WORKERS IN TURKMENISTAN will be carrying out mandatory exercises as part of the country’s Month of Health and Happiness.
The BBC reports that people have been ordered to exercise as part of the country’s official campaign to promote healthy living.
Activities range from communal jogs and bike rides to horse racing – a personal favourite of the prime minister – and group calisthenics by civil servants before work in the morning.
Turkmenistan, located in central Asia, is described as one one of the world’s most repressive countries – with no free press and opportunity for international scrutiny or accountability.
Its citizens are subjected to heavy State control and repression and personal freedoms are limited.
The media is completely State-controlled and has been broadcasting footage of large groups of citizens exercising outside of their offices in the capital Ashgabat as well as around the country.
President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow – an avid sports fan who controls all aspects of public life in the country – promoted the month as part of a “wise and far-sighted” policy to encourage healthy living in citizens, according the government’s website.
Footage of citizens exercising can be viewed on the US-funded website Radio Liberty.
According to the website, participants in any events attended by the president must show up hours before the event begins and rehearsals would have begun as far back as 25 days before the event was scheduled to start.
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