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Future uncertain for Turkmenistan with Niyazov dead

By Erik Albrecht Dec 21, 2006, 18:38 GMT

 

 

 

A file photograph showing President of Turkmenistan, Saparmurad Niyazov,

generally called Turkmenbashy, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Thursday 02 November

2006. Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov, who ruled the gas-rich

Central Asian country for 21 years, has died aged 66, state television has

reported. EPA/PEER GRIMM

 

 

Moscow - Saparmurat Niyazov created a Turkmenistan that resembled a tale out of

the 1,001 Nights. Naming himself the 'Turkmenbashi' (Father of all Turkmen), he

was the subject of a personality cult rivalling only that of North Korea's Kim

Jong Il.

 

In the Independence Square of the capital city of Ashkhabad, a golden

95-metre-tall statue of Niyazov turns to follows the sun so that a shadow never

falls on the dictator's face.

 

Following the death of the 66-year-old Niyazov on Thursday morning of heart

failure, the future of his Stalinist Disneyland is uncertain.

 

And as Turkmenistan has the third largest gas reserves in the world, a possible

power struggle there could endanger energy deliveries to Europe.

 

So far the country's security council has transferred all powers to the Deputy

Premier Gurbanguly Berdimukhammedov, and in the old Soviet tradition he is

organizing Niyazov's funeral.

 

Whether the succession question has thus been decided remains open.

 

The isolated country was too strongly tied to the Turkmenbashi. Russian

political observers say everything from a smooth transition to civil war is

possible.

 

According to rumours, the army has been set at the highest state of readiness.

 

Trained as an engineer, Niyazov was born in 1940 and witnessed the breakup of

the Soviet Union as the head of the Communist Party of Turkmenistan. With

independence in 1990, he moved seamlessly into the chief of state in the new

Turkmenistan.

 

While elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, there were signs of the spread of

democracy, Niyazov in 1992 had himself confirmed as leader in a communist-style

presidential election that gave him 99.5 per cent of the vote.

 

Since 1999, he has governed as president for life.

 

The despot not only set up monuments and portraits to himself throughout his

realm, but in 2001 he revealed to his subjects his very own bible - 'the

Ruhnama' - the knowledge of which is required even for a driver's license.

 

In March in Turkmenistan - where only a small elite enjoy the immense profits

from the country's gas and oil riches - Niyazov announced that he had personally

requested from God that everyone who read the Ruhnama three times would be

accepted into paradise.

 

Niyazov's self-importance did not stop at the Turkmen language. The 'Father of

all Turkmen' altered the names of the months and days of the week according to

his personal wises.

 

January was officially named after himself, March after his mother, and the rest

of the months after persons and events from the history of Turkmenistan - which

according to the teachings of the 'holy' Ruhnama, is one of history's most

important centres of civilization.

 

The Turkmen state television ceased regularly scheduled programming Thursday

morning at the announcement of Niyazov's death.

 

Since then, they have broadcast a continual litany of praise for the late

dictator. The synchronized newspapers stopped all press runs as well, and new

memorial editions are to appear this evening.

 

With the millions of dollars from the oil and gas business, Niyazov was able to

turn Turkmenistan into a totalitarian police state.

 

An opposition exists entirely among emigres to Western Europe. One opposition

leader could only reply succinctly to the news of the dictator's death by saying

there would be a meeting 'somewhere in Europe.'

 

The burial of the Turkmenbashi is to take place on December 24 in his birthplace

of Kipchak, in a self-designated mausoleum next to the largest mosque in Central

Asia that he himself had ordered built.

 

 

© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

 

" Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England,

nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the

leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter

to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship,

or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. ... Voice or no voice, the people

can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have

to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for

lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any

country. "

- General Herman Goering, President of German Reichstag & Nazi Party, Commander

of Luftwaffe