Turkmenistan’s Personality Cult: Poor Sales for Mr January, Mr February, Mr March ...
President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov’s personality cult has so saturated Turkmenistan that people seem to be fed up with purchasing dictator memorabilia. Sluggish demand for calendars featuring portraits of the president (month after month) is reportedly forcing traders to raise their prices in a bid to minimize losses.
The Chronicles of Turkmenistan reports that this year’s version of the calendar featuring Berdymukhamedov striking a pose on each page have not been selling well. The Chronicles suggests the rising price is further damping demand: For one version of the calendars, the price has risen by 25 percent year-on-year, from 45 manats (approximately $16) to 56 manats ($20).
"They are bought only by bureaucrats and businessmen who keep them in their offices to show their loyalty to the president," the Chronicles of Turkmenistan, a website run by exiles in Vienna, explained.
Despite losses, the state-run publisher is still printing desk and wall calendars – along with other mementos including giant posters and icon-like charms for car dashboards – because "propaganda is more important than profit in Turkmenistan.”
Berdymukhamedov is notoriously vain and has his portrait plastered on many government buildings. Since assuming office in 2006, he has built himself a thriving personality cult, trying to present himself as an unbeatable action hero and renaissance man. Like his predecessor, the bizarre Saparmurat Niyazov, Berdymukhamedov has mythologized members of his family in popular lore and penned his own books, which are now required reading in schools.
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