Turkmen President Orders to Change Founders of Printed Mass Media
President Berdymukhamedov instructed his employees to identify new founders for Turkmenistan’s periodicals, since most of the country’s newspapers and magazines have President Berdymukhamedov as the founder. Berdymukhamedov said that the new founders of publications should carry full responsibility for their mass media outlet. “For example, the founder of the governmental newspaper Turkmenistan and Neutral Turkmenistan should be the Cabinet of Ministers, while the founder of Mugallymlar gazeti newspaper (Teacher's Newspaper) should be the Ministry of Education," the head of state said. He instructed officials to work on this issue and name specific founders for periodicals from the relevant supervising bodies.
Source: Turkmenistan.ru [5]
Turkmenistan Establishes Governmental Commission on WTO Accession
Turkmenistan has established a Governmental Commission to review issues related to the country's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The composition of the commission has been also approved. President Berdymukhamedov signed a corresponding decree aimed at “safe and efficient integration of Turkmenistan into the global economic system, increasing competitiveness of Turkmenistan’s industries and their products, establishing market relations based on laws and in accordance with the international standards.”
Source: Turkmenistan.ru [6]
Turkmen Football Players’ bad results in the CIS Cup Not Reported in Turkmenistan
The Commonwealth of Independent States Cup held in St. Petersburg (Russia), ended in failure for Turkmen footballers. Turkmen state controlled mass media wrote nothing about this fact. The only mention of the tournament, in an article dated December 15 last year, was made by Turkmenistan’s State News Agency (TDH) and titled "Competitors of Turkmen football players in the 2013 CIS Cup determined."
Source: gundogar.org [7]
Newlyweds Must Take Pictures with President’s Portrait in Background
Turkmenistan adopted a new tradition: all newlyweds must take their photo with President Berdymukhamedov’s portrait in the background and there should be at least three such photos in their wedding photo album. It is unclear if there is an official document to this effect or if it’s simply an initiative of the marriage registry offices, but in the new registry in Ashgabat it is a compulsory requirement and people are informed of it before their wedding ceremony.
Source: Turkmenistan Chronicles [8]