TURKMENISTAN: BIG TOP IN ASHGABAT TO MAKE A COMEBACK

Eurasia Insight
es/eav080309b.shtml
8/03/09

Citing popular demand, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov is bringing
back the circus to Ashgabat.

"This popular kind of art has good traditions in Turkmenistan,"
the semi-official Turkmenistan.ru quoted Berdymukhamedov as saying
on August 1. The circus will be under the control of the Ministry
of Culture, Television and Radio Broadcasting, the report added. In
January, the Turkish firm EFOR secured an $18 million contract to
renovate the circus building in Ashgabat. The building was built
in 1985.

Many forms performing arts, including ballet and opera, were banned
under former president Saparmurat Niyazov.