It Could Be So Much Worse
By: Stephanie Magnuson
“Thank God it’s Mother-day!” Leslie thought as she wandered past the ice-palace construction site, and down the spacious streets of Washington D.C. She was taking it slow today; she was still getting used to repressive heat of summer city life, having only moved here a couple months earlier in the spring month of Barbara. Her family had been forced to relocate to the capital city so that her ailing mother could have access to a hospital, as all the hospitals and clinics in the countryside had been ordered closed. She could almost see the logic in President Bush’s argument that everyone should come to the capital for treatment. Getting there had been a challenge, since no one in her family had been able to pass the morality test required for a driver’s license. It also didn’t help that both her elderly parents’ pensions had been revoked. Times were certainly rough and not showing any hint of improvement.
It frustrated Leslie even further to think that after coming all this way, the nurses here were hardly nurses anyway, ever since Bush had replaced public health workers with cheaper military conscripts. And she had heard that doctors now took an oath to the president, not the normally universal Hippocratic oath.
Living in the city wasn’t so bad though. There was lots of culture; there was ample government artwork and even a golden statue of the self-declared “Leader of All Americans,” Bush, to be admired. It was actually a shame she hadn’t moved to the city earlier, maybe she could have caught a ballet or an opera before such shows were banned. “Oh well,” she sighed, and continued her walk home.
This tale may sound outlandish, and indeed it is. But such policies would have been a reality if one were living in Turkmenistan during the rule of the late President Saparmurat Niyazov. Niyazov has been criticized as one of the most totalitarian and repressive dictators the world has ever seen, and he was in power a mere two years ago.
Niyazov came to his leadership position in 1992 as the country’s first popularly elected president. Fair enough, except that he was the only candidate. Wasting no time, he declared himself “Turkmenbasy,” or, in English, “Leader of all Turkmen,” only a year later.
Appropriately, in 1994, a plebiscite extended Niyazov’s term eight more years to last until 2002, the justification being that he needed to see to completion a 10-year development plan. Five years later, in 1999, after Niyazov had been in power for 8 of 13 years, a recently elected Parliament declared Niyazov “President for Life.” And by “recently elected Parliament,” I mean that parliamentary elections were held a couple weeks earlier between candidates that Niyazov had hand picked.
It couldn’t be too bad though. That is, as long as Niyazov was doing a good job as a leader, things couldn’t be too terrible. Take for example Niyazov’s improvements in the Turkmenistan educational system. (Presumably) so there could be more books for students in schools, Niyazov decreed that all rural libraries be closed. In support of this decision, he cited that ordinary Turkmen do not read books anyway. Surely having an increased sense of nationalism as his goal, Niyazov made a national epic required reading in schools. Coincidently, though, he was the author of said epic, entitled the Ruhnama. The Ruhnama was a mix of history and offerings of his personal spiritual and moral guidance. He eventually had precepts from his morally guiding literature displayed on the walls of Mosques, right next to suras from the Qur’an. A modest guy, eh?
Furthermore, President for Life Niyazov banned young men from having beards because he thought facial hair was linked to Islamic extremism. He also stopped citizens from owning more than one cat or dog, and proceeded to ban dogs from cities altogether because of their odor.
To elucidate the policies alluded to in the story, while in power Niyazov took the liberty of renaming the days of the week, Friday being changed to “Anna,” which means “mother.” Continuing with this maternal trend Niyazov renamed the month of April to “Gurbansoltan,” the actual name of his mother. He also changed the word for “bread” to his mother’s mellifluous moniker. In 2004 he ordered that an ice palace be constructed outside the capital, and closed all hospitals except those in the capital city of Asgabat. Also in 2004, it was decreed that all licensed drivers pass a morality test, this morality test being based on his Ruhnama. In January of 2006, over 30% of Turkmeni elderly had their pensions terminated or significantly reduced. Regarding the nurses, in 2004, President Niyazov had 15,000 public health workers, such as nurses and midwives, dismissed from their jobs. Less expensive military conscripts were hired in their place, and in November of 2005 physicians were required to swear an oath to Niyazov in place of the usual Hippocratic Oath. Regarding the aforementioned artwork, Niyazov had a twelve meter high golden statue of himself erected in the capital. It even rotated as to always be facing the sun. Apparently, he wasn’t a fan of the performing arts though; in 2001, ballet and opera were banned from Turkmenistan, being cited as unnecessary to Turkmeni culture. Regrettably, before he could get anything else done, Niyazov passed away in December of 2006, at the age of sixty-six.
So you may have heard the phrase “history repeats itself.” For our sake, I certainly hope not. People should be learning from history, not making the same mistakes as people in the past. It is not people’s mistakes that are enshrined in history as so much those of leaders. But here in America we have the privilege of getting to democratically elect our leaders, so a faulty leader is somewhat a reflection on a faulty people. So if your opinion is the right one, and you want to hand-pick the next president, get your hands on a ballot, and get to your picking inside a voting booth. I hope the above anecdote and Turkmeni tale enlighten you to how horribly awry a country and the lives of its citizens could turn if subject to poor leadership. So if it’s not too late get out and vote AND STOP COMPLAINING; it could be so much worse.
