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Turkmenistan: Posters with Presidential Poems, Portraits and Carpets

In September 2020, state employees of the Lebap velayat ( region ) were obliged to buy the book “Principles of Turkmen Statehood”, written by ex-president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. At the same time, the book was sold only in a few stores in the regional center. Radio Azatlyk wrote that failure to comply with this requirement was perceived as treason (but nothing is known about real court cases because of this).

In December 2021, Turkmen school and medical workers were forced to buy posters with Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s new poem “Long Live Peaceful Life!”. The size of such posters was two and a half meters and they collected about two dollars each (at the black market rate). In January 2022, civil servants of the Lebap velayat were ordered to replace the portraits of the president because he changed his jacket: in last year's pictures, the president was wearing a black jacket, and a year later he wore a dark blue one.

The tradition of requiring Turkmen civil servants to support power has continued under the current president, Serdar Berdimuhamedov, who took office in March 2022. In the first week of January 2023, state employees of the Balkan velayat were forced to hand over about $16 (at the black rate) to replace portraits of the president in institutions and enterprises, buy Turkmen carpets for these portraits, and hang posters with the 2023 ” motto “Happy youth with Arkadag Serdar. Also, part of the collected funds should be used to subscribe to state newspapers and magazines. All contributions were forced to be handed over by January 8, and by January 9, portraits, carpets and posters had already been hung. According to the state employees themselves, such payments amount to 20% of the salaries of some teachers in Turkmenistan.

Kazakhstan: fairy tales about the president and a variety of tulips in his honor

Nursultan Nazarbayev led Kazakhstan for 27 years. In 2019, he left the presidency and only in 2022 formally ceased to influence the country's politics, when the incumbent President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev canceled the requirement to coordinate domestic and foreign policy issues with Nazarbayev.

During the years of Nazarbayev’s presidency, the syllable “Nur” from his name was added, for example, to the names of the village of Nurkent, the Nur Otan party, the Nur Media media holding, the Nur.kz Internet portal and the Nurbank bank. after Nazarbayev were named An airport, educational institutions, streets and even a variety of tulips . Since 2012, on December 1, the country celebrates the Day of the first President.

The state film studio "Kazakhfilm" made six feature films about him, children's fairy tales were written about the ex-president . The Criminal Code included an article on the encroachment on the life of Nazarbayev, on his public insult and encroachment on his honor and dignity, as well as on the violation of immunity guarantees.

In January 2022, took place mass protests in Kazakhstan under the slogan “Shal, ket” (“Grandfather, go away”): their participants wanted Nazarbayev to have less authority. After that, he was dismissed from the post of head of the Security Council and head of the ruling Nur Otan party, and the party itself was renamed Amanat. In the city of Taldykorgan, a monument to Nazarbayev was demolished , in Astana and Almaty, began to disappear plates with his name . And at the beginning of 2023, it became known that, by the decision of the Constitutional Court of Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev was deprived of the title of honorary senator and the title of elbasy (leader of the nation).

Tajikistan: poems from the Foreign Minister and essay competitions about the president

In December 2015, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon was given the life-long title of "the founder of peace and national unity - the Leader of the Nation", and in 2016, a was erected in the city of Gissar. monument to the book "Tajiks in the Mirror of History", written by Rahmon,

In honor of the Tajik leader, they write poems, songs, and also published one play. In 2015, Tajik poets released an 80-page collection of poems "Leader" about the president, and in 2017 a song dedicated to Rahmon was released , where the president was called "the shah of all shahs" and compared to sunlight. The poems for the song were written by the poet Nikhoni - according to the sources of the Tajik Akhbor portal, under this pseudonym. the head of the Tajik Ministry of Internal Affairs, Rakhimzoda Ramazon Khamro, works

In 2016, appeared a course of lectures on the topic "Emomali Rahmon - the founder of the new Tajikistan" at the Faculty of History of the Tajik National University. In the same year, the Committee for Youth Affairs, Sports and Tourism of Tajikistan announced a competition among the country's students for the best article, and among schoolchildren for an essay about the "leader of the nation." The best of them were to make a separate collection. Schoolchildren were also invited to participate by writing an essay on the topic “Youth are followers of the Leader of the Nation”.

Uzbekistan: from a museum of portraits to a ban on mentioning a name

Former Uzbek President Islam Karimov ruled the country for 27 years and died in September 2016. Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who replaced him, promised to perpetuate the memory of Karimov: for example, to give the name of the ex-president of the country to the Tashkent State Technical University, the automobile plant in Asaka, the Palace of Arts in Fergana, the Tashkent International Airport, as well as the central streets in Tashkent, Karakalpakstan and the regions of Uzbekistan.

In May 2017, the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan announced a competition for the best portrait of Karimov, and in August of the same year, opened an exhibition of photographs and portraits of the first president in Tashkent. The local authorities did not stop there: the former palace of Karimov became a museum, according to Radio Azattyk, with his “heroic portraits”.

Soon, Mirziyoyev’s course changed : Karimov was banned from being mentioned on Uzbek TV channels, his portraits and slogans with quotes were required to be removed from the walls, Karimov’s books were sent to waste paper.