Ashgabat – Ruhnama, the Book of Soul
“The Turkmen people stayed without their guardian” – Diyar Magazine 1, 2007 The Book of Soul Being in Ashgabat means being unable to escape from the eyesight of the great Turkmen leader, the Head of all Turkmens, the Great Saparmyrat Turkmenbashi. On every corner of the capital you would admire the beautiful golden statues of the leader, in every different position: standing, sitting, reading a book, welcoming the sun, raising one hand, raising both hands, and all other patriotic poses. Commenting about these statues, the Great Turkmenbashi once said that actually he didn’t want to build statues for himself, but as the Turkmen people wished to have the statues, so he didn’t have other choice than to flourish the city with his statues. Not only statues, you would see also slogans, quotes, and boards of the books he wrote. Near every single statue, there was at least one soldier guarding this golden leader. These statues were sacred; nobody was allowed to get close by, not to mention to touch it. I accidentally took a photo of a golden statue of the standing leader under an arch and patronage of five-headed eagles – the presidential symbol of Turkmenistan. My action raised [...]
