Turkmenistan                                          2015

From Houston to Sydney 2013

After last night’s long sleep, I felt thoroughly refreshed and ready to explore Ashgabat – which fortunately was the agenda for the day. 

After a Soviet-style breakfast of stale bread, processed meat, a boiled egg, some instant coffee and peach juice, we headed out to explore Turkmenistan’s capital city.   With an area of about 488,000 square kilometres and a population of just over 5 million people, Turkmenistan is one of the world’s most sparsely populated countries.  Of this number, Ashgabat has approximately one million people, or about 20% of the national population.  However, neither the older Soviet areas nor the newer white marble districts show any sign of crowding or congestion.  The atmosphere is one of relaxed, quiet orderliness.

If any places in Central Asia are hectic, they are usually the markets.  Our first stop was Ashgabat’s market, the Altyn Asyr Bazaar.  Easily the largest open air market in Central Asia, it was opened in 2011 to replace the market I had visited in 2006, the older and more centrally located Tolkuchka Market near Independence Park.  Located beyond the northern outskirts of Ashgabat, the markets cover 154 hectares and the structures are arranged in the shape of Turkmen carpet ornament around a huge central clock tower.

The old markets were crowded, colourful, aromatic and noisy.  By comparison, the new markets are clean, characterless to the point of sterility and in some places, almost empty.  The contrast with 2006 was stark indeed.

We began our wandering through the markets at the least ‘sterile’ section, which was the animal market.  Vast numbers of goats and substantial numbers of camels were being bought and sold, and it was fascinating to watch the negotiations for a mother camel and its calf that eventually sold for US$1,500.  The animals were brought to the market and taken away in a vast fleet of old Soviet-era tracks, a beautiful array of Gaz, Zil and Kamaz vehicles, together with some animals loaded into the boots (trunks) of Lada cars.

It was just a short walk from the camel and goat sales to the poultry selling area.  Here, ducks, chickens, geese, peahens, turkeys and eggs were being sold from car boots, minivans and wire cages resting on the ground.

The rest of the market comprised large covered pavilions, each with a different theme – Chinese plastic homewares in one pavilion, colourful textiles in another, spare parts for cars in another, and so on.  Turkmenistan is famous for its carpets (both hand-made and machine-manufactured), and it was easy to see why when walking past the long covered areas that were displaying them.  Interestingly, unlike 2006, very few sellers were keen on having their carpets photographed, something to do with the camera stealing the soul of the carpet apparently.

After a couple of hours at the markets, we drove back into Ashgabat, through the city to the hippodrome.  Turkmenistan is famous for its fine horses, and as the weekly Sunday races were underway, it would have been unthinkable to miss them.

It was the first time I had ever been to the horse races, but even so, I could pick some unique features of the event.  The women and children were seated separately from the men, apparently to save them the embarrassment of witnessing gambling (which is illegal at horse races in Turkmenistan) taking place.  Moreover, I suspect that most horse races in the world don’t feature, as this event did, huge posters of the President riding a horse, one at the entrance to the stadium, and another in front of the spectators’ stand.

Like two of the other members of the group, I was interviewed by the television crew from the local TV station.  It was suggested that I state my name, where I have come from, what I think of the event, and that I offer my congratulations to the Turkmen people for their victory 70 years previously over the Fascists in the Great Patriotic War.  I hope they translated my comments accurately into the subtitles of my interview.

After lunch, it was time to explore some other areas of Ashgabat.  We began in the old Soviet section of central Ashgabat at the memorial to Alexander Pushkin, followed across the road by the considerably more impressive monument to Vladimir Lenin and the nearby State Archives Building, which surely has one of the most intriguing facades of any Soviet-era building (and that is saying something!).

We then drove along Saparmurat Turkmenbashy Avenue (named after ‘Guess Who?’), lined with white marble high rise buildings, into one of the newer areas of southern Ashgabat where the huge Independence Park is located.  Two kilometres long by one kilometre wide, much of the park is covered by trees that have been planted and irrigated, but which are struggling to survive because of the arid climate of this desert region.  On the western side of the park is a huge monument to Ruhnama, Niyazov’s book of sacred writings.  It apparently opens each evening and an amplified reading emanates from the sculpture, but no-one I asked seemed to know what time that event happens these days – or even whether it still happens at all.

Towards the southern end of the park, the largest monument is found.  Known by locals as ‘the toilet plunger’ because of its shape, this 118 metre high monument is both a richly decorated flagpole and the base for eight artificial waterfalls.  It is surrounded by large bronze statues of famous Turkmen holding various weapons and/or books.  Standing guard to the west of the plunger is a large gold statue of Saparmurat Turkmenbashy wearing a suit and a cape, surrounded by a fountain with eight five-headed eagles (representing the five tribes of Turkmenistan).  I thought that Turkmenbashy’s statue was considerably less shiny than when I saw it in 2006, and interestingly, the two guards who were stationed to stand at full attention in front of it have now been relocated to the foundations of the plunger.

Like many parks in Ashgabat, there was prodigious use of water in fountains and water features in this park.  This is deliberate, as Niyazov’s plan was to make Ashgabat a green oasis in the desert, which also accounts for the tree planning program.  Although the water is recycled, much is lost to evaporation.  Whether this cost is ever counted is an interesting question, as water (together with gas) is provided to all Turkmen citizens free of charge.  Clearly, the market mechanism is not a powerful weapon in Turkmenistan to manage scarce resources.

From Independence Park, we drove along the ornate but almost unused freeway that links Ashgabat with Niyazov’s former residence, past several government ministry buildings, to the Ashgabat Flagpole.  With a height of 133 metres, the flagpole is apparently the fourth tallest in the world, relinquishing height to others in North Korea (160m) , Azerbaijan (162m) and Tajikistan (165m).  The architecture of the government buildings was fascinating, with each white marble building having its own distinctive shape – the Ministry of Health building with its gold profile of Niyazov being one notable example, together with the Ministry of Oil and Gas (shaped like a huge cigarette lighter) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building that is topped by a huge glass globe of the world (with Turkmenistan in gold) where press conferences are held.

Our penultimate stop was to the south of the main urban area of Ashgabat where the three-legged Monument of Neutrality was located.  Perhaps ‘relocated’ would be the better word, as this monument had been located in central Ashgabat near the Presidential palace when I visited in 2006.  Topped by a 12 metre high gold plated statue of Niyazov that rotated to face the sun at all times of the day, the monument was relocated in 2010 as part of Berdimuhamedow’s program to dilute Niyazov’s personality cult.  As part of the reconstruction, the height of the monument was increased from 75 to 95 metres and the statue of Niyazov was made static. 

Unlike 2006, the lift to the viewing platform was working this time, and after paying the entry fee of 1 manat (about 30 cents), I was able to enjoy great views of Ashgabat and the green belt zone of tree planting that surrounded the monument.

Our final stop was to another park where monuments had been relocated from central Ashgabat.  Opened less than six months ago, three monuments were located (relocated) at the end of a long, long, long stairway.  Two of the monuments comprised the red granite Soviet memorial to the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45, while the other was a monument to the earthquake of 1948 that almost completely destroyed Ashgabat, killing 90% of the city’s population.

The earthquake monument, which I had seen in central Ashgabat in 2006, was especially interesting.  The monument comprised a globe covered in rubble (representing the world) being shaken on the horns of a bull (representing the earthquake).  Emerging from the globe is Niyazov’s mother, about to die, holding aloft a golden baby that she has rescued from the rubble.

The golden baby, of course, represents Turkmenistan’s future first president (Niyazov).

Day 2 - Ashgabat

Sunday

10 May 2015