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==Background == ==Background ==
{{Politics of Turkmenistan}} {{Politics of Turkmenistan}}
His father died while fighting against ] in ]. The other members of his family were killed in a massive earthquake that leveled ] in ]. He grew up in a ] orphanage before being the state put him in the custody of a distant relative. His father died while fighting against ] in ]. The other members of his family were killed in a massive earthquake that leveled ] in ]. He grew up in a ] orphanage before the state put him in the custody of a distant relative.


In ] Niyazov joined the ]. He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming head of what the ], which later became the ], in 1985. He gained this post after Soviet leader ] removed the previous leader, ], following a cotton-related scandal. Niyazov, as leader of the Turkmen SSR, supported the ] against Gorbachev in 1991{{fact}} and retained control of the country after the fall of the Soviet Union, becoming the first (and so far only) President of Turkmenistan. In ] Niyazov joined the ]. He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming head of what the ], which later became the ], in 1985. He gained this post after Soviet leader ] removed the previous leader, ], following a cotton-related scandal. Niyazov, as leader of the Turkmen SSR, supported the ] against Gorbachev in 1991{{fact}} and retained control of the country after the fall of the Soviet Union, becoming the first (and so far only) President of Turkmenistan.

Revision as of 21:58, 22 December 2006

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Saparmurat Niyazov
Saparmyrat Ataýewiç Nyýazow
File:Saparmurat Niyazov 9may2005.jpg
1st President of Turkmenistan
In office
June 21 1991 – December 21 2006
Preceded byNone (Position Created)
Succeeded byGurbanguly Berdymukhamedov (acting)
Personal details
BornFebruary 19 1940
Aşgabat
DiedDecember 21 2006
Aşgabat
Political partyDemocratic Party of Turkmenistan
Spouse(s)Muza Sokolova
Template:Lang-ru

Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov (IPA: [θɑːpɑːrmuːrɑːt niːjɑːðɒv]) (Template:Lang-tk) (born on February 19 1940 in Aşgabat, Turkmen SSR – died on December 21 2006) ruled Turkmenistan as the head of state from 1985 to 21 December 2006, when he died. He served as the First Secretary of the Turkmen Communist Party since 1985 until 1991, after which he served as the first President of Turkmenistan.

Niyazov and Turkmen media referred to him using the title "His Excellency Saparmurat Niyazov Türkmenbaşy, President of Turkmenistan and Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers". His title Türkmenbaşy, or Turkmenbashi, meaning Leader of all Ethnic Turkmens referred to his position as the founder and president of the Association of Turkmens of the World.

Foreign media criticized him as one of the world's most authoritarian and repressive dictators, giving him a reputation of imposing his personal eccentricities upon the country. Global Witness, a London-based human rights organization, reported that money under Niyazov's control and held overseas may be in excess of US$3 billion, of which $2 billion is supposedly situated in the Foreign Exchange Reserve Fund at Deutsche Bank in Germany.

Background

Politics of Turkmenistan

His father died while fighting against Nazi Germany in World War II. The other members of his family were killed in a massive earthquake that leveled Aşgabat in 1948. He grew up in a Soviet orphanage before the state put him in the custody of a distant relative.

In 1962 Niyazov joined the Communist Party. He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming head of what the Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR, which later became the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan, in 1985. He gained this post after Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev removed the previous leader, Muhammad Gapusov, following a cotton-related scandal. Niyazov, as leader of the Turkmen SSR, supported the coup against Gorbachev in 1991 and retained control of the country after the fall of the Soviet Union, becoming the first (and so far only) President of Turkmenistan.

Niyazov died on December 21, 2006 due to a heart attack.

Personality cult

I admit it, there are too many portraits, pictures and monuments. I don't find any pleasure in it, but the people demand it because of their mentality.

— Saparmurat Niyazov

Niyazov ruled as an authoritarian leader, nortious in the Western world for the personality cult he established around himself in Turkmenistan. Claiming Turkmenistan to be a nation devoid of a national identity, he attempted to rebuild the country to his own vision. He renamed the town of Krasnovodsk, on the Caspian Sea, Türkmenbaşy after himself, in addition to renaming several schools, airports and even a meteorite after himself and his immediate family. He even named the months, and days of the week after himself and his family; January becoming Turkmenbashi. Niyazov's face appears on Manat banknotes and large portraits of the president hang all over the country, especially on major public buildings and avenues. Statues of himself and his mother are scattered all over Turkmenistan, including one in the middle of the Karakum Desert as well as a gold-plated statue atop Aşgabat's largest building, the Neutrality Arch, that rotates so it will always face into the sun and shine light onto the capital city. Niyazov commissioned a massive palace in Aşgabat commemorating his rule. He was given the hero of Turkmenistan award five times. "I'm personally against seeing my pictures and statues in the streets — but it's what the people want," Niyazov said.

The education system indoctrinated young Turkmen to love Niyazov, with his works and speeches making up most of their textbooks' content. The primary text was a national epic written by Niyazov, the Ruhnama or Book of the Soul. This book, a mixture of revisionist history and moral guidelines, was intended as the "spiritual guidance of the nation" and the basis of the nation's arts and literature. With Soviet-era textbooks banned without being replaced by new publications, libraries are left with little more than Niyazov's works. In 2004, the dictator ordered the closure of all rural libraries on the grounds that he thought that village Turkmen do not read. In Niyazov's home village of Kipchak, a complex has been built to the memory of his mother, including a mosque (est. at US$100 million) conceived as a symbol of the rebirth of the Turkmen people. The walls of this edifice display precepts from the Ruhnama along with Qur'an suras. The Ruhnama was introduced to Turkmen culture in a gradual but eventually pervasive way. Niyazov first placed copies in the nation's schools and libraries but eventually went as far as to make an exam on it's teachings an element of the driving test.

In older pictures, Niyazov had white hair; at the time of his death, it was black.

Domestic policy

Economy

Turkmenistan has the second largest reserves in the gas-rich former Soviet Union, generating high revenue for the state. The government has used central planning, such as state control of production and procurement, direct bank credits with low interest rates, exchange rate restrictions, and price controls, since it existed as a Republic within the U.S.S.R.

In 1991 Niyazov's government decreed on "the free use of water, gas and electricity by the people of Turkmenistan." In reality, the population receives the lowest possible minimum wage and then the state distributes free water, gas and electricity. It has also been reported, following his death, that Niyazov may have exaggerated the size of Turkmenistan's reserves of natural gas and oversubscribed the sales to foriegn nations.

Culture

File:Nyyazow monument.JPG
The Neutrality Arch, atop the monument is a gold-plated statