If you happen to be in downtown Ashgabat — the capital of Turkmenistan — you might notice something new.

There is now a 69-foot statue of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov riding a golden horse atop a cliff of white marble in the center of town, The Guardian reports.

Berdymukhamedov, who has run the country since 2006 as a dictatorship, says he commissioned the statue at the people's behest.

Berdymukhamedov during a photo opportunity at an official visit to the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva on October 9, 2012. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse "My main goal is to serve the people and the motherland," Berdymukhamedov said in 2014, in response to the proposal to honour him with a statue, The Guardian reports. "And so, I will listen to the opinion of the people and do as they choose."

Berdymukhamedov, 57, is accused of presiding over one of the most pervasive personality cults in the world, rivaling that of North Korea, according to The Washington Post.

CNN says a US Embassy cable in 2009 described Berdymukhamedov as "vain, suspicious, guarded, strict, very conservative, a practiced liar, 'a good actor,' and vindictive."

Turkmenistan. Commons The statue itself recalls the Bronze Horsemen in St. Petersburg — meant to honor Peter the Great — and reinforces Berdymukhamedov's self-fashioned title of "Arkadag" or "protector" of Turkmenistan. The former dentist was the minister of health under President Saparmurat Niyazov and has kept many of his predecessor's isolationist policies in place.

Turkmenistan — a gas-rich desert nation — has no free media, allows its citizens little foreign travel, has closed many hospitals outside the capital, and has banned the opera and the circus, The Guardian says.

When CNN visited Turkmenistan earlier this year, it reported that in the streets of Ashgabat "shops are nowhere to be seen; nor adverts for international brands. Even people are hard to come by.

"We'd been on Turkmenistan soil for 30 seconds when we glimpsed our first Berdymukhamedov portrait," CNN reporter Amanda Davies added. "It took just 10 minutes from exiting the airport to be told: 'You can't film that.'"

Turkmenistan ranks 178 out of 180 countries — ahead of Eritrea and North Korea — in the 2015 World Press Freedom Index.

Niyazov had also built a large golden statue of himself, which Berdymukhamedov promptly had moved to the edge of town when he came to power.

Newlywed Turkmen in front of a statue of President Saparmurat Niyazov in Ashgabat on December 28, 2002. Reuters The Guardian says Berdymukhamedov is fond of horseback riding and has written a book about horses. At the unveiling of the statue on Monday, Berdymukhamedov compared Turkmenistan to a horse.

"Our country is moving forward with the speed of an Akhal-Teke stallion (a famous Turkmen breed of horse) and I call on you all to move forward and only forward," he said, according to The Guardian.

The Washington Post says that in 2012, Turkmen Parliament bestowed the title of "national horse-breeder of Turkmenistan" upon Berdymukhamedov.

The Guardian's Shaun Walker notes that ironically, there is a video on YouTube of Berdymukhamedov's falling off a horse during a race in 2013 to mark "The Day of the Horse" — an official holiday in Turkmenistan.