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Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) (AFP) – Turkmenistan’s autocrat Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who has signalled his intention to step down as president, went from private dentist of the nation’s eccentric former chief to go of state, earlier than recreating a lot of his predecessor’s persona cult.
Horse-mad Berdymukhamedov, 64, took management over the Central Asian state in 2006 after the dying of Saparmurat Niyazov, who had styled himself as “father of the Turkmen individuals.”
On the time, there have been hopes that Berdymukhamedov would possibly open up his remoted, gas-rich ex-Soviet homeland to the broader world.
He moved to strip away a few of Niyazov’s excesses however didn’t loosen the authorities’ iron grip — and ultimately erected a glitzy monument to himself.
Now he has stated it’s time for “younger leaders” to take energy within the nation, amid sturdy hypothesis that his son Serdar Berdymukhamedov, a vice premier, will run in snap management elections set for March 12.
However the household patriarch is prone to proceed to affect politics in his capability as chair of the higher home, a job he stated he’ll retain.
– From enamel to the highest –
Born on June 29, 1957, the one son in a household of eight youngsters, Berdymukhamedov was a profession dentist earlier than being appointed well being minister in 1997.
After the sudden dying in 2006 of the strongman who dominated Turkmenistan since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Berdymukhamedov ascended to the throne nearly instantly with backing from the safety providers.
Niyazov had made the desert-bound nation one of many world’s most reclusive nations, constructing a cult of persona that noticed him rename a month after his mom and erect a golden statue of himself that rotated with the solar.
Berdymukhamedov returned the months to their conventional names, however in a short time turned yet one more authoritarian chief in Central Asia, incomes the moniker Arkadag, or “Protector”, and lapping up reward from courtroom poets.
Then, in 2015, authorities honoured him along with his personal gold statue, which depicted Berdymukhamedov atop considered one of his beloved stallions, a dove perched on his hand.
There isn’t any free media in Turkmenistan and Berdymukhamedov enjoys fawning protection on state tv the place he’s frequently proven hectoring subordinates, indulging in sporting pastimes and performing musical duets along with his favorite grandson.
The wall-to-wall protection meant that when he disappeared from the nation’s screens for a number of weeks just a few years in the past, hypothesis over his well being ran wild.
Berdymukhamedov quelled the rumours in fashion by taking a rally automobile for a spin subsequent to a flaming fuel pit — identified regionally as “the gate to hell” — within the inhospitable Karakum desert.
However he couldn’t keep away from embarrassment in 2013 when a video surfaced on-line of him tumbling from his favorite mount after profitable a horse race.
Whereas state media blanked the information, footage smuggled in a foreign country proved an web sensation.
“(Berdymukhamedov) likes horses. However do horses like him? The reply is neigh!” crowed British comic John Oliver some six years after the autumn on Final Week Tonight, a preferred US cable tv present.
Niyazov stored his household largely invisible from the general public, and Berdymukhamedov adopted swimsuit through the first half of his reign.
However lately his solely son, Serdar Berdymukhamedov, has obtained loads of display time after rising from mid-ranking officialdom to key energy participant in Turkmenistan’s cupboard.
Berdymukhamedov’s spouse’s Ogulgerek not often seems in public however was final yr proven posing alongside her husband for {a photograph} with Turkish chief Recep Tayyip Erdogan and partner Emine.
– Zero Covid, zero poverty –
With authorities mouthpieces relentlessly trumpeting Berdymukhamedov’s brilliance, dangerous information is in brief provide.
Turkmenistan stays considered one of solely a handful of states on the earth but to formally acknowledge a case of the coronavirus.
Berdymukhamedov has hailed zero Covid as “an enormous achievement”, whilst foreign-based media reported deaths with the illness of Turkmen notables and a Turkish diplomat who was posted in Ashgabat.
In 2017, the nation hosted in lavish fashion the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Video games in Ashgabat.
A brand new bird-shaped airport for the capital value over $2 billion was inbuilt time for the showpiece, however has seen few vacationers since.
In opposition to the backdrop of extravagant spending, rights teams have warned that the federal government has been unable to safe inexpensive meals for a inhabitants struggling from hyperinflation.
Berdymukhamedov has retained Niyazov’s “optimistic neutrality” place in international affairs, however the coverage usually appears to be like like self-imposed isolation.
If Turkmenistan was as soon as nearly wholly reliant on Russian demand for its pure fuel, that position has fallen previously decade to China, which now accounts for not less than three-quarters of exports.
© 2022 AFP
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