Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow may not be a name you are familiar with, or one that can be easily spelt or pronounced, but as I have recently been to the very unique Turkmenistan recently, and considering he’s quite the ‘dude’, I thought sharing this was appropriate.

Destination Turkmenistan is made all the more bizarre by it’s two enigmatic leaders since independence. The first known as Turkmenbashi – but actually that was just his nick name, his actual name was Saparmurat Nitazov. Roman does a much better job of pronouncing both names in his video than I could ever hope to.

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John Oliver did a whole episode on Berdimuhamedow, which I think I’ve included before and have again. Basically, anything I could say has been said (and a lot more) in these two videos. The cult of personality I think can be a dangerous way for a country to be run, but I should also say that Roman claims most of Turkmenistan is basically living in abject poverty, which is not what I witnessed there. The state appeared to provide quite a lot for the citizen, but certainly many in Turkmenistan do struggle a lot too. So I should say that Roman is not wrong, but the regular Turkmen people are able to get by.

Thanks for popping by today, take care. Of course, some posts on Turkmenistan from this blog –

Turkmenistan – All that Glitters is Marble

5 Day Tour of Turkmenistan – The FULL Story Part One

Turkmenistan The FULL Story – Part Two – Ashgabat, Mary & Merw

So, About Turkmenistan

Into Turkmenistan – Fire and Ruins!

Thanks for popping by today, take care – And May the Journey Never End!