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Turkmenistan - you gotta love it!
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| DrUg_Tit0 |
| quote: | Niyazov, muddled by gender, bans TV make-up
Turkmenistan's authoritarian president, whose recent decrees have included banning gold teeth, has told television presenters to stop wearing make-up because he had difficulty telling the men from the women.
"You put too much make-up on female TV presenters whose faces would be paler without it. Her own, natural colour is better," President Saparmurat Niyazov said.
"Sometimes you even put make-up on the lads. Then I really cannot tell the two apart," he said at a meeting with cultural and television representatives shown on state TV on Thursday.
Since post-Soviet independence, Niyazov has cut the gas-rich Central Asian state's ties to the outside world, stamped out dissent, and built up a bizarre personality cult around himself with golden statues and idiosyncratic decrees.
In the footage of Wednesday's meeting Niyazov also expressed a dislike for spitting in public and confiscated three months of wages from a minister whom he blamed for a short-lived hike in sales taxes last week.
Other recent decrees by the president, who calls himself Turkmenbashi the Great (Father of all Turkmen), include the ban on gold teeth, making his book on morality part of the driving test, and opening a leisure centre for horses.
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| quote: | Turkmen drivers to be tested on Niyazov scripture
Mon Aug 2, 5:55 AM ET
ASHGABAT (Reuters) - Knowing the highway code is no longer enough to get a driving licence in Turkmenistan, whose autocratic President Saparmurat Niyazov has told future drivers to cram his "sacred" writings to qualify.
"A 16-hour course of the sacred Rukhnama is one of the most important innovations in the (driving learning) programme ... to ensure future drivers are educated in the spirit of high moral values of Turkmenistan's society," the state news agency quoted a Niyazov decree as saying on Monday.
Niyazov, Turkmenistan's "president for life" and focus of a flourishing personality cult, wrote the Rukhnama (Spiritual World) as a moral guide to his desert nation of 6 million.
The book is already a core part of the school and university curriculum, and a copy of Rukhnama is kept next to the Koran in the Central Asian nation's state-controlled mosques
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| quote: | Niyazov severely restricts tobacco-chewing - text of decree
Text of report by Turkmen TV on 12 August.
Decree by the president [Saparmyrat Nyyazow] of Turkmenistan on the ban on chewing tobacco:
Respecting the basic principles of the Turkmen people who have passed successfully through the centuries, and respecting the desire of our nation to live a healthy lifestyle, and taking into account the basic requirements of the holy Ruhnama on physical health, and to implement the Turkmen president's health programme, and to ensure further continuation along the golden age exemplary path of our courageous forefathers who preferred to be completely honest and to keep away from dirty habits, and to promote the state of health of our nation, and in confirmation of Turkmenistan's adherence to the world community's efforts to minimize the damaging impact of tobacco and tobacco products on human health, I resolve:
1. Consumption of nas [chewing tobacco] produced from tobacco is to be banned within the territory of Turkmenistan - at all ministries and departments, in enterprises of all forms of ownership, in organizations; in all military units and divisions, at border outposts and at all educational establishments and pre-school establishments, theatres, public and private places, in parks and markets, and trade facilities and in places of public gatherings.
2. The sale of chewing tobacco is banned at trading facilities of all types of ownership, in public places, and in places of public gatherings, as well as in all areas other than places especially designated for this purpose.
3. The sale of chewing tobacco in the city of Asgabat is to be allowed in the area of the cattle markets in Sor, Garadamak and in Halklar Dostlugy street.
4. Administrations in the regions, towns and districts are obliged to allocate special places for the sale of chewing tobacco.
5. The Ministry of Health and Pharmaceutical Industry is charged with the task of conducting permanent work among the population to highlight the harmful effects of chewing tobacco on the human body.
6. Citizens who violate the requirements set out in the first article of the decree are to be fined two minimum monthly wages [some 50 dollars at the black market rate] and violators of the second article of the decree are to be fined four minimum monthly wages [some 100 dollars].
7. The Ministry of Health and Pharmaceutical Industry and administrations in the regions and in the city of Asgabat are responsible for enforcement of the decree.
[Signed by] the president of Turkmenistan, Saparmyrat Nyyazow.
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| quote: | Turkmen leader orders ice palace
By Monica Whitlock
BBC Central Asia correspondent
President Niyazov of Turkmenistan has ordered the construction of a palace made of ice in the heart of his desert country, one of the hottest on earth.
It is the latest in a series of colossal building projects instigated by the all-powerful president that seem to defy the country's environment.
"Let us build a palace of ice," said President Niyazov, "big and grand enough for 1,000 people."
The palace will stand in the mountains just outside the capital, Ashgabat.
