Lopez ‘ignorant’ of human rights abuse
A FORMER president of Turkmenistan built a giant gold statue of himself that revolved to face the sun. Saparmurat Niyazov also renamed the month of April after his mother and established a national holiday in honour of his favourite fruit, the melon.
Now his successor is building his own tragicomic personality cult – with a little help from Hollywood.
On Sunday, pop star Jennifer Lopez flew to Turkmenistan, donned traditional dress, and sang ‘‘Happy birthday, Mr President’’ to Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, a dentist by profession, who since 2006 has ruled what human rights campaigners say is one of the world’s most oppressive regimes.
Lopez is believed to be the first big Western star to visit the isolated former Soviet republic, known for its vast gas reserves and the bizarre behaviour of its totalitarian leaders.
Niyazov, who died in 2006, banned opera, long hair, gold teeth and makeup for TV presenters.
Berdymukhamedov’s countrymen are used to seeing him flying in fighter planes or removing tumours for the cameras.
Thor Halvorssen, of the Human Rights Foundation, said: ‘‘Lopez has the right to earn a living performing for the dictator of her choice, but her actions destroy the message she has cultivated with her prior involvement with Amnesty International’s programmes in Mexico aimed at curbing violence against women.’’
Lopez’s publicist confirmed that she had performed in Turkmenistan, but said that she had appeared at a ‘‘private corporate event’’ not a birthday party. He also indicated she may not have known about Turkmenistan’s human rights record.
The publicist said: ‘‘Had there been knowledge of human rights issues of any kind, Jennifer would not have attended.’’
The China National Petroleum Corporation, which organised her trip to Turkmenistan, ‘‘made a last-minute birthday greeting’’ request before Lopez went on stage. The song had not been stipulated in her contract but she agreed to do it.
Many of Turkmenistan’s five million people live in poverty despite it having the world’s fourthlargest gas reserves.
Lopez performed at the wedding of Azeri oligarch Telman Ismailov for a reported US$1.4m as well as for an Uzbek businessman in the Ukraine for $1m.