A video from 2015 that shows the master Turkmen jockey’s infamous fall.
Sharing borders with Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, the gas-rich nation, which is mostly desert, has had a long history of repression - even replacing North Korea in bottom place in the 2019 World Press Freedom ranking by Reporters Without Borders. The country remains closed off to all forms of international scrutiny and according to rights groups and critics, press freedom is virtually unheard of - with the president and his ruling inner circle going to extraordinary lengths to stem the flow of information both in and out of the country.
Not the way anyone should hold a puppy. Photo: MAXIM SHEMETOV / POOL / AFP
Berdimuhamedow on horseback. Photo: IGOR SASIN / AFP)
Berdimuhamedow’s DJ-ing skills, which you have to see to believe.
When Niyazov died, people thought the regime would evolve. But that didn’t happen in a region where personality cults have proliferated and where leaders want to be adored and respected by citizens to keep them in power.
Little is also known about Berdimuhamedow’s private life - he allegedly has a Russian mistress, a nurse he may have met earlier on in his dentistry career. His son Serdar serves as a lieutenant colonel in the Armed Forces. His father and grandfather both have museums and government offices named in their honor. But unlike the ruling Kims in North Korea, experts think that Turkmenistan is unlikely to see a Berdimuhamedow political dynasty because of a lack of unified ideology.“Turkmenistan’s regime is not one that cares about its global standings or what the United Nations and the rest of the world may think of it,” Anceschi said. “It is not a crazy country. In all the madness that is often portrayed, one has to understand and be aware of the political context in which the regime operates and there’s sadly no real way of knowing how the people who live there really feel - any kind of independent thinking is oppressed and the only voice we hear is the regime’s.”
Berdimuhamedow's 100 foot tribute to cycling. Photo: IGOR SASIN / AFP
