President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has decided to take another step to undo his predecessor’s personality cult. At the expanded government meeting on May 2, it was decided

to relocate the Neutrality Arch to the southern area of Ashgabat. It was noted that it would be expedient to locate this monument in the southern part of Ashgabat where Bitarap Turkmenistan (Neutral Turkmenistan) prospect starts and the construction of a new architectural ensemble is under way. Turkmenistan.ru reported.

The 75-meter high tower called the Arch of Neutrality was built in 1998 and cost USD 12million. At the top of the tower a monument to Saparmurat Niyazov “Turkmenbashi” was placed. The gold-plated statue with outstretched arms rotated every hour so that the president always faced the sun. It remains unclear whether the statue will stay at the top of the Arch of Neutrality - in fact the government’s decision says nothing about the monument but refers only to the tower. I’m also wondering what will happen with the rest of Turkmenbashi statues. There is a number of them located in front of the ministries as well as at the entrance to the city, not to mention those erected in other cities….

A time may come when the Turkmen authorities will draw all Turkmenbashi statues together and set up a museum dedicated to the Altyn Asyr (Gold Century) of Turkmenbashi, similar to those established in several other post-communist countries….
I would also like to point out that the removal of the Neutrality Arch from the city centre came just days after Berdymukhamedov restored the usual names of days and months. Turkmenbashi had named months after himself (January), his family members (for example: April – Gurbansoltan after his mother) and Rukhnama (September). Moreover, a few months ago, the portraits of Turkmenbashi were removed from the streets and replaced with Berdymukhamedov’s pictures. The president has also decided to denominate national currency manat in 2009, and let me tell you, there will be no Turkmenbashi portraits on the banknotes. All these steps indicate that Berdymukhamedov is consistent in dismantling his predecessor’s personality cult.

Political power in Turkmenistan is concentrated in the hands of the president; the names of other Turkmen politicians rarely appear in the press releases concerning the most important events in the country. However, this does not mean that officials from Berdymukhammedov’s inner circle have no influence over the state policy. Let us take a closer look at the politicians who surround the president.

One of Berdymukhammedov’s closest associates is Turkmen minister of foreign affairs and deputy Prime Minister Rashid Meredov, who supervises Turkmenistan’s relations with other states.

Meredov Rashid Ovezgeldiyevich was born in Ashgabat in 1960. In 1977, he entered the law department of the Moscow State University named after Lomonosov. In 1982, he became a lecturer in the civil law department of the Turkmen State University. Between 1984 and 1987, he was a post-graduate student at the Moscow State University named after Lomonosov. He holds a master’s degree in law. In 1987, he returned to the Turkmen State University as a lecturer and senior teacher, where he taught until 1990.

After Turkmenistan regained independence, Meredov held a number of positions in President Niyazov’s administration, starting from the head of one of the departments in the presidential Council for Coordination of Law Enforcement Agencies, up to the minister of foreign affairs in 2001. In 2003, Meredov was also appointed deputy Prime Minister.

In March 2005 Meredov fell into disgrace and lost his deputy Prime Minister position, although he was not completely ousted from power. He regained his influence following Niyazov’s death, and was re-appointed deputy Prime Minister in February 2007.

According to some sources, Meredov has played a significant role in the process of handing over the power to Berdymukhammedov. Allegedly, he could not run for the office himself, as he is not an ethnically ‘pure’ Turkmen (his mother is Azeri). He is also said to have helped to get rid of Akmurad Rejepov, former head of the presidential guard.

UNICEF advertises extensively their activities in Turkmenistan. Of course efforts of international humanitarian organisations regarding improvement of education system in the country are taking place but situation in general could by improved by Turkmen government only.    

The Turkmen government has announced it will take down the Arch of Neutrality monument topped by a revolving golden statue of former President Saparmurat Niyazov in what is possibly the most drastic act to date in the dismantling of the late leader’s cult of personality.
The 75-meter high monument will be relocated to a site outside the capital city at an unspecified date.
“It would be fitting to place this monumental construction in the south of the city, at the start of Neutrality Road,” the government’s press office said in a statement, according to Neutralny Turkmenistan newspaper.
The arch was a symbol of the folly and megalomania of Niyazov’s, whose statue rotated permanently throughout the day to face the sun. It was designed by Turkmen artist Babasary Annamuradov and unveiled in 1998 to mark the third anniversary of Turkmenistan’s declaration of neutrality, but as with much else in the country, it was clear that the president was truly the intended subject of veneration.
Curiously, during a trip to Turkmenistan last year, this writer noted at numerous junctions that Niyazov’s statue was not always facing the sun, indicating perhaps that the significance and maintenance of the monument had already begun suffering a decline.
Announcements like these have now become customary in Turkmenistan, serving to illustrate a repeal of the pervasive personality cult left behind by Niyazov. Recent examples include the restoration of the Gregorian calendar and the withdrawal of Niyazov’s name from the country’s oath of loyalty.
Indubitably, such measures cannot but be perceived as positive developments, although they are largely meaningless. It costs absolutely nothing to remove portraits and peel away the trappings of cult, but it does reap credit with domestic and international observers. In that respect, de-Niyazovization is a worrying distraction from the real and multiple problems that plague Turkmen politics and society.
Niyazov’s statues have never and will never mean anything to anybody, and yet the application of the Ruhknama in schools continues to wreak destruction on the minds of more generations of schoolchildren. For every picture and statue taken down, will there be new ones of current President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov put in its place?
To be sure, the removal of this monument is nothing to do with making amends for past. Instead, it is all about creating a new order.
How easily could Berdymukhammedov sit in his presidential palace with his predecessor hovering above him across the square?

