Turkmenistan to move gold statue of Turkmenbashi

By Marat Gurt

ASHGABAT (Reuters) - A rotating gold statue of Turkmenistan's former leader is to be removed from the centre of the capital, state media said on Saturday, as his successor chips away at the late president's personality cult.

Saparmurat Niyazov spent his 21 years in power building Turkmenistan into one of the world's most isolated regimes while imposing his mark on the gas-rich Central Asian state.

He styled himself Turkmenbashi, or "Father of all the Turkmen", and spent giant sums building sumptuous memorials to his own wisdom, including a 75-metre-tall (246 feet) tower in central Ashgabat whose summit is a statue of himself.

But President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has ordered the giant syringe-like structure that towers over low-rise Ashgabat to be removed to a southern suburb, state media said.

The tower, known as the Arch of Neutrality because Niyazov said one of his biggest achievements was to ensure Turkmenistan's neutrality status, is topped by a 12-metre (40-foot) gold-plated effigy of the leader.

With arms outstretched as if to embrace his subjects from the lofty perch, Niyazov rotates once every 24 hours, tracking the path of the sun from dawn to dusk.

Berdymukhamedov, who came to power in February 2007 after Niyazov died of heart failure in late 2006, said it should be moved to a major avenue in the south of the city, which is called Neutrality Avenue.

"A proposal to move the Arch of Neutrality was discussed at the meeting," Turkmen television said on Saturday.