Monday, July 09, 2007
Turkmen leader's image disappears from television broadcast http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\07\09\story_9-7-2007_pg4_22
ASHGABAT: The image of Turkmenistan's late autocratic leader, long shown on television screens during most programs, disappeared from broadcasts Sunday - the latest of his successor's steps to diminish Saparmurat Niyazov's personality cult.
The gold-coloured profile of Niyazov, who died in December after two decades of iron-fisted rule in the natural gas-rich Central Asian nation, had been a symbol of Turkmenistan's four government TV channels. It had appeared in the right-hand corner of the screen during virtually all broadcasts.
Authorities did not comment on the image's removal Sunday. Niyazov's successor, Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov, has scrapped some of Niyazov's least-popular policies and moved toward greater transparency. However, he has given no sign that he will scrap the country's one-party rule. In recent months, Berdymukhamedov has removed Niyazov's name from a patriotic oath and has removed some of Niyazov's once-ubiquitous portraits from streets and newspapers.
Some of Niyazov's images in government buildings have been replaced by Berdymukhamedov's portraits. The new leader has awarded himself a massive gold-and-diamond pendant and issued silver and gold coins with his portrait on his 50th birthday, in what analysts said were efforts to begin substituting Niyazov's personality cult with his own. ap
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