Turkmenistan lies on the southern edge of Central Asia next to Iran. It is one of the most repressive countries in the world, with a dictatorship that has no free media or open political process.

It is ruled over by Serdar Berdymukhamedov, who inherited the presidency from his father, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, in 2022.

In its 2024 report on Turkmenistan, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said all basic rights were repressed and torture in prison was rife.

“Recent political reforms have only deepened authoritarian rule,” it said.

Mr Berdymukhamedov Snr has been president of Turkmenistan since 2007. Before him, the country was led by a dentist who had built a golden statue of himself that rotated to face the sun throughout the day.

Known for both his eccentricity and his diverse pastimes, Mr Berdymukhamedov Snr’s hobbies included producing rap videos with his grandson, performing doughnuts in a rally car and leading his government cabinet through gym workouts – all filmed for mainstream Turkmen TV channels.

In 2018, Mr Berdymukhamedov Snr banned all cars except for white and silver ones because he thought black cars were unlucky and decided that they ruined his vision of his white-marbled city gleaming in the sun.