ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan — Turkmenistan's authoritarian president is calling it a week of celebrations, but for some it might seem more like basic training, especially the march up the 5-mile (8-kilometer) concrete staircase.
The series of public shows and sports events will be held during the first week of April to mark the "era of power and happiness" recently announced by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, state newspaper Neutral Turkmenistan reported on March 30.
Earlier this year, he declared that his isolated but energy rich Central Asian nation north of Iran has entered that era in a grand flourish reminiscent of his late eccentric predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov.
The first month of April is traditionally devoted in former Soviet Turkmenistan to public events celebrating physical well-being — a subject close to the heart of the country’s fitness-obsessed leader.
The week has now been dubbed the "Week of Health and Happiness" and will among other things see the staging of plays called "The Inspirational Era of Happiness" and "The Era of Power is Illuminated by Happiness." Multiple major sporting events are also planned.
Turkmenistan doesn’t suffer problems like the United States, where two out of every three adults is overweight or obese. But the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper quoted Berdymukhamedov as saying in a Cabinet meeting on March 29 that all employees in government offices and state companies will be expected to spend the week indulging in physical exercise.
The highlight of the week is expected to be the traditional mass march up the Walk of Health — an eight-kilometer (5-mile) concrete staircase built into mountains near the capital.
The overblown and idiosyncratic nature of the festivities is in keeping with the style embraced by Niyazov, the country’s first post-independence president.
While insisting on making top public officials complete the Walk of Health once a year, Niyazov was notable for his preference for less strenuous pleasures. He died suddenly of heart failure in December 2006, aged 66.
Niyazov drew widespread criticism in 2005 by closing provincial hospitals, declaring them an unnecessary extravagance. The policy was implemented while Berdymukhamedov was then serving as health minister.
In an apparent effort to distance himself from Niyazov’s time in office, which was known officially as "The Golden Era," Berdymukhamedov announced an "Era of Great Renaissance." That has now given way to the current "Era of Power and Happiness."
