Turkmenistan's 'Year of the Mother'

The parliament in Turkmenistan has declared that the year 2003 is dedicated to the late mother of President Saparmurat Niyazov.

A resolution described Gurbansoltan Niyazova as "the mother of the first and eternal president of Turkmenistan."

The month of April has already been renamed after Gurbansoltan who died with two of her sons in an earthquake in 1948.

The future president was eight when his mother was killed, and had already lost his father during World War II.

He spent the rest of his childhood in an orphanage.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service