One of the more compelling features of the Turkmenbashi cult of personality is the role his mother plays in it. His father died when Turkmenbashi was very young, in World War II, and his mother and his two brothers then died in the 1948 earthquake that leveled most of Ashgabat. So he grew up in an orphanage.
Fast forward 50 years, when he’s the president of Turkmenistan, he has absolute power over this country, and what does he do? He builds memorials to his mother everywhere. It’s really kind of poignant, and sad. It’s sort of an Anakin Skywalker thing. You know, if Darth Vader had named the Death Star after his mother. (Please, someone help me out with a more erudite reference than this.)
There are also memorials to his father, but not nearly as many. And he didn’t get a month named after him, as his mother did.
This monument is called Maternal Love, and is in the center of Ashgabat:
This one is the Mother and Child Memorial, in the western port city of Turkmenbashi. I took this out of the window of the car, so forgive the poor quality:
And by far both the saddest, and freakiest is this one, also in the center of Ashgabat, in the shadow of the giant rotating statue of Turkmenbashi:
This is the Earthquake Memorial. Apparently according to Turkmen legend, the earth is supported on the horns of a giant bull, and when the bull gets tired his head wobbles and he shakes the earth around. There are people suffering all around, and a mother holding up her son – who is, of course, made of gold. I don’t suppose there’s any record of how Turkmenbashi’s mother died, but this suggests she died saving her son. A lot to unpack in this one.
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