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The State: The Independent Türkmen state was founded after 600 years. The significance of today's Türkmen State can be understood
better when examined from a historical perspective. When the period in which Türkmens lived without a state is compared with
today, it is seen that the state is the only principle that unites the people.
The state is responsible to each citizen and ensures the creation of conditions for the free development of each personality.
The life, honour, dignity and freedom, personal inviolability, and the natural and inalienable rights of the citizen are protected.
The fundamental feature of our state is its being a nation-state. This trait can be understood better when compared with
the Soviets who ruled us for 70 years. Soviet domination worked to keep the Türkmens, who are the real owners of this land,
backward rather than to make the country develop and progress. The Soviets did not only exploit the natural resources of Türkmen
for their sake and the sake of others but also tried to annihilate completely the national and moral values of the Türkmens.
The state guarantees the freedom of belief and worship for all religions and their equality before the law. Religious
organizations are separate from the state and are not permitted to interfere in state affairs. The state educational system
is separated from religious organizations and is of a secular nature.
The state is the essence of the national spirit. That is why the nation state is the realization of the moral and spiritual
values that belong to the nation and a symbol of the combination of unity with political will.
The high spiritual dynamics which belong to the nation have become whole in the state. The natural catastrophes which
hit the Türkmens in the last few centuries occurred because such high and spiritual values had not come together. To serve
the state is to strengthen the internal dynamics that belong to the nation. Serving the state guarantees the present and future
of the whole nation.
The nation-state is the historical method of realizing the essence of the national outlook. By means of a nation-state
the values belonging to a nation are integrated. Such integration regulates national life historically and gives it direction.
Establishing a nation-state is the expression of a nation's respect for its history and its trust in the future. A nation
state cannot be like a tree which has been brought from a different country and climate and re-planted and which does not
flourish but dies because it is unable to adapt to the new climate. On the contrary, it must be born and bred in the soil
of this land, rooted deeply in it, and stretching up into its sky. It is certain that imitation does not yield positive results
in any field, and the dangers of imitation for the interests, benefit and the future of the people and nation are of an enormous
scale and dimension.
I want to emphasize seven elements which can damage the progress of the state:
First element: unqualified officials
Second element: the spread of tribal and sectarian consciousness
Third element: disagreements between people and tribes
Fourth element: religious and sectarian conflicts
Fifth element: disagreements with neighbouring countries
Sixth element: domestic turmoil
Seventh element: the effects of natural catastrophes.
Saparmurat Niyazov "Ruhnama"
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