After reading Aida Akhmetova’s article “The Scale of a Nation Is the Scale of Its Purpose,” I felt more than just interest — I felt a deep inner response. This is a truly inspiring piece. It does not offer ready-made answers, but it raises the most important question — one that cannot be ignored: Who are we, and what is our purpose as a society? Aida explains that nations survive and develop only when they have a clear purpose. Not a superficial or imposed one, but a genuine, unifying purpose that gives meaning. At that moment, it becomes impossible not to draw a parallel with Turkmenistan. Today, the people of Turkmenistan live in conditions where a collective purpose has been effectively suppressed. People are deliberately kept in a state of survival, fragmentation, and fear. When individuals are not allowed to think about the future, they focus only on how to get through the day. When an entire nation lives like this, it becomes easy to turn it into a resource. But we are not a resource. We are a people with history, culture, and dignity — a people who have endured difficult times without losing their identity. Yet today, we face the same question raised in Aida’s article: Who are we on the map of meaning? What is Turkmenistan associated with today? With isolation? With restrictions on freedom? With the inability to obtain passports even abroad? With the absence of a voice? But this is not our essence. This is the result of a system in which the people have been deprived of purpose. As Aida accurately notes: When a nation has no purpose, it becomes a tool for those who do. This realization is especially painful when we look at the human rights situation in Turkmenistan — at the lives of people deprived of freedom of movement, at families separated by borders and restrictions, and at activists facing pressure and persecution. But this article is not only about criticism — it is also about hope. Because purpose can be restored. Purpose is not something granted by those in power. Purpose is something that emerges from within the people. For the people of Turkmenistan today, that purpose may be: — to restore dignity — to reclaim the right to a voice — to restore freedom of movement, family unity, and security — to build a society where a human being is not a tool, but a value We do not have to remain a nation perceived as a “closed territory.” We can become a nation that speaks, thinks, unites, and creates. That is why Aida Akhmetova’s article is not just a text for me. It is a reminder. A reminder that the scale of a nation is defined not by its territory or resources, but by its internal standards and the demands it places on itself. And the main question facing every citizen of Turkmenistan today is: Are we ready to remain divided and silent — or are we ready to become a nation with a purpose? Because the moment a people finds a shared purpose, it becomes impossible to suppress them or force them to live by meanings imposed from outside.
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