The World according to Theroux
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! There are many homeless foreigners in Turkmenistan, that is why most of them are living in the five-star hotel “Ak Altyn”.
He’d (President Saparmurat Niyazov) banned beards and ballet.
Not very accurate information. Beards were banned a little bit earlier - in 1698 by Peter the Great (Russian Tzar).
Turkmenbashi ordered the planting of hundreds of thousands of young evergreen trees, which reminded him of his time in Russia.
Yes, of course! It is exactly because he felt strong nostalgia for his time in Russia, he was studding Turkmenistan with evergreen trees and extripating the Russian language.
What do you think the West should know most of all about Turkmenistan?
- Asks Oguljamal Yazliyeva, the director of RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service, vibrating in pleasing anticipation of getting from Theroux profound and fundamental topics like: Turkmen history, unique cultural traditions or perspective for development of democracy at last.
The answer was honest and irrefragable like a cannon ball:
The main thing that the West should know about Turkmenistan is that it exists.
A very logical question could follow: “Why do you think that the West IS INTERESTED to know that we exist?”, particularly in light of Theroux mentioning:
You see, America is the center of the world, or so we think.
Theroux is extremly honest man. Exposing and heavily condemning Turkmenbashi’s personality cult, he consoled us:
So it’s wrong only to think of Turkmenistan as a strange place. Many places are strange in somewhat the same way. One of the biggest mistakes that can be made in any country is to name an airport or name a river or name something after a living person. This is something that Niyazov did. So Turkmenbashi this and Turkmenbashi that. But we do that in America. I was recently in Houston, Texas, and the airport in Houston, Texas, is the George H.W. Bush — that’s [U.S. President George W.] Bush’s father — the George H.W. Bush Airport. Well, to me, that’s a bit like Niyazov.
Or in his lifetime, [former U.S. President] Ronald Reagan — there was Reagan airport and Reagan this and Reagan that and the Reagan Library.
You see - actually there is no difference between Turkmenistan and USA.
Throux tries to be positive about Turkmenistan on a few occasions and the most successful attempt was:
The food is good.
No, he is not a just a writer, he is a poet!
After numerous attempts, Theroux finally obtained a rare visa to travel around the closed Central Asian nation…
Customs officials delay him because he is carrying an oil portrait of Jesus he had bought in Tbilisi.
It is because there was a stamp “Property of Georgian National Gallery” on this portrait, I presume.
on July 22nd, 2007 at 3:17 pm
In my opinion, Theroux’s “Letter from Turkmenistan” was a perceptive and unflinching look at Turkmenistan from the vantage point of a foreign visitor and writer. Though Theroux’s irony, and aloof approach to humanity in general, can be a little much sometimes, his premise that Turkmenistan has been ruled by a man with true and acute mental illness is well taken. Turkmenbashi’s pathology, overwhelming narcissism, paranoia, and self-delusion, informed many of his bizarre, surreal, idiotic, destructive, and irresponsible edicts. The impressions and opinions in Theroux’s seem right on, to this reader anyway.
on July 22nd, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Who are foreigners to judge us ?
It is not fair to demand other people to be just like you. Every culture has their own way of life. Just because its not the same as yours, it doesnt mean its bad. Maybe its better, maybe worse, that can be discussed. Maybe its bad for them, but we like it and enjoy it…
Will be glad to see y’all on my site — turkmenim.net
Cheers !
on July 23rd, 2007 at 8:13 am
“Who are foreigners to judge us” is not logical defense when we have pathalogic way of life and a man in same situation, who is having big orgasms when people praise him. And I don’t like and enjoy it as a Turkmen.
Not even having pathalogic situation others will judge you. This is very natural situation and you have to learn how to live with it.
on July 23rd, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Abdulgamid,
Interesting post; I also read the Theoroux article, but didn’t really feel that strongly about it either way. Given your reaction, however, I was wondering if you might clarify some of your factual criticisms.
Unemployment - The CIA World Fact book estimates unemployment at 60%. Do you disagree based on personal experience, or some other source?
