Niyazov's successor, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, is also a big horse fan, chairing a horse-breeders' union and having penned a book about the animals. He's ordered a monument to Fiery Mountain be built to make the Turkmen capital Ashgabat "look even better in the era of power and happiness", it was announced through the state news agency . Much of ex-President Niyazov's personality cult - involving a revolving gold statue and renamed months and days - has been dismantled. But under a different authoritarian leader, Turkmenistan remains impoverished and isolated. Reacting to the monument announcement, one reader of independent website Chrono wonders why nothing is being done to honour "victims of Niyazov's repressive rule".