Comments on: Building Relationships http://turkmenistan.neweurasia.net/2006/02/19/building-relationships/ Just another WordPress weblog Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:46:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.3 By: Business Career Center http://turkmenistan.neweurasia.net/2006/02/19/building-relationships/#comment-32898 Business Career Center Tue, 21 Aug 2007 03:00:28 +0000 http://turkmenistan.neweurasia.net/2006/02/19/building-relationships/#comment-32898 <strong>Business Career Center...</strong> I couldn't understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting... Business Career Center…

I couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting…

]]> By: The Dag http://turkmenistan.neweurasia.net/2006/02/19/building-relationships/#comment-124 The Dag Wed, 22 Feb 2006 21:12:45 +0000 http://turkmenistan.neweurasia.net/2006/02/19/building-relationships/#comment-124 Martin Bouygues must be laughing his way to the bank with sacks full of Niyazov's money. Ashkhabad, a gaudy cross between Pyongyang and Imperial Rome, is full of Bouygues' cheap marble "palaces". Every year there are several ministries, theaters, academic buildings, or high-rises erected in white marble splendor, and every year Bouygues makes several hundred million dollars more. Most of the new buildings show their lack of quality after just a year: discolored marble slabs, rotted panelling, faulty electrical wiring, rust stains, etc. Cheap labor is imported from India, and these workers are usually stuffed in old dormitory buildings or cramped apartment blocks that are hidden from view by the latest Bouygues project. But, to be fair, Bouygues is just doing what it normally does. And who can knock somebody for wanting to turn a profit off a dictator that is basically handing it out? If Niyazov is willing to pay for these buildings, then let him. However, just a brief note on the Gypchak mosque. Rumor has it that the the mosque was originally set to be built by a Turkish construction firm. But when the Turks found out that the interior of the mosque would not be covered in verse from the Quran, but rather in verse from Niyazov's sacred Ruhnama, they supposedly bailed on the project. Bouygues, it seems, was there to pick up the pieces, and had no qualms with the elaborate printing of Ruhnama text on the interior of the mosque's dome. If only they had put such care and effort into the outside of the now-patina green dome, they may have avoided the paternal tongue lashing of the "Father of all Turkmen". Martin Bouygues must be laughing his way to the bank with sacks full of Niyazov’s money. Ashkhabad, a gaudy cross between Pyongyang and Imperial Rome, is full of Bouygues’ cheap marble “palaces”. Every year there are several ministries, theaters, academic buildings, or high-rises erected in white marble splendor, and every year Bouygues makes several hundred million dollars more. Most of the new buildings show their lack of quality after just a year: discolored marble slabs, rotted panelling, faulty electrical wiring, rust stains, etc. Cheap labor is imported from India, and these workers are usually stuffed in old dormitory buildings or cramped apartment blocks that are hidden from view by the latest Bouygues project.

But, to be fair, Bouygues is just doing what it normally does. And who can knock somebody for wanting to turn a profit off a dictator that is basically handing it out? If Niyazov is willing to pay for these buildings, then let him.

However, just a brief note on the Gypchak mosque. Rumor has it that the the mosque was originally set to be built by a Turkish construction firm. But when the Turks found out that the interior of the mosque would not be covered in verse from the Quran, but rather in verse from Niyazov’s sacred Ruhnama, they supposedly bailed on the project. Bouygues, it seems, was there to pick up the pieces, and had no qualms with the elaborate printing of Ruhnama text on the interior of the mosque’s dome. If only they had put such care and effort into the outside of the now-patina green dome, they may have avoided the paternal tongue lashing of the “Father of all Turkmen”.

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