| Summary: | "I am in Turkmenistan, one of the worst dictatorships in the world. All the footage that you will see was smuggled out of the country after I was deported." "Turkmenistan" conveys the director's experiences in a country reigned by intimidation and fear. All of the people interviewed for the film refused to have their names mentioned or their faces shown explaining that the repercussions of openly expressing dissent could be severe. Turkeminstan's leader of 20 years, Saparmurat Turkmenbashi, has been consistently cutting off Turkmen society from the rest of the world, destroying political opposition, free media, etc. His internal policies has also been highly controversial. Turkmenistan refuses to recognize university degrees earned outside the country, which has resulted in massive loss of jobs and discouraged Turkemen nationals currently studying abroad from ever returning home. Although the country's capital, Ashkhabad is currently a massive construction site replete with sumptuous palaces and monuments (for example,a collosal gold statue made of the president that turns after the sun and similar extravagancies), the country is plagued by endemic poverty. Symptomatic of the dire economic situation and of the dictatorial essence of the Niyazov's regime is his recent edict abolishing the pensions for senior citizens, which has placed thousands on the verge of death by starvation.
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