President Niyazov made the announcement in a speech broadcast on Turkmen television, which in effect made it a presidential order.
Environmental challenge
The idea is to build the palace in the Copa Deg Mountains outside Ashgabat, now baking in the summer heat, with a long cable-car running up from the city.
"Our children can learn to ski," Mr Niyazov enthused, "we can build cafes there, and restaurants."
President Niyazov's extravagant buildings are a hallmark of his idiosyncratic regime.
He is currently building one of the biggest mosques in the world, and has a chain of conventional palaces.
But the latest have a special quality - of challenging Turkmenistan's desert environment.
As well as the ice palace, there is to be a vast aquarium. The projects tend now to be sites of recreation for the people, like a Disney-style theme park instead of state palaces.
That is in keeping with Mr Niyazov's image as a servant of his people, who lays on every sort of amenity for them.
Ice palaces were popular in the Soviet Union, to which Turkmenistan once belonged, but they were built in the freezing cities of the north, far away.
The Turkmen mountains are relatively high, but it is hard to imagine the palace remaining frozen without some sort of technical help. |
| quote: | Flower power drives pet ban
Niyazov doesn’t allow pets to live in Ashgabat
TURKMEN'S eccentric president has banned pets from the capital Ashkhabad to stop their smell overpowering the scent of flowers named after him.
All livestock will be banned from the city and households will only be allowed to keep one "cat or dog or decorative bird", following a decision by President Saparmurat Niyazov to beautify the capital with a new variety of dahlia, the "President Turkmenbashi" (father of the Turkmens), named after him.
Few dare openly to criticise Niyazov, an autocrat who has ordered golden statues and images of himself to be placed all over the city since having himself proclaimed president for life in 1999.
His regime was described in a report by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), as "a climate fear and terror".
Some residents hoped they could find a way around the pet ban, despite the enthusiasm of Ashkhabad's police for similar recent innovations, such as a ban on smoking in public places or while driving, both of which are punishable by a fine equal to the $US30 ($44) monthly minimum wage.
The new dahlias, which are to be planted along Ashkhabad's well-maintained avenues, were named after Niyazov in recognition of his "great contribution to the stability of the Asian region and the whole world", the official Neitralny Turkmenistan daily newspaper reported.
Residents were yesterday at a loss about how to cope with the new ban.
"I bought this camel when my grandchildren were born, so that she'd provide them with milk," one resident, Ogulkurban, said.
"It's much tastier and healthier than what you get in the shops."
"She's my pet and I could never eat her. We'll have to take her to relatives in the countryside if necessary."
Basic foodstuffs and utility bills are heavily subsidised in the gas-rich desert republic, but even in Ashkhabad, many depend on domestic livestock such as camel, sheep, goats, chickens and ducks.
Unemployment is widespread and pensions amount to around $US40 ($59) per month.
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| quote: | Turkmen president composes poem on "three dangers" to statehood
During his unscheduled meeting with the Defence Ministry leadership, held on 26 May, Turkmenistan's president, Saparmyrat Nyyazow, suddenly burst forth with a poem which he described as warning of the immediate dangers to statehood. In his remarks made during the meeting and broadcast later on the same day by the national TV, Nyyazow identified these dangers as debauchery, arrogance and popular discord which can endanger the very existence of any state.
In the course of his remarks Nyyazow said: "There are three dangers, or rather three evils, and I will read a poem about them. I think that you will discover something useful for you in it.
Be vigilant and be cautious, that is my request to you
Even then when you and your country are facing luck
And you are as mighty as King Solomon
And when you feel yourself strong
Be aware, for there are many traitors with traps to set
And any prosperity you would obtain
Will be accompanied by immediate dangers and threats
Because the world itself is an unstable one
And fate itself has paths unpredictable
While some nations are defeated by famine
Others can be ruined due to satiety.
Further on in the poem Nyyazow dwells on these dangers and calls on his compatriots to be vigilant and always modest. Nyyazow also called on people to identify the dangers and threats which can face any nation when there is mass indifference to the country's fate.
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| quote: | Turkmenistan tightens traffic rules
Turkmenistan has banned smoking and also use of mobile telephones by car owners when driving. Drivers who have too loud radios in their cars are issued a written reprimand.
The new traffic rules introduced in Turkmenistan came into effect as of 1 May, the traffic police department under the Turkmen Defence Ministry said on Friday.
Special road signs have been introduced, taking into account the specifics of a local territory, such as the road signs showing, for instance, a camel or heaps of sand. The reason is that camels that often graze in Turkmenistan without a shepherd to supervise them definitely prefer motorways to deserted paths. Besides, heaps of sand brought by winds from Kara-Kum [Garagum] deserts accumulate on motorways that connect different parts of the country.
