AKIPRESS.COM - Turkmenistan has unveiled a grandiose gold-leafed statue of the president carrying a dove and riding atop a horse — a move aimed at burnishing the leader's burgeoning personality cult, reports AP.

The 21-meter monument presented to the public Monday in the energy-rich but isolated Central Asian nation includes a statue of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov mounted on a towering pile of marble.

Officials insist the new statue in the capital of Ashgabat was built in response to overwhelming public demand.

"My main goal is to serve the people and the Motherland. And so, I will listen to the opinion of the people and do as they choose," Berdimuhamedov said in 2014, responding to the statue proposal.

Berdimuhamedov won the presidential election in 2012 with a landslide 97 percent in a vote criticized by election monitors.