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Article: Turkmenbashi the Great: rich and prosperous thanks to the discovery of massive oil and gas reserves, Turkmenistan is attempting to come to grips with modernity and its massive wealth. (Turkmenistan).
- Article from:
- The Middle East
- Article date:
- September 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 IC Publications Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Which country supplies its citizens with free water, electricity and cooking gas, while a gallon of premium petrol costs only eight US cents? If your answer was Libya, or one of the petroleum-rich Gulf States, you Would be wrong. The country which offers these remarkable subsidies and where every packet of tea, every bottle of locally produced vodka and every television programme has a small golden profile of "The Father" superimposed in the top right-hand corner is Turkmenistan. Here, in this central Asian Muslim country, every vestige of life and every political decision is controlled by Saparmurad Niyazov, the last of the great Communist party leaders, and now ...