Below is the translation of Abdulgamid’s post from Russian-language part of the blog.

Starting from April 19 there is a new commercial exchange rate fixed for US dollars. From January 1, 2008 buying exchange rate was 19 800 Manat, and selling rate was 20 000 Manat. On April 19, 2008 the buying rate went down to 17 430 Manat, and the selling rate – 17 600 Manat. Such sudden fall of US dollar exchange rate by 12% made people, who rushed to get rid of foreign currency, swarm near the exchange offices, as there are persistent rumors in the air that the exchange rate soon will go down to 15 000 Manat per $1.

Currently there are two types of exchange rate applicable in Turkmenistan. One is the official exchange rate - 6 250 Manat / $1, another – is a commercial one, which appears to be going swiftly down to the same level.

It has become clear to everyone that the government intends to fix by the end of this years a uniform exchange rate for Turkmen currency by decreasing the commercial exchange rate to the level of the official in order to implement 1/1000 Manat denomination.

At the time of prices for commodities and services getting higher, the devaluation of foreign currency only aggravates this bias and gives rise to the sense of insecurity of the future day, fear to loose all savings, since Turkmen people preferred to exchange all their Manat savings for US dollars because of the poorly developed banking system distrusted by ordinary savers.

This is the translation of Abdulgamid’s post from the Russian-language part of the blog

Finally wireless Internet has become available in Turkmenistan. So far it is provided only to companies, but MTS plans to make it available not only for them, but also for individuals already in May 2008. (more…)

They were admired already by Alexander the Great, who had a horse of that breed called Bucephalus. Marco Polo, the famous Medieval traveller, also wrote about them. Beautiful, noble, tenacious, capable of surviving many days in the desert without water, they are the pride of the Turkmen and one of the symbols of their country. Akhal Teke horses, because it is them that I am talking about, boast a long history.
 
Approximately 10,000 years ago, as desertification took hold of Central Asia, the stocky horses indigenous to its steppe grasslands began to evolve into the lean and graceful but hardy horses that inhabit Turkmenistan today. As food and water became more scarce the heavy frame of the horse gave way to a lighter one. Longer necks, a higher head carriage, larger eyes and longer ears evolved to better the horse’s ability to see, smell, and hear predators over the increasingly open plains. The golden coloring predominant among the akhalteke provided the necessary camouflage against the desert landscape.

The Akhal Teke breed of horses have survived hundreds of years, mainly thanks to the efforts of their owners, i.e. the warlike Turkmen tribe called Teke, who used the horses during wars waged with their neighbours. The Tekes avoided cross-breeding them with other horses in order to keep the marvellous features of the breed.

The Russian conquest of the second half of the 19th century marked the beginning of difficult times for the Akhal Teke horses .

The Russian Army knew the Tekes were difficult to get because of their horses […]. So they said, ‘If we kill the horses, the Teke won’t survive.’ And they slaughtered a lot of horses, and after that the breed almost disappeared.
The horses suffered during the collectivization of agriculture under the Soviets. Some Turkmen owners let them run loose in the desert rather than allow them to become part of big collective farms.

Later, the breed was considered prestigious enough for Marshall Georgii Zhukov to ride in a Moscow victory parade after World War II.

However, during Nikita Khrushchev’s rule, many horses were slaughtered again, as the government of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic considered the realization of the plan of meat production prepared in Moscow more important.

Better times for Akhal Teke horses came only after the collapse of the USSR with the emergence of independent Turkmenistan. Saparmurat Niyazov, who was undoubtedly a tyrant, was a Teke tribe member and as such had an affection for horses for which he allocated huge sums of the state budget. He also liked to present the horses as a gift to the most respectable foreign leaders.

