Turkmen show business celebrities simultaneously started denouncing those who reported President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov’s death and called on their followers not to believe the rumours by posting relevant videos with the hash tag #duryalan (stop lies) in Instagram.
A local comedian Yashy Goshunov recorded an address urging people to love their home country and cursed the slanderers.
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Yalan tóhmetlere ynanmalyñ! #duryalan
A post shared by Yagshy_Show (@yagshy_goshunov) on Jul 26, 2019 at 8:59am PDT
“Our Motherland is like a doll and may we always hear children laugh.Let us be proud of our Motherland.Let the slanderers be rooted out mercilessly!
Long live our dear President who has led us to this happy epoch!”, Turkmen news quotes the translated appeal.
A female singer Selbi Tuvakgylydzhova recorded a similar video clip.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0YdxkAixik/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
“False reports have been circulating on the Internet these days but I hope that you do not believe them and I am hopeful that you do not support them.
May Allah protect our people and the President from the motherland’s enemies”, Radio “Azatlyk” quoted Tuvakgylydzhova.
Other celebrities from Turkmenistan made similar appeals and statements.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0ZSkRzHB4n/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
At the same time, the pro-government media outlet Orient published a report criticizing anonymous Telegram channels spreading “fake provocations”.
The article does not specify what provocation was implied but it appears that this refers to reports on the President’s death.The author of the publication shifted all the blame onto the Internet, which makes it possible to “lie easily disseminating false news around the globe”.
The social networks Instagram and Telegram Messenger are blocked in Turkmenistan.
It should be emphasized that until that moment there has been no response to reports on Berdymukhammedov’s alleged death by Turkmenistan’s authorities, except refutation by Turkmenistan’s Embassies.
Pursuant to the official version, the President is on annual leave until mid August.
On 24 July the state-run television showed the head of state in a broadcast but despite this, residents’ comments in the social networks voiced skepticism over the authenticity of the broadcast.
Many are convinced that the footage had been made earlier or that the video featured the President’s look-alike.
There is no evidence to prove this, but residents are perplexed by the lengthy absence of the President, who is usually very active in the various media even during his holidays.
On 21 July sources of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” reported that the President’s mother was in grave medical condition undergoing a course of treatment in Germany. We have failed to receive updated reports on her condition so far.