Finnish documentary calls for corporate responsibility in human rights in Turkmenistan

Translations of Turkmenistan leader's book seen to shore up dictator's grip on country

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By Harri Uusitorppa
     
      Shadow of the Holy Book, a documentary by Finnish film director Arto Halonen, has been chosen from among 3,500 entries to take part in the main competition series at the Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival.
      The documentary, which premieres in late November, tells about the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan, whose human rights situation is seen to have been made worse by foreign corporations operating in the country commissioning the translation of a propaganda book which boosted the powerful position of the country's dictator.
      The main financier of the 1.5 hour documentary is the US TV channel ITVS, which specialises in documentaries, and which says that the film will reach "between 10 and 20 million households, or 27 to 54 million viewers".
     
"I do not believe that a single Finnish documentary has received as wide distribution", says Halonen, as he showed the trailer of Shadow of the Holy Book in Helsinki.
      Also taking part in the financing of the film, with a budget of EUR 450,000, are four European television channels. Shadow of the Holy Book will get its premiere in Finnish cinemas in February.
      Halonen got the topic for the documentary from a series of reportages published in Helsingin Sanomat, written by Kaius Niemi and Hannes Heikura, detailing the personality cult surrounding Sapamurat Niyazov, the President and dictator of Turkmenistan, and about the "holy" book Ruhnama, which is claimed to have been written by him. Forcing schoolchildren to read the book has led to a collapse in the country's educational system.
     
Sometimes called the Kuwait of the Caspian Sea, Turkmenistan is a former Soviet republic with five million inhabitants, which became independent in 1991, and which has considerable gas and oil reserves.
      " Ruhnama is a symbol and tool of a distorted power system, whose translation has allowed large corporations to do business with Turkmenistan", Halonen says.
      The book has been translated into about 40 languages, including English, Spanish, French, Finnish, German, Turkish, and Russian.
      In his documentary, which he has produced at a low profile for three years, Halonen and the other scriptwriter, US citizen Kevin Frazier, who lives in Finland, try to get a chance to speak with the multinationals who took part in the translation of the book, and to ask about their moral responsibility.
     
Niyazov, the "father and leader of all Turkmens", who has had gaudy palaces and golden statues erected for himself, used the translations as a way of consolidating his power by quoting letters from the companies on the television that is under his control.
      In the documentary, Frazier makes hundreds of telephone calls and tries to find someone who might say why the various companies commissioned translations of Ruhnama. However, all of the calling and travelling - the documentary has been shot in locations including Germany, Turkey, France and the United States - was frustrating. Almost.
     
Nearly a year ago Halonen and Frazier experienced a new setback. Niyazov died on December 21st, and half of the foundation fell out from underneath the documentary project.
      "It was a shock, but we understood soon that we have a larger story before us: perhaps the country will become democratised, perhaps the dissidents that we interviewed can return home from exile", Halonen says.
      "However, now it seems that no significant social changes have taken place."
      The new President Gurbanguli Berdymuhamedov, who was elected in February, getting 90 per cent of the vote, first met with EU leaders in Brussels on Monday.
      Halonen and Frazier sent him an open letter yesterday expressing the hope that "the status of book Ruhnama and the distorted praise and business structures linked with it would be dismantled, which would work as a symbol for the democratisation process of all of Turkmenistan."
     
Halonen's company Art Films also opened a website on Monday, www.freedomforsale.org, with the purpose of informing, investigating and monitoring human rights and the activities of corporations.
      The first target country of the website is Turkmenistan, and Shell Oil is the first target company. The chairman of the board of Shell, former Nokia CEO Jorma Ollila, was invited to the press conference but did not show up.
      Shell long held negotiations on a project for a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan, but pulled out of the project. The former head of Turkmenistan's state bank, who was interviewed for the film, says that the likely reason was that the requested bribe - 500 million US dollars - was "apparently too large".
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 6.11.2007


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish company to translate book of Turkmenistan dictator into Finnish (24.11.2004)

Links:
  FreedomForSale website: Target country : Turkmenistan

HARRI UUSITORPPA / Helsingin Sanomat