Dictators with literary aspirations seem to be all too dismayingly common. Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov joins the likes of Saddam and others in pushing his efforts on his people.
Speaking last Tuesday, Sinelnikov insisted that the proposal was sincereand based on an appreciation of Niyazov's poetry. A translator of poetry from the Kyrgyz, Tajik and Georgian languages, Sinelnikov said that he understands a little Turkmen and has read some of Niyazov's poems.
"There's no doubt that he's a real poet," he said. "He's a real master of poetry. [He has written] some very heartfelt poems about his mother, whom he lost early, about the fate of the country, about history. First of all, they are very emotional poems, and secondly, they are masterfully written."
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