This article proposes a comparison of the attitudes of the first and second presidents of Turkmenistan to discuss possible overlap between personality cult, as it has been initiated and developed by the two presidents after independence, and nation-building narratives in the country. Nation-building in post-Soviet spaces has been studied comprehensively, but this paper is distinguished by two interpretative frameworks. First, this article is possibly the first comparison of personality cult as it has been constructed by the two Turkmen presidents since 1991. Second, it looks at some specific aspects of the personality cult as possible markers of a Turkmen national identity that becomes, by force of this, de-ethnicized. We suggest that a number of idiosyncratic aspects of the personality cult in Turkmenistan contribute to construct an official nation-building narrative so concentrated on the figure of the president as to minimize the ethnic features of nation-building measures that scholars have noticed in a wide range of cases in the post-socialist region.
Unlike for people in the West the state is not 'a night watchman' for Turkmens. They consider it to be a universal institution. They see in it a paternalistic organ, which displays father-like care for them, transforms the population into a single nation. It also takes care of its unity, ensures its security, makes them happy and provides them with a free life. This is the reason why the Turkmen people adore with devotion the state and its President, believe in it, support it and are willing to defend it even laying down their lives.
Saparmurat Turkmenbashy 1Political elites in the majority of states pursue their own ideology, which helps them explain the most important points of their internal and external policy. The influence and even need for propaganda is less important in so called democratic states, with the constant threat of the elite changing in an election. There is little time to inculcate the appropriate ideology in the people. In such states propaganda usually relates to general issues with a wider consensus across the political spectrum. The idea of Perspectives on European Politics and Society, 6:2
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