Beards - Monica Whitlock’s BBC article seems to confirm Theroux’s piece: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3486776.stm Is this faulty information?
on July 24th, 2007 at 3:35 am
The sarcasm makes you post very hard to understand. “Peter the Great banned beards in 1698.” So Peter the Great is still alive and governing Turkmenistan?
I don’t understand why you’re mad at Theroux. At least he took the time to visit Turkmenistan. Why is it a bad for Americans to learn about Turkmenistan? Do you wish us to languish in ignorance?
And the fact that there are 5-star hotels does not prove that there is no homelessness in Turkmenistan. I can see that the denial of difficult living conditions for Turkmen citizens was not limited to Niyazov.
on July 24th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
James and Kevin,
Thanks to both of you indeed for your real interest in Turkmenistan.
In my post I disagreed with Theroux not about unemployment but about homlessness. Due to strong family ties elderly, as a rule, are taken care of pretty well. In addition, national traditions of hospitality and merciness mean that the problem of homlessness in Turkmenistan does not exist in its traditional sense. Other factors why we fortunately don’t face this problem in Turkmen society are low costs of communal and housing servises (three-four US Dollars per month) and quite small population: 5,110.023 people on the area of 188,456 sq miles (just a little bit bigger than California where 35,000,000 people live).
When it comes to the beards and Peter the Great, then Peter the Great was the last person in the world’s history who banned beards officially by a decree. Niazov did indeed have a problem with facial hair as he did with the gold teeth; but apart from expressing his dissatisfaction loudly he didn’t officially ban them. No one has ever been arrested, fined or sacked for wearing beards or for having gold teeth.
I never suggested for a split second that it was bad for Americans to learn about Turkmenistan - I just questioned whether Americans do want to know about us and why would they? The US Government Department did actually say that Turkmenistan was in the zone of geopolitical interests of America - may be that’s why? But does it really matter to the ordinary Americans?
Why are we mad at Theroux? Are we? No, not at all. But I am sure Theroux was ready for such an inevitable reaction from some people who are being viewed through a one-sided prism of Niazov’s personality cult and his creasy endeavours. From my point of view Theroux presents Turkmenistan with some hint of arrogance and snobism that dates back to the times of Cold War.
on July 24th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Given his Peace Corps background, you’d think he’s be a little more incisive and sensitive to culture, history, and his unique place as a visitor to a country such as Turkmensitan. However, given that he was expelled from the Peace Corps for becoming involved in politics, I’m really not suprised by the article. There is a political undercurrent in the entire piece, and you can tell he kind of relishes being a target and opponent of the powers that be.
The article was pretty mediocre. There are tons of articles out there dealing with Niyazov, presidential decrees, statues, politics and other topics that fall into the “crazy Turkmenistan” category. I thought Theroux would go deeper into the society and go for something genuine, maybe take a chance and stay away from the low hanging fruit. But alas, he couldn’t resist. When he did momentarily get real and go forward on the personal level, he would ruin it by eventually coming back to the political.
Case in point is his description of the conference where a Turkmen “spy” was cast out, and he worried that he may be inciting anti-government feelings among the crowd. Theroux just can’t resist sticking this part in there, although in the big scheme of things its just as unimportant as the talk he gave at the Peace Corps office in Ashgabat. But it reinforces his sense of self importance, and this trumps the actual country and its people throughout the article. Theroux just can’t help “fighting the man”. I knew a lesser writer would go that way, because its easy, but unfortunately he did too.
on July 24th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
THESE FACTS WERE ON INTERNET A WHILE AGO (in the period 1991-2006):
- Economically active population rate grew 1.5 times since 1991.
- Income tax 10%, and rural population is exempt from it.
- Salaries of budgetary employees grew by 50% and prices largely remained the same since early 1990s.
- Life expectancy has grown in Turkmenistan from 65.8 years in 1991 to 69.4 in 2006.
- Electricity, gas and water - all free. (also salt?)
- Gasoline costs 3 cents, and is the cheapest in the world.
- Education is free, Health care is favourable.
- A great deal o municipal and ministerial construction of higher comfortability is done, and credits are given for their purchase. In luxurious apartments a square meter costs 300 US dollars.
