And so the day has finally arrived. As this post went to press, the plans were for a military parade in Ashgabat’s main square (Independence Square, fittingly), followed by some kind of theatrical performance and a festive demonstration, featuring delegations from all five regions of the country. The parade is to be headed by Turkmenbashi in person.
Further to the festivities a special range of coins was issued to mark the occasion, though they are unlikely to appear at the bazaars as the country is pretty much a bank note economy.
As mentioned in the previous posts, Zhirinovsky is heading a delegation of Duma deputies, and he is being joined by the Ukrainian Prime Minister.
To be exact, it should be noted that today marks the fifteenth anniversary of the first ever presidential election to take place in Turkmenistan. Niyazov received 93% of the vote. The constitution meanwhile was adopted on 21 June 1992, which was followed by another election in which he garnered 99.5%, being the only candidate on the list.
On 1 October the Turkmen Majlis took the decision to endow Niyazov with his celebrated “Father of all Turkmens” title, or Turkmenbashi. During a government meeting in April this year, Niyazov expressed his desire to see a series of elections in the country, beginning with elections for district leaders in 2006, all the way to a new Presidential election. At the time Niyazov said:

“The people are ready to take a new step in the direction of current trends, which have taken hold in the world as models of a just and balanced world order and correspond to the interests, mentality and traditions of the Turkmen people”

And on that note, Happy Independence!