Odd News: Changes to Turkmenistan’s national anthem

The president of Turkmenistan has decided to change the words of its national anthem to remove any mention of former leader Saparmurat Niyazov. During his reign as leader of the country, Niyazov built up a huge personality cult, covering up his insane laws and abuses. Now that he is dead, the country’s new president, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, has decided to change things, including the national anthem. Formerly, Niyazov was mentioned three times in the anthem. All of these mentions will be changed to “the people.” The new version has yet to be published in Turkmenistan and state broadcasts still feature the old lyrics.

This decision comes just a few months after Berdymukhamedov (that name is a pain) ended Niyazov’s law banning opera. It’s so much easier than trying to change anything like that here, where people talk about tradition and how things can’t be changed, even if they already have been changed from their original form.

Photo via Wikipedia