- Trans-Karakum rail-road was built.
- Largest in Central Asia textile factory was built. T-Shirts cost 1 US dollar.
- Russian speakers were given 10 years to learn Turkmen language. Despite they learn German or Hebrew in 2-3 years, adults did not manage it. Consequently, Turkmens prefered to speak Russian themselves. Growing generation of Russian speakers is now fluent.
- Public transport tickets cost 50 manat, that is for one dollar one can use it 480 times.
- 70 liters of gasoline cost 1.5 dollars.
- Average pension is 100 dollars (one can buy 60 kilos of lamb - in Uzbekistan that would cost 240 US dollars, but average pension is 20-25 US dollars:-). (lamb is important for centralasians:-)
- The costs of municipal expenses max. 2-3 dollars a month.
- Hospitals were closed, because they were terribly built after the earthquake of 1948(?). All district hospitals were closed, and new ones of the province and central level were built. (transport from one edge of the country to the other will not cost more than 3-4 dollars). Cardio centre, stomatological centre, institute of mother and child, hospital of traumatology, ophtalmology centre, diabetical centre, etc. were all newly built in Ashkhabad.
- Golden teeth was a fashion and a sign of prosperity and care of own children 6-7 years ago. People would make golden teeth for their children upon reaching of 18 years. Brides almost never married without brand new golden teeth, especially in rural areas. Turkmenbashi seeing once a girl with golden teeth said:”why are you spoiling your beautiful teeth, in the whole world it is not done anymore”.
some of the populist measures by large, but is it true or am I infected by Turkmenbashi virus?
on July 25th, 2007 at 1:47 am
Huh? Paul Theroux a Peace Corps volunteer in Turkmenistan? He’s been a travel writer, born in Great Britain, for almost 30 years, acknowledged in many circles as one of the better travel writers around. As for him “sticking it to the man”, well, that’s, generally speaking, the role of writers and artists in society. They often say or write unpleasant things that people in power don’t like to hear. That’s why sometimes they put them in prison or have them shot. If what he writes or says makes you uncomfortable or defensive, then he’s done his job.
on July 25th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
I understand there was a sarcasm in using an orientalist approach to reflecting this trip to Turkmenistan, but he wrote for mainstream source, which is read by commom people, who generally (or stereotypically?) don’t know that Turkmenistan exists. I wish it was more inclusive and sensitive. I wish this article woudn’t target this very small audience that has enough background to understand this “sharp political messages” behind that “special ironic humor”.
Parahat Mele, thanks for amusing me with great comment (not being sarcastic). But at the same time i remember and still see the consequences of this real oppressive regime that was so well hidden by these legitimitacy bribes (cheap gas, free salt, etc)….so well as it seems to be overrated.
Even though i can take it easy and laugh a little at those jokes, but it is important to be responsible for building more comprehensive and culturally sensitive discourse (more intersubjectivity) to bring forward experiences of those you write about… especially if one advocates… not to avoid critique or sarisfy some peaky readers, but to be voice of silenced and affected. Especially if one is to get rid of ignorance.
on July 26th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
Andrew, you must be confused. Paul Theroux was a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi in the 1960s (kicked out for helping an opposition political candidate), and he was born outside Boston. Glad we got that out of the way, apologies if I wasn’t clear.
There is a lot of literature out there on Niyazov, his one-man rule, and how supposedly he single-handedly has ruined the country. Some of it is insightful, the rest is mostly regurgitated crap. Western readers and audiences eat it up though, so I guess I wasn’t surprised whenever the BBC did yet another piece about an edict or rule.
Niyazov, since Indendence, has overshadowed numerous things about Turkmenistan in the Western press, namely the very real problems that the country faces, as well as the rich culture and people of the country. When I used to mention Turkmenistan, the common response was “oh, Turkmenbasy, he’s that crazy guy”. That was all people knew, and yet writers had no worries about feeding into that even more, as long as the audience was pleased. Customer is always right I suppose.
