EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight - Niyazov Moves to Expand Personality Cult

EURASIA INSIGHT

NIYAZOV MOVES TO EXPAND PERSONALITY CULT
David Hunsicker Jr.

Recent moves to expand Turkmenistan’s already comprehensive cult of personality threaten to leave the Central Asian nation perilously isolated.

The personality cult that Niyazov has developed since Turkmenistan gained independence in 1991 is reaching levels rivaling that in North Korea. Portraits and statues of Niyazov have long been ubiquitous in the Central Asian nation. In recent months, however, the Turkmen leader has elevated his status to a higher level, in which he lays claim not only to the mantle of political ruler, but also that of spiritual leader.

Niyazov’s spiritual views are on display in the first of a planned three-volume work � titled Ruhnama � which appeared in connection with the president’s birthday on February 19. Ruhnama is described in Turkmenistan’s press as the collection of all of the customs and traditions of the Turkmen people. According to an article in the newspaper Turkmenistan, Ruhnama is "a book that, for the Turkmen people, is holy like the miraculous Qur’an�its importance is unlimited. This powerful book is a book created so that the permitted (halal) will be raised over the unpermitted (haram)." The same newspaper describes Niyazov as "having the wisdom of a prophet." In the press the book has been described using an Islamic idiom that connotates revelation as having "descended to earth."

The effort to infuse the work with spiritual significance coincides with a change in slogans in Turkmenistan. The oft-repeated mantra "Halk, Watan, Turkmenbashi," or "The people, the nation, Turkmenbashi!" is quickly being replaced by a new declaration of faith: "Alla birdir, Watan birdir, Halkymyň Serdary bir," or "Allah is one, the Nation is one and my people’s Leader is one!"

Despite the considerable publicity surrounding the publication of Ruhnama, the book is difficult to find, having not received wide distribution so far. And while the Turkmen media has been effusive in its praise for the book, weeks after its supposed release it was still not possible to find a single quote or passage from Ruhnama reprinted by the press.

Niyazov is quoted in the newspaper Turkmen Dili as saying "Ruhnama must be in a Turkmen’s heart, it must be his happiness, each person when he reads it must see and find his own path," the newspaper Turkmen Dili reported.

By staking out a role as a spiritual leader, Niyazov may be seeking additional justification for moves that effectively increase Turkmenistan’s isolation. A number of decisions taken in recent weeks have the potential to remove Turkmenistan from the region’s intellectual mainstream. In early April, for example, Niyazov banned ballet and opera in Turkmenistan, saying they were "alien" to Turkmen culture. Around the same time, the president also announced at a cabinet meeting that Ashgabat would no longer recognize diplomas awarded by higher educational institutions in other former Soviet states. In addition, the Turkmen leader has for weeks criticized the work of government agencies connected with education, culture and mass media, citing a need to for a more Turkmen orientation.

Over the long term, Niyazov’s isolationist tendencies could have a profound political and economic impact, diminishing the Turkmen population’s ability to operate in a global environment. In the nearer term, the moves suggest that Turkmenistan will continue to prove to a fickle negotiating partner on multinational issues, including the division of the Caspian Sea and the selection of oil and gas export routes. Differences on the division of the Caspian Sea have already forced the postponement of a five-nation summit until this fall.

Editor�s Note: David Hunsicker is a freelance journalist and graduate student at the University of Washington pursuing research in Central Asia since 1999 through the American Councils for International Education.

The Central Eurasia Project aims, through its website, meetings, papers, and grants, to foster a more informed debate about the social, political and economic developments of the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is a program of the Open Society Institute-New York. The Open Society Institute-New York is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that promotes the development of open societies around the world by supporting educational, social, and legal reform, and by encouraging alternative approaches to complex and controversial issues.

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