tooth preservation could be more easily accomplished by chewing on bones (?).
In 2000 he ordered that a giant lake be created in the desert along with a huge forest of cedar trees. He said "it would help to moderate Turkmenistan’s climate."
In 2004, he ordered that a giant ice palace be build in the middle of the same desert, the Karakum – the hottest location in central Asia. It will include a zoo with penguins (if ever finished)
His gold statue, boy is he modest
Turkmenbashi Brandy
Gurbanguly
Turkmenbashi
Turkmenistan
Soon to be home to a large lake and a cedar forest...YA RIGHT
The Ruhnama
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