So here is Paul Theroux, noted travel writer, in Turkmenistan. What a great opportunity for him to delve into the country and tell us all something we didn’t already know about a genuinely interesting place and its people. I didn’t expect him to totally avoid politics; in a country like Turkmenistan its just not possible. But I did expect him to not do the “Niyazov thing” and tell me how this one man’s antics have impacted the country and so on and so forth. Not only does it become annoying, it overly simplifies things. Assuming that one man, and not the legions of corrupt politicians, sycophants, and greedy businessmen, is solely responsible for Turkmenistan’s woes is incredibly short sighted.
But back to your last statement. Now if his point was to make me uncomfortable or challenge the authorities, then well done, he succeeded. You are right on that point. My point is different - I think its waste for a writer of his talents to focus largely on Niyazov. It’s a half-assed approach to a much more complex and interesting topic. It’s the easy way out. I always thought Paul Theroux to be a guy who liked the hard-way and wanted to swim against the tide. In this case, he went with it. So much for being an independent thinker.
on July 26th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Paul Theroux has a very complicated reputation, I believe. As a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Kazakhstan, I remember hearing about him as one of the former Volunteers who was able to make a career through writing. Once I had read some of his works, however, I had a very different opinion about him. I know that most writers must aim for the audience they hope to sell to, and that is exactly what Theroux does. He isn’t trying to teach anyone the hard facts about Turkmenistan or tell anyone things they couldn’t find out themselves by spending five minutes on the BBC. And that’s why a lot of PCVs dislike him. The whole point of joining the Peace Corps for a lot of people is to see the world for yourself, to understand that there are usually three versions of every country - the conservative view, the more liberal view, and reality. I would imagine that those three never coincide for more than fifteen minutes at a time.
To that aim, I will tell those who are native Turmenistanis, I understand why you’re upset. I lived for a time in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, and while they are not the same as your country, you agree they are similar. I lived with Uzbek and Uyghur families for two and a half years, and I think I know what you mean.
Unemployment isn’t treated the same as in the West, but I am afraid that a Westerner only sees the statistic. This is something very different between former Soviet countries and Western countries. Westerners are more likely to believe and trust statistics, as falsified numbers in the United States and Euope, if caught, would bring severe civil punishments. In the former USSR, statistics were the tools of the government, and were used as propaganda, largely to the knowledge of the educated classes, so that statistics aren’t respected as much, or given as much attention.
And so, when we hear “60% unemployment” we just stop and try to imagine what it’s like when over half of the working class can’t get a job. The fact is, when you walk around Turkmenistan, you’re not tripping over homeless and out-of-work people for the very reason this poster states - it’s very, very difficult to become homeless and absolutely destitute. The bonds of family are such that one wealthy member will be obligated, on pain of separation from the family, to care for each and every nephew or niece, son or daughter, cousins and in-laws, that need help. So, 60% unemployment really kills the wealth and the civil society, but it isn’t nearly as visible as it would be in the States, because a lot of these are still eating, still hanging out with their friends, and still trying to lead a normal life with their families - all without being sustained by their government.
Turkmenbashi’s decrees always make for funny reading for Westerners, and you’re right if you think that’s just an exaggeration to sell to readers. But no matter what a person says good or bad about Turkmenbashy, no one can deny he was a very selfish and self-centered person. Most leaders are, but Turkmenbashy will probably stand the test of time as one of the most egocentric. And for two reasons, I believe:
1) The Ruhnama [book of the soul] which was ghost-written with his name on it, which is still a book at the heart of Turkmenistan’s educational system, not to mention being elevated by the state to the level of the Qoran.
2) The Monument of Neutrality, with the golden state of Niyazov that rotates to face the sun.
I mention these not to rub my Turkmenistani friends nose in the mud. I just want them to see that they shouldn’t waste their breath defending Niyazov’s policies, but instead to talk about the great deeds of the Turkmenistani people who have succeeded through the difficult times. Turkmenistani people [I say this to include Turkmen, Uzbek, Russian, etc] have never had it easy. Always one of the poorest and least cared-for Soviet Republics, bought for the Russian empire with much Turkmen blood… Niyazov is not the first leader to make life difficult there, where living has never been that easy to begin with…