A bit of moody Turkmen hip-hop next. Actual Turkmen speakers are, of course, free to let us know what this song is actually about.

And for those with Russian skills, something else along the same lines:

Abdulgamid’s original post in Russian, 23.07.07. Translated by Merdjen
The World Bank evaluated the effectiveness of governance performance of more than 200 countries and territories in its report Governance Matters 2007: Worldwide Governance Indicators 1996-2006.
The most efficient governments were considered those of Finland, Norway, New Zealand and Iceland by WB experts. These countries earned such […]

Abdulgamid’s original post in Russian  20.07.07, Translated by Merdjen
Topic of the previous Nurly’s post is hot and relevant as never before. The lack of experts in all fields of work - science, art, entertainment, business, industry, and agriculture -throws our country a century back to the epoch of colonialism, illiteracy and isolation.
Active work dynamic of the largest […]

Paul Theroux (mentioned by Peter), the noted American novelist and travel writer also visited Turkmenistan. Besides colourfully discribing Ashgabat as a “city without benches”, this seriosly funny guy tells many intersting things about our country too. Just a few examples:
Though the country is rich in natural gas, unemployment and homelessness are common.
Yes, of course! […]

And I never once saw (in Turkmenistan) anyone carrying or reading a newspaper.
- wrote in his blog Joshua Kucera -  a freelance journalist based in Washington, D.C. From April through September 2007 he is traveling through the Caucasus and Central Asia to write a serial travelogue for EurasiaNet.org. He is in Turkmenistan from 12 of […]

This is a jaunty little number that gives visual evidence that puts lie to a claim made in Paul Theroux’s article in the New Yorker, where he dubbed Ashgabat the “city without benches”. Indeed, the Turkmen capital has, if anything, a perverse surfeit of public seating.

Malys & Toylyska - Igde
UPDATE: It transpires, as revealed […]

Nurly’s original post in Russian 12.06.07, Translated by Merdjen
The Niyazov regime made a great number of our fellow citizens leave Turkmenistan for various reasons. I will not try to list them, as we all know the cause anyways. Many of those expats were specialists and professionals, who were self-confident and who found jobs in […]

Today I found out that Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov have cancelled pass permits to border zones of Turkmenistan. This is an exciting and important decree for Turkmen people.
I guess this policy of required passes existed to ensure better control over drug trafficking, illegal migration, “friendly relationship with Uzbekistan” and our safety.
However, now I can certainly know that permits […]

Picking up where Nathan Hamm at Registan left off, this site will be featuring erratic selections of Turkmen music videos on a weekly basis. YouTube has recently become a hive of activity for uploaders of Turkmen pop music, but we can only hope that this blog can add to that already rich selection.
The first […]

Over eight years ago, as a young school girl, I heard Bush Sr in one of his speeches say that the US would only cooperate with CIS countries if they worked towards achieving democracy. Five years later it felt strange to see his son’s portraits in the offices of US companies in Turkmenistan. Was […]