Both the AP and BBC report that Saparmurat Niazov’s has unveiled book-shaped building — gift to the country’s journalists on the fifteenth anniversary of independence — called the “House of Free Creativity” that is dedicated to free media and “aims to create a comfortable environment for journalists.” The building is to house the offices of the state-controlled press and will not, one would presume, be open to the small handful of independent Turkmen journalists still working in the country.
While the BBC briefly describes the grandeur of the new building, including mentioning that it glitters at night, the Turkmen government’s construction news page is more poetic about the Journalists’ Palace.
The adjacent territory including green tidy meadows, lawns with floral ornaments framed with a parapet from decorative shrubs and original reservoirs and fountains is perfectly combined with the landscape. The new palace for journalists monumentally rises among this picturesque magnificence against the blue sky and flowing clouds are reflected in its plate pages shining with noble gleam.
And that’s saying nothing of the “grandeur and solemn magnificence” of the interior.
The company behind the new structure is Bouygues, the French firm behind many of Turkmenistan’s grandiose construction projects. Martin Bouygues was, as reported by the Turkmen State News Agency, on hand for the opening of the building. Earlier, he secured a $90 million contract to build the Halk Maslahaty Palace, pictured below, in the capital. (More on that here.) Turkmenbashi also asked that plans for new projects such as a rug museum be drawn up by the company.
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aims to create a comfortable environment for journalists
So they won’t complain or say bad things about the government–coopt via bread and circus, as usual.
wow, i thought you were quoting an Onion piece at first.
I’m glad they don’t have any other issues than the state-run journalists feeling comfortable.
From whence do you think the Onion writers get their inspiration. Truth, as always, is stranger than fiction.
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