Turkmenbashy Part 1: Soviet Stooge, Hermit Tyrant

Turkmenistan in Central Asia. Somewhere unremarkable, you might
assume. But you’d be wrong. Away from prying eyes, an extraordinary
story unfolded here. In the early 1990s, a man called Saparmurat
Niyazov creates a brand-new state from the rubble of the Soviet
Union. His regime will be a case study in modern tyranny, filled
with bizarre pronouncements and barely believable laws. As
‘Turkmenbashy’, or ‘Head of the Turkmen’, Niyazov rules into the
2000s, turning Turkmenistan into a North Korea 2.0. But how does he
get away with it? A Noiser production, written by Dan Smith.
Research by Derek Henry Flood. For ad-free listening, exclusive
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