In case you were interested in the subject, I recommend you the web portal www.ahalteke.net, where you will find a lot of information about the horses and some beautiful photos. You can also watch short videos about the horses on YouTube. Here’s one of them:

I could also recomend you an interesting article by Jonathan Maslow entitled “The Golden Horses of Turkmenistan”.

On 20-25 April, Turkmen energy minister Baimyrat Khodzamuhammedov visited Islamabad where he took part in the 10^th meeting of steering committee of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project. Apart from him, the meeting gathered Indian, Pakistani and Afghan officials. Few days later, on April 28th Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov traveled to Kabul (first time in independent Turkmenistan’s 17-years history) where he discussed details of this project with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai. Both visits indicated Turkmenistan growing interest in TAPI, despite the fact that the realization of this project is still questionable. I wonder what are the project chances to be realized.

TAPI project assumes construction of a gas pipeline from Turkmen gas field Dovletebad (located in the southern part of the country), then the route passes through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar before entering Pakistan at Quetta and proceeding to the Indian border town of Fazilka. At the initial stage, the capacity of the pipeline would be 33bmc (in the future it could be raised to approximately 70bcm of gas). The cost of the project is estimated between 6-7.5bn USD.

There are several factors that move forward realization of the project. Firs of all, as the recent visits indicate, Ashgabat seems to be very interested in implementation of the project mainly because that would help to diversify gas exports routes. In addition, TAPI is being supported by Asian Development Bank and the USA which are against a competitive project from Iran. Also, India and Pakistan are energy hungry and they are determined to secure gas supplies.

On the other hand, there is a bunch of obstacles for the project’s realization. Dovletebad gas field is a main resources base for gas exported to Russia so the protest of Kremlin are more then probable. The question is what Moscow will do to ban this project. and I would not expect Kremlin just to stay and watch how the pipeline to India is being built. Moreover, the route passes through the regions in Afghanistan where the militants are still operating. TAPI is also a rival project for Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline (IPI) which is strongly promoted by Iran. There is also a gas prices issue. According to Turkmen report, the parties failed to reach a consensus over gas prices in Islamabad and only decided that the prices should be based on “conjuncture on the international markets”.

I’m still a little bit confused when it comes to appraise the chances for the project realization. I think that it can not be realized now or in the near future because of the security reasons. I would be more optimistic in a long-term perspective, especially if the situation in Afghanistan would stabilized.

It’s an obvious fact that the Turkmen do not only live in their native Turkmenistan, but also in other Central Asian states and in the Middle East. Lately I have decided to surf the net to count them.

The largest groups of Turkmen living outside Turkmenistan can be found in Iran (around 1.1 million), Afghanistan (around 900 thousand), Pakistan (60 thousand, mainly refugees from Afghanistan of a Turkmen origin), and Russia (33 thousand).

Sometimes the Iraqi Turkmen are also classified as the Turkmen nation (they are more frequently called Turkomans). However, most of the sources consider them to be a different ethnic group, albeit closely related to the Turkmen proper. No one knows exactly how many of them are there (according to estimations, their number oscillates between 200 thousand to 2.5 million). In Iraq, they are a persecuted minority. Interesting information on the Iraqi Turkmen can be found here.
The Russian Turkmen predominantly inhabit the Stavropol region in Southern Russia. They are also called the Trukhmen. Even though they came to the Caucasus from the Mangyshlak peninsula on the turn of the 17 and 18th centuries, they have sustained their sense of affiliation with the Turkmen nation. Interestingly, the number of the Turkmen in Russia dropped by 5 thousand compared to 1989, whereas the number of other Central Asian diasporas in this country rose considerably.

The 1989 census also showed that a vast Turkmen community can be found in Uzbekistan. At the time there were over 120 thousand of them. Today we lack credible data concerning this issue, as the Uzbek authorities avoid demonstrating the multiethnicity of their state. It’s worth adding that in 1989 around 20 thousand Turkmen also lived in Tajikistan.

Even though the data available is often quite discrepant, we may assume that there are around 6 million of the Turkmen living over the world (excluding the Iraqi Turkmen). Quite a lot, don’t you think?

There are many old Soviet cars still roaming the streets of Turkmen towns and villages. The Ladas Zhiguli model is most common, but one can also come across Moskvich cars (though much less often), which probably remember Brezhnev’s or maybe even Khrushchev’s times. The Turkmen must be feeling very sentimental about them, because they made this car the theme of one of the songs. Unfortunately, the guy starring in the video did not make much use of it. Just watch and listen to this.

By the way, it is possible that the author of the song Japar Ovezov committed a plagiarism by copying the melody from a hit song called „Chernye glaza” (The Black Eyes) sung by two singers from the Republic of Adygea Aidamir Mugu and Aslan Tlebzu that was very popular in the Russian Caucasus a few years ago. Here’s the original: