Turkmenistan unveils golden statue of president as cult of personality gathers momentum
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
The isolated energy-rich Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan has unveiled a gold-leafed statue of the president in a gesture intended to burnish the leader's burgeoning cult of personality.
The 21-meter monument presented to the public Monday consists of a statue of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov atop a horse mounted on a towering pile of marble.
Turkmenistan is dotted with gold-leaf statues to Berdymukhamedov's eccentric predecessor, who died in 2006, but this is the first such monument to the current leader.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Officials say the statue was built in response to public demand. The authoritarian former Soviet nation has no independent public movements, however, making such a notion improbable.
Berdymukhamedov, nicknamed Arkadag (the Protector), won the presidential election in 2012 with a landslide 97 percent in a vote criticized by election monitoring groups.