People gather for the monument unveiling ceremony in Ashgabat
Turkmenistan has unveiled a grandiose gold-leafed statue of the president carrying a dove and riding atop a horse — a move aimed at burnishing the leader’s burgeoning personality cult.
The 21-meter monument presented to the public yesterday in the energy-rich but isolated Central Asian nation includes a statue of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov mounted on a towering pile of marble.
Turkmenistan is dotted with gold-leaf statues to Berdymukhamedov’s eccentric predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov, who died in 2006, but this is the first such monument to the current leader.
Elevating its leader to virtual demi-god status has for two decades served as a way for the government in Turkmenistan to enshrine its legitimacy.
Officials, however, insist the new statue in the capital, Ashgabat, was built in response to overwhelming public demand.
“My main goal is to serve the people and the Motherland. And so, I will listen to the opinion of the people and do as they choose,” Berdymukhamedov said in 2014, responding to the statue proposal.
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