The new traffic rules stipulate that a driver incriminated in violation of traffic rules is to pay a fine administered within 12 hours. Otherwise, the fine is doubled every twelve hours after the established deadline.
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| quote: | Smile - that's an order
ONE of President Niyazov’s edicts is that his people maintain smiling faces. “My wealth is my smile,” he says in his “spiritial guide” the Rukhnama.
But critics say that his own wealth comes from pocketing the profits from the vast oil and gas reserves of his country, sandwiched between Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and the Caspian Sea, and that Mr Niyazov is a “klepto-dictator”.
Corruption is rife. Potential foreign investors have pulled out of oil and gas deals because of the lack of trust and huge kickbacks demanded by government officials.
As a result hotels built for foreigners stand empty and some have been abandoned during construction.
Mr Niyazov recently ordered basic salaries to be doubled, from about £19 to £38 a month. While there is officially no unemployment, analysts say that it is probably near 20per cent.
Housing is cheap, and petrol and electricity are virtually free, but health care is poor and education has been all but abolished.
University courses have been cut from three years to two years and much of the curriculum is based the Rukhnama. No foreign country recognises Turkmenistan University degrees.
Every schoolchild and every government official must study the Rukhnama once a week and recite the oath of loyalty: “At the moment of my betrayal to my motherland, to her sacred banner, to the Great Turkmenbashi, let my breath stop.”
At the Tolkuchka market outside Ashgabat everything is traded at black market prices. Nobody deals at the Government’s fixed rate of 6,000 manat to $1. Even the leading hotels will give three times that.
Heroin flows across the border from Afghanistan where it can be bought in Ashgabat’s discotheques for less than £1.50 a fix. About 10 per cent of the population are said to be users, while 90 per cent of heroin in Britain, about 40 tonnes annually, comes from Afghanistan, mainly via Turkmenistan.
Avdy Kuliev, a Turkmen dissident, claimed at a human rights conference in London last year that Mr Niyazov benefited from the heroin trade. Although that claim has not been supported by Western intelligence agencies, the drugs could not cross the borders without official help.
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| quote: | Autocratic Turkmen leader hailed as prophet on birthday
ASHKHABAD, Feb 19 (AFP) - Autocratic Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov was hailed as a prophet by his admirers Wednesday as Turkmenistan marked the Soviet-era strongman's birthday with outpourings of adoration and gifts.
Niyazov's birthday is a national holiday and major event in this isolated ex-Soviet republic, celebrated with military parades, concerts, flag-waving crowds and even more portraits of the president on display than usual.
The apparent show of support, however, belies a sense of growing discontent in Turkmenistan, where Niyazov was the subject of an assassination attempt last year, suggesting people are ripe for a leadership change, observers say.
A former Communist Party chief who is president-for-life in Turkmenistan, Niyazov is the subject of a Stalinesque personality cult here that has taken on increasingly elaborate proportions in recent years. For the past week, newspapers in this Central Asian nation have been filled with messages of congratulations from officials and foreign dignitaries addressed to the president, who Wednesday turned 63.
According to one letter from the Turkmen government to Niyazov: \"God awards such strength, such greatness, such fate only to those he favours, sincerely loves and considers God's messenger.\" The country's interior minister, meanwhile, asserted that Niyazov, who is known here as Turkmenbashi the Great, or the Father of All Turkmen, \"is a great personality who possesses the gift of a prophet.\" Sixty three is considered symbolic of the age of the prophet in Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistan's leader, for his part, marked the occasion by presiding over a military parade while standing on a marble-coated podium topped by golden domes that offered a view of the flag-waving crowd. Soldiers in formation marched past the president bellowing in time to their steps, \"Halk, Watan, Beik Turkmenbashi\", meaning \"People, Fatherland, Great Turkmenbashi.\"
Gifts were also an important part of the celebrations and saw the president presented with a renowned Akhaltekin breed of horse by his government. The city, meanwhile, was a sea of fluttering green flags, as Niyazov's birthday coincides with Flag Day in Turkmenistan.
At 63, the president is living through an \"inspirational phase\" in Turkmenistan, according to a order Niyazov issued last year that defined youth as lasting until the age of 37 and old age beginning at 85. The decree was one of several offbeat initiatives announced by Niyazov including the introduction a new calendar which renamed the 12 months of the year after national heroes, his deceased mother and himself. The measures are seen as part of a self-glorification campaign launched by Niyazov after the country gained independence to further strengthen his iron grip on this nation of five million people.
