The infamously insane Turkmen president, Turkmenbashi is dead.
Report: Turkmen president diesASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (Reuters)—Turkmenistan’s President-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov had died, state television said on Thursday. Niyazov had been in power in his reclusive Central Asian state, the second largest natural gas producer in the former Soviet Union, since 1985. There was no designated successor and Niyazov’s death raises concerns about the transfer of power in the country, with foreign oil and gas companies sizing up opportunities for investment. Niyazov’s health had been a top secret in Turkmenistan where he went by the title Turkmenbashi (Head of the Turkmen) the Great. “Turkmenbashi the Great has died,” said a news presenter on state television.
This is big news for Central Asia. With no apparent successor and giant energy reserves, this is something to watch very carefully. It also seems Registan has beaten us to the punch and they have more. The question is what will happen next? Will Turkmenistan’s policies finally become more stable? One thing is certain, things are unlikely to get much better. With a generation of kleptocrats already raised and in government, there won’t be any pro-western leaders or colored revolutions.
Readers, what are your predictions for the future of Turkmenistan?
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ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » Looking ahead at Central Asia
December 21, 2006
12:21 pm
Dan tdaxp
December 21, 2006
12:44 pm
Jason
December 21, 2006
12:57 pm
Chirol
December 21, 2006
12:59 pm
Durf
December 22, 2006
2:19 am
"I predict pain!" --Mr. T
Seriously, though, a power vacuum in resource-rich Central Asia? What could go wrong?
snow
December 22, 2006
3:59 am
von Kaufman-Turkestansky
December 27, 2006
7:34 pm
http://en.rian.ru/world/20061227/57919902.html
Opposition preparing "flour" revolution in Turkmenistan
13:59 27/ 12/ 2006
MOSCOW, December 27 (RIA Novosti) - The leader of Turkmenistan's United Democratic Opposition, currently based in Norway, proposed Wednesday sending a trainload of flour to Turkmenistan and carrying out a "flour" revolution in the republic.
President-for-Life Saparmurat Niyazov died at 66 of heart failure last Thursday. During his rule, the eccentric leader erected golden statues to himself, named a meteorite in his name, and decreed that his quasi-Islamic precepts, under the title of Ruhnama, be the nation's guiding principal.
"The opposition is going to dispatch to Turkmenistan a train of flour to support the republic's starving people," Avdy Kuliyev said over the phone.
He said the leaders of opposition movements, who have fled overseas to escape persecution at home, could follow the train and return to Turkmenistan.
"This will be the start of our 'flour' revolution," Kuliyev, who was foreign minister in late President Saparmurat Niyazov's government in the early 1990s, said but added that the opposition's intentions are peaceful.
The opposition borrowed the name in association with the "orange revolution" and "rose revolution" in other former Soviet republics, Ukraine and Georgia, which brought West-leaning governments to power in 2004 and 2003.
Kuliyev said Turkmenistan suffers from a constant lack of bread and flour, which are the main products for the most residents in the current dire economic conditions.
Turkmenistan's opposition earlier nominated Khudaiberdy Orazov, its leader and a former deputy prime minister, as a presidential candidate, who said the opposition will seek democracy in Turkmenistan by all means, including a possible coup. Orazov is wanted in Turkmenistan on embezzlement charges.