Back to the future for Turkmen as decade-long cinema ban ends
ASHGABAT (AFP) — Perhaps too late for this year's hot Oscar nominations, but the people of Turkmenistan are to be allowed back into cinemas for the first time in a decade, the country's president said Sunday.
Just over a year on from the death of dictator Saparmurat Niyazov -- known for the gold statues of himself he erected as part of an elaborate personality cult in the gas-rich state -- circus shows, opera and even local libraries are also heading back onto the Turkmen cultural agenda.
"I propose to breathe life back into the lyrical arts in this country," said current President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. "It is regrettable to see there are no good cinemas in Ashgabat.
"Cinema houses are currently used for other purposes, and a complete renovation is required," he told a press conference attended by intellectuals and broadcast on state television.
"It is also time to rebuild and reopen the building that housed the Turkmenistan state circus, bringing back circus spectacles including popular national equestrian shows."
Niyazov, known as Turkmenbashi (leader of the Turkmens), installed an unprecedented level of control on the arts and media in the Central Asian republic upon coming to power in 1990, a year before the fall of the Soviet Union.
By the year 2000, he had banned opera and ballet for "non-conformity with the national mentality," destroying the opera house and disbanding the company with the circus, cinemas and local libraries soon going the same way.
The late leader's book the Rukhnama (Spiritual Guide), a pink and green-bound volume of poems and thoughts on the nation, had been compulsory reading in schools, in workplaces and even as part of the driving test.
State control of the media has seen Turkmenistan ranked alongside North Korea and Eritrea as the world's most ardent enemies of press freedom, according to the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Its national television service was famous for the permanent presence of a golden image of the country's leader in a corner of the screen, until July last year.
But Berdymukhamedov is gradually engaging Turkmenistan with the global communications revolution, having re-opened a limited number of Internet cafes in the capital after they were all shut down by Niyazov.
A requirement by which people hoping to enter university first had to do two years of menial work in their chosen field has also been abolished as the presidency concentrates on maximising income from natural gas.
Turkmenistan is believed to hold some 2,100 billion cubic metres of gas -- said to be the world's fifth largest source -- and has invited foreign investors in recent months to help it develop its gas reserves.
