Ashgabat, capital of Turkmenistan, stops the world record for the highest concentration of buildings clad in white marble: in 2013 (the latest year for which official data is available) there were 543 of them over an area of approximately 4.5 square kilometres. Ashgabat also has the highest number of fountains in a public space: the Ashgabat Fountain alone, on the road from the airport to the city, consists of 27 synchronized fountains. Also in this city is the world‘s largest indoor Ferris wheel, a nearly 50-metre-tall structure that cost the equivalent of around 64 million euros, in addition to the unusual record set by the largest building in the world in the shape of a star: It is the headquarters of the Turkmen National Television and is built in glass.
The reason for all these records is that the former dictator of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, has always had an obsession with the Guinness World Record, the organization which has been collecting and certifying world records since 1955, publishing them in the well-known annual catalogue. At least fifteen records are by him and coherently with his character, they are bizarre records and often born from his personal habits or predilections, as well as being much criticised.
Turkmenistan has been an independent former Soviet republic since 1991. Berdymukhamedov, who is 65 years old, was its president from 2006 to 2022, when his son Serdar succeeded him, following elections that were neither free nor transparent, which have been described as a “dynastic succession”. Turkmenistan is one of the least free countries in the world and the Berdymukhamedov regime is considered one of the most repressive regimes in existence, with near total control of the press and television, intimidation of foreign envoys in the country and arbitrary removal of judges from their posts, among the other things.
What has attracted attention over the years, however, was above all the extreme personalism that characterized the regime of Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who on several occasions modeled rules, customs and even national recurrences on his personal and bizarre personal tastes. Among other things, he instituted a national holiday dedicated to his favorite breed of dog, the alabai, and banned all Turkmen from dyeing their hair after he stopped doing it.
Former Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov gives an alabai dog to Russian President Vladimir Putin (EPA/ALEXEI DRUZHININ / SPUTNIK / KREMLIN POOL via ANSA)
Another of Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov’s predilections concerns the Guinness Book of Records. To this obsession of his – but also to some of his predecessor Saparmurat Niyazov, not very different from him – we owe the architecture of the capital Ashgabat and beyond.
On the Guinness Book of Records website there are at least 14 records attributable to the government of Turkmenistan. Some of these are particularly bizarre: in addition to the star-shaped architecture also «the biggest gul», won by the Turkmen government in 2016. The “gul” is a medallion-like design element that is very present in traditional Turkmenistan textures and graphics. One reason the record is particularly unique is that being so local and typical of Turkmen culture it is very unlikely that there was any real competition to win it.
Another particularly strange record is that of the «ten meters faster traveled by a horse on its hind legs only», won in 2018: the horse that won it in just over 4 seconds, Akhan, was owned by Berdimuhamedov himself. Another record, the video of which circulated a lot in 2015, was that of the «largest choir in the world»: over 4,000 people were gathered to sing a song written by Berdimuhamedov himself and entitled “Forward only forward, my dear country Turkmenistan”.
Berdimuhamedov’s obsession with the Guinness Book of Records has obviously attracted a lot of criticism as well. One of those who had more visibility was that of the English comedian John Oliver, who in 2019, in the satirical show Last Week Tonight, had criticized the Guinness Book of Records organization’s trade relations with the regime of the former Turkmen president. According to Oliver, Guinness had begun to sell these titles to the highest bidder without too much seriousness in the selection, and indeed taking the opportunity to earn a lot thanks to dictators who wanted to give visibility to their regimes, thus contributing to their propaganda.
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