OTT or Turkmenbashi? Pick the real Turkmenistan dictator's follies – quiz

People in Ashgabat carry a portrait of Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Turkmenistan’s current president. Photograph: Alamy

Much has been made of the cult of personality propelling western politics at the moment. In Turkmenistan, one of the world’s most repressive and closed countries, it has been the norm for decades.

The “trophy city” capital of Ashgabat, which has the highest concentration of marble buildings in the world, is peppered with monuments to its presidents, past and present. “Every square is dotted with the megalomaniac statue of a ruler, making the entire city look like a dictator’s Disneyland,” observed one outsider.

Related: Trophy city 2.0: can the former Soviet Stans kick dictator chic?

Saparmurat Niyazov – the self-styled “Turkmenbashi”, father of all Turkmen – ruled from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 through to his death in 2006. An academic at Moscow’s Carnegie Institute summed up the country’s hope for change: “It’s impossible to be worse than Turkmenbashi.”

Then Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov was made president. Radio Free Europe reported that the Niyazov era was hailed within the country as its “Golden Age”: “Likewise, Berdymukhammedov has dubbed his time in power ‘The Era of Turkmenistan’s Great Renaissance’.”

Many in Turkmenistan hoped that former dentist Berdymukhamedov, a health minister under Niyazov and his longest-serving cabinet member, would open up the country and lift restrictions on citizens. Instead, Human Rights Watch reported this year that “the president and his associates have total control over all aspects of public life”.

Guardian Cities is exploring in depth the oft-ignored – and exceedingly difficult to report from – cities of the five Central Asian “Stans”: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, a quarter of a century after they became independent from the former Soviet Union.

From the bizarre architecture of the “trophy cities” to the joys and struggles of everyday urban life in some very unequal societies, our goal is to engage with the people who actually live in the Stans cities by publishing some of our reporting in the languages spoken there: not just Russian, often considered the language of the elite, but Turkmen, Kazakh, Uzbek, Kyrgyz and Tajik.

You can read the rest of the Secret Stans series here.

Berdymukhamedov did take steps towards dismantling the vanity projects of his predecessor – only to replace them with his own. Can you pick the real from the false?

1. What is notable about the best-known gold statue of Saparmurat Niyazov, erected in Ashgabat in 1998?

   1. One of his own teeth was cast in it

   2. It held a handwritten edition of the Ruhnama, the moral and spiritual guide he wrote

   3. It was cleaned twice a day, at sunrise and sunset – by hand

   4. It rotated to always faces the sun

2. What did Niyazov reportedly ban?

   1. Recorded music at all public events, on television and at weddings

   2. Dogs

   3. Facial hair or long hair on men

   4. All of the above

3. How did Niyazov tackle the Turkmenistan's high smoking rate?

   1. Introduced a tax on cigarettes to force prices up

   2. Made it a capital offence

   3. Demanded his ministers quit

   4. Made chewing tobacco free

4. How, according to Niyazov, did you ensure your place in Heaven?

   1. Reading his "holy book", the Ruhnama, three times

   2. Wearing one's hair long (if a man)

   3. Walking his 22mi (36km) 'Path of Health' in the mountains on the outskirts of Ashgabat

   4. Killing a dog

5. What changes did Niyazov make to education?

   1. Made the Ruhnama required reading

   2. Reduced secondary education by one year

   3. Made children pledge allegiance to him every morning

   4. All of the above

6. How did Niyazov honour his mother?

   1. He named the month of April after her

   2. He installed a larger-than-life gold statue of her in the hills overlooking Ashgabat

   3. He bought her the winning horse of Turkmenistan's horse beauty pageant

   4. He put her face on a banknote

7. What is notable about Berdymukhamedov's gold statue of himself?

   1. It shows him holding a dove, astride a horse, atop a white marble cliff over 20m high

   2. The horse he is shown astride is his favourite stallion, cast in gold leaf after its death

   3. It is exactly same as Niyazov's statue – but 1m higher

   4. It conspicuously bears no likeness to him

8. In 2013 Berdymukhamedov rode in a much-publicised horse race. He won, but fell from his steed just after crossing the finishing line. What did he allegedly do?

