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http://africa.reuters.com/odd/news/usnL21297765.html

   Turkmenistan ends ban on opera and circus
   Mon 21 Jan 2008
   
   ASHGABAT (Reuters) - Turkmenistan will end its seven-year
   ban on opera and the circus introduced by the Caspian
   nation's former eccentric leader, state media reported.
   
   Saparmurat Niyazov, who cultivated an elaborate personality
   cult during his 21-year rule, died in late 2006 of a heart
   attack. He banned opera, ballet and the circus, saying they
   are "alien" to Turkmen culture.
   
   The new leader, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, has sought to
   promote a softer image for the gas-rich nation bordering
   Iran -- and reversed some of Niyazov's most eccentric
   policies. Late on Sunday, state television announced his
   plans to reopen an opera house, resume circus shows and
   build a cinema in the capital Ashgabat.
   
   "Today a new period is starting in our country which we
   have called an era of great renaissance," Berdymukhamedov
   said in televised remarks, his speech interrupted by applause.
   
   During his long rule, Niyazov took the title of Turkmenbashi
   (Head of the Turkmen) and had thousands of portraits and
   statues of himself put up throughout the country, including
   a statue in gold leaf that rotates to face the sun in
   Ashgabat. Isolated from the rest of the world and criticised
   in the West for human rights violations, Turkmenistan has
   sought to end its isolationist policies under the new
   president and attract more foreign investment in its vast
   oil and natural gas sector.

Janos Gereben
www.sfcv.org
[log in to unmask]

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