The Day of Remembrance () is an official holiday of Turkmenistan, commemorating those who were killed in the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake on 6 October 1948. It is one of two mourning days in

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

(the other being

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

Background

It caused extreme damage and a high number of casualties in the city.

Saparmurat Niyazov Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov; tk, Saparmyrat Ataýewiç Nyýazow, in Cyrillic: Сапармырат Атаевич Ныязов (19 February 1940 – 21 December 2006), also known as Turkmenbashi, was a Turkmen politician who rule ...

, who would later become the first

President of Turkmenistan The president of Turkmenistan ( tk, Türkmenistanyň prezidenti), officially the president and chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, is the head of state and head of government of Turkmenistan. The president is also the supreme c ...

, was the only member of his family to survive the earthquake, which killed two of his brothers and as well as his mother. His mother

Gurbansoltan Eje Gurbansoltan Eje ("Mother of Gurbansoltan"; born 1913 in Gypjak, Turkmenistan; died 6 October 1948 in Ashgabat during the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake) was the mother of Turkmenistan's first post-Soviet president Saparmurat Niyazov ("Türkmenbaşy"). ...

later became part of the

cult of personality A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create an id ...

in Niyazov's presidency. The earthquake so claimed the life of Berdymukhamed Annaev, grandfather of

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow Gurbanguly Mälikgulyýewiç Berdimuhamedow (born 29 June 1957), also known as Arkadag (Cyrillic: Аркадаг, "protector"), is a Turkmen politician who served as the second president of Turkmenistan from 2006 to 2022. A dentist by profes ...

, the current President. Due to

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

of the tragedy by the

Communist Party of Turkmenistan The Communist Party of Turkmenistan (russian: Коммунистическая партия Туркменистана; tk, Türkmenistanyň Kommunistik Partiýasy) was the ruling communist party of the Turkmen SSR, and a part of the Communis ...

and the government of the

Turkmen SSR Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to: Peoples Historical ethnonym * Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages Ethnic groups * Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...

, the event was not widely reported in the national media in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. Aid to victims, as well as restoration of infrastructure was provided by the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

, with many victims being sent to the neighboring republics of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

and

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

Commemorations

The country officially began to observe this holiday in 1995. The national memorial ceremony is held at the

Halk Hakydasy Memorial Complex Halk Hakydasy Memorial Complex (People's Memory) is a memorial complex to the honor of those killed in the Battle of Geok Tepe in 1881, in World War II, and in the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake. It is in the southwestern part of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan ...

, attended by

. The leaders of the Assembly of Turkmenistan and members of the

Cabinet of Ministers A cabinet is a body of high-ranking state officials, typically consisting of the executive branch's top leaders. Members of a cabinet are usually called cabinet ministers or secretaries. The function of a cabinet varies: in some countries ...

lay flowers at the monument. Ceremony participants observe a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the earthquake. The only ceremony in which the president did not attend was the 55th anniversary in 2003, during which President Niyazov had the common cold. Ceremonies are also held in different regions of the country. For example, the 2010 ceremony was held in

Gypjak Gypjak (also known as Kipchak) is a former village that was annexed into the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat in 2013. It is now a neighborhood in Bagtyýarlyk Borough of Ashgabat. Overview The neighborhood is known as having been the home village o ...

. Other memorial actions, particularly prayers and Sadaqah are done in memory of those who died. National flags are traditionally lowered to halfmast in the capital of

Ashgabat Ashgabat or Asgabat ( tk, Aşgabat, ; fa, عشق‌آباد, translit='Ešqābād, formerly named Poltoratsk ( rus, Полтора́цк, p=pəltɐˈratsk) between 1919 and 1927), is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies ...

as well as in the

Provinces of Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is divided into five regions or ''welaýatlar'' (singular '' welaýat'') and one capital city (''şäher'') with provincial legal status. They are Ahal, Balkan, Dashoguz, Lebap and Mary, plus the capital city of Ashgabat. Each provi ...

. All national TV channels show documentaries and newsreels of the earthquake.

References

{{Reflist Observances in Turkmenistan Public holidays in Turkmenistan