For the past few years, Columbia U has been having a ‘World Leaders Forum,’ in which various presidents, prime ministers, and other VIPs come speak and have a Q&A with students and faculty. I’ve signed up to go hear Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, the president of Turkmenistan, next week. I feel like I should go in with some good questions, although I’m sure there will be people there who know much more about the region than I do. What would you ask him? I know a little about his megalomaniacal predecessor, but very little about the current guy.
Of course, what I really want is a month named after me, but I’m sure he’d rather name one for his wife or some other undeserving person
Well, being as how I am one of those annoying people who never does what people expect, I would be inclined to ask him something like “what’s your favorite type of music?” It actually is a question that can give insight into a person’s personality while still being a bit on the quirky side
Dear President Berdymukhammedov: How old were you before you could spell that ridiculous name? Are you at all certain, even today, that you get it right most of the time?
I’d ask him why, when he was Minister of Health, he carried out a bizarre order from the dictatorial former president to close hospitals outside of Turkmenistan’s capital city.
Does he know that one of his former buddies is funneling money to Americans via email?
Can he locate his county on a world map? Can he name the capitals of all the states and name the states while pointing to a map of the United States? They seem to think Americans should be able to do that for all the new country names in Europe and Asia.
What are your plans for improving the human rights situation in Turkmenistan? Do you plan on forcing an investigation in the death of Ogulsapar Muradova, the human rights activist who was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment in 2006 and died in prison shortly afterwards? Do you plan on releasing prisoners of conscience in your prisons? Will you give the International Red Cross access to prisoners?
Is the book written by former president-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov, Ruhnama, still treated as a holy book? Is it still used as part of the curriculum in high schools?
But, expecting a Turkmen to be able to name all the states in the USA would be like expecting an American to be able to name and place on a map all the provinces in Turkmenistan.
