Memorial outshines one to late dictator

TURKMENISTAN plans to build a soaring £36 million monument in the capital, Ashgabat, that will outstrip anything built during the ostentatious rule of the late dictator Saparmurat Niyazov.

The 607ft monument will rise twice as high as Turkmenistan's record-holder – a tower topped by a golden statue of Niyazov that rotates to face the sun. Niyazov's statue will be moved from the city centre to the suburbs.

Since coming to power in early 2007, President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov has sought to integrate Turkmenistan into the international community and diminish his predecessor's legacy.

He indicated at a foundation-laying ceremony for the monument that it would mark a sign of transition. "This magnificent memorial complex will be an excellent symbol of a new era for Turkmenistan," he told the Neitralny Turkmenistan newspaper.