Human rights groups have accused Niyazov of crushing the free press and political opponents, staging rigged elected, clamping down on religious freedom and widespread human rights violations. A new wave of abuses and crackdowns has been reported since the apparent assassination attack in November, when gunmen fired on Niyazov's motorcade. The president survived unscathed. \"Turkmenistan has long had an appalling human rights record. An armed attack on President Niyazov last November triggered a new wave of repression throughout the country,\" a coalition of leading rights groups said Wednesday.
The group, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, the International League for Human Rights and the Memorial Human Rights Centre, said that Niyazov should mark his birthday by committing himself to protect human rights. They urged the president to release people arbitrarily or unlawfully detained, allow visits to those imprisoned and ensure fair and public retrials for those convicted at unfair trials in connection with the attack.
At least 56 people have been convicted of involvement in the attempt in secretive trials, that have drawn criticism from the international community
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| NeoPhono |
| How boring would the world be without a crazy eccentric leader? Now, the second he does something to harm his people, he's gotta go. But as of right now, enforcing smiling and wanting to build and ice palace in the desert are just funny. |
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| DrUg_Tit0 |
| quote: | Originally posted by NeoPhono
How boring would the world be without a crazy eccentric leader? Now, the second he does something to harm his people, he's gotta go. But as of right now, enforcing smiling and wanting to build and ice palace in the desert are just funny. |
Well, he's doing that too, amnesty international is constantly bragging about set-up trials, executions stuff like that. And there have been assassination attempts on him every once in a while. But those things aren't funny so I didn't post them here. |
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| St_Andrew |
One more funny thing, if you break that name apart and translate the words in swedish:
Turk = a person from turkey
Men = men
I = in
Stan = the city
Turkmenistan = Turkish men in the city (what makes it even funnier is that many people in sweden us the word 'turk' to describe somone from a middleeasten/arab coutrny, for some ing reason :S)
funny thing is that it's turkmenistan in swedish too :p
anyway, must suck to live in such country. |
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| Yoepus |
quickly! To the ice palace with our "giant laser"! MUHAHAHAHAHHA
Don't forget to smile on the way!:disbelief
I wanna be a klepto-dictator too, giant lasers and ice palaces are fun :(
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You forgot to mention Mr. Turkmenbashi is also having the calander's months renamed after himself (and his mother). I saw the guy on Charlie Rose a couple months ago, apparenlty he finds nothing wrong with ice palaces, and lasering all opposition to be quiet. |
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| DaveSZ |
He sounds like your kind of guy tito.
:):D |
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| razmataz |
| quote: | Originally posted by NeoPhono
How boring would the world be without a crazy eccentric leader? Now, the second he does something to harm his people, he's gotta go. But as of right now, enforcing smiling and wanting to build and ice palace in the desert are just funny. |
He does harm his own people. Torture, execution by acid burns are a common and well known part of his eccentricity. But it seems like its more of a crime for Hussein to hurt Iraqis than it is for Niyazov to hurt Turkmens, so you dont hear of it. |
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| DrUg_Tit0 |
| quote: | Originally posted by St_Andrew
Stan = the city
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Hehe, interesting, in Croatian, stan means an apartment or a residence. And if I'm not mistaken, in *stan countries, it means something like location or area. So Turkmenistan would be something like Turkmeni area or Turkmeni land. It looks like stan is one of those old indo-european words that managed to get into most modern indo-european languages with slightly different meanings.
| quote: | Originally posted by DaveSZ
He sounds like your kind of guy tito.
:):D |
I'm dying to get my hands on Rukhnama. |
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| Yoepus |
| quote: | Originally posted by razmataz
He does harm his own people. Torture, execution by acid burns are a common and well known part of his eccentricity. But it seems like its more of a crime for Hussein to hurt Iraqis than it is for Niyazov to hurt Turkmens, so you dont hear of it. |
The USA ambassador to Turkmenistan has made many complaints about the nation's repressive use. Its not like its looking the other way. It is calling it out on these things... It's simply just not doing anything else about it :D |
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| Arbiter |
| quote: | Originally posted by DrUg_Tit0
And if I'm not mistaken, in *stan countries, it means something like location or area. So Turkmenistan would be something like Turkmeni area or Turkmeni land. It looks like stan is one of those old indo-european words that managed to get into most modern indo-european languages with slightly different meanings. |
Yes, I'm told "istan" means "homeland" in Urdu. So Pakistan, for example, would mean "Pure Homeland." Supposedly it's derived from an archaic Persian word "stan." |
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| DrUg_Tit0 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Arbiter
Yes, I'm told "istan" means "homeland" in Urdu. So Pakistan, for example, would mean "Pure Homeland." Supposedly it's derived from an archaic Persian word "stan." |
Hm I kinda checked up a bit and it also seems that english words "stand" and "station" are derived from that word... |
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