(Read full article on azathabar.com)

Turkmen authorities have stepped up efforts to create a personality cult for new President Serdar Berdymukhammedov. An unofficial poetry competition to exalt the new head of state has been announced in the Balkan velayat. The authorities promise the winners of the competition “big gifts”. Radio Azatlyk correspondent reports this from the western region.

According to state employees who talked with our correspondent, the velayat departments of education and culture announced the poetry contest orally.

“The poets who wrote laudatory verses about Arkadaglu Serdar are promised great rewards and generous prizes for the “best poem”. They say that the khyakim of the velayat will personally present the award and prizes to the most skillful poet,” a cultural worker, who wished not to be named, said on April 19.

What awards promise the winners of the competition is still unknown, our interlocutor noted, adding that “the winners have not yet been identified.”