   1. Cancelled the annual race

   2. Had his horse killed

   3. Slowed down the internet to slow the spread of any footage

   4. Gave the £7m (US $11m) cash prize to state media

9. What title was bestowed upon Berdymukhamedov in 2015?

   1. Akhal-Teke: Our Pride and Glory

   2. The People's Horse Breeder

   3. Berdymukhammed Annaev, meaning 'Grandfather'

   4. Man of the Year

10. What change did Berdymukhamedov make to the constitution last year?

    1. Extended presidential terms and removed the upper age limit on candidates

    2. Removed all mention of his predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov, and the Ruhnama

    3. Banned any other dentist from serving as president in future

    4. Formally enshrined Day of the Horse

11. Turkmenistan’s nine athletes failed to win a medal in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. What did Berdymukhamedov do?

    1. Introduced a scholarship for participation in athletics, with a top prize of a Toyota Land Cruiser

    2. Condemned sports officials and athletes for having betrayed 'the trust of the motherland'

    3. Launched an awareness campaign of Turkmenistan’s successes in horse breeding and the arts

    4. Vow to win one himself at the next Games

12. What was Berdymukhamedov filmed doing in the lead-up to the election earlier this year?

    1. Throwing knives to demonstrate his aim and 'high level of military preparedness'

    2. Playing guitar and singing for an audience of factory workers

    3. Gifting a group of Turkmen shepherds big green boxes, reportedly containing TV sets

    4. DJing a remix of Can't Stop The Feeling by Justin Timberlake

13. How did Berdymukhamedov belatedly mark Vladimir Putin's birthday at a meeting last week?

    1. Gave Putin a puppy called Faithful

    2. Performed Putin a song he'd written himself

    3. A joint photo shoot of them both wearing camo gear

    4. Gave Putin his own statue of himself in Ashgabat

Solutions

1:D - EurasiaNet reports that the statue, erected in 1998, earned the nickname 'Grill' because of its resemblance to a rotisserie. In August 2010 it was dismantled by Niyazov's successsor, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov; a year later, it reappeared unexpectedly on top of a huge monument on the outskirts of Ashgabat – but no longer rotated, 2:D - He also banned opera, the ballet, lip-syncing to recorded music and listening to it on car radios, and gold teeth, 3:C - After Niyazov had major heart surgery in 1997, he gave up smoking – and insisted all his government follow suit. Chewing tobacco on Turkmen soil was later banned as well, 4:A - Niyazov said on state television he had arranged special entry to Heaven with Allah for those who had read the Ruhnama, promoted by the Turkman state as equal to the Qur’an. Paul Theroux read it once: 'Turkmenbashi would have to promise more than Heaven for me to read it two more times', 5:D - Human rights groups classified it as a deliberate attempt to dumb down the population to prevent dissent, 6:A - In 2002 Niyazov changed the names of all 12 months, with April becoming 'Gurbansoltan' after his mother. He also retitled bread and the year 2004 in her honour. Niyazov's successor, Berdimuhammedov, reinstated the old names of the months in 2008 , 7:A, 8:C - Though Berdymukhamedov's bodyguards searched people exiting the stadium to make sure they had no footage of his fall, a video was made public and quickly racked up views on social media. According to AFP, several dozen people were arrested on suspicion of trying to smuggle the clip out of Turkmenistan, while access to Russian social networks was halted and the internet slowed, 9:B - Our Pride and Glory is the title of Berdymukhamedov's popular tribute to the Akhal-Teke horse breed; he was declared Man of the Year in 2010 and 2017. The president is also referred to by state media as Arkadag, meaning 'protector', 10:A - The change means there are no limits on the number of terms Berdymukhamedov can run for, effectively allowing him to rule for life, 11:B - 'It’s disappointing that even with all the facilities provided, you could not justify the trust of the motherland,' Berdymukhamedov told the sports committee chief in an angry exchange broadcast on state television. Turkmenistan has never won any Olympic medals, 12:A - State media broadcast the footage of Berdymukhamedov wearing a commando outfit and sunglasses months after he won 98% of the popular vote in February's election , 13:A

Scores

1. 12 and above.

   Are you, by any chance, the president of Turkmenistan?

2. 11 and above.

   Well done!

3. 10 and above.

   Well done!

4. 9 and above.

   Well done!

5. 8 and above.

   Over half!

6. 7 and above.

   Over half!

7. 6 and above.

   Not bad!

8. 5 and above.

   Not bad!

9. 4 and above.

   Could be better...

10. 3 and above.

    Could be better...

11. 2 and above.

    Hmm...

12. 0 and above.

    Hmm...

13. 1 and above.

    Hmm...

We’re eager to hear your thoughts and experiences. Do you live in one of the Stans cities, or have you spent time there? Follow us on Facebook and share stories and pictures using #SecretStans on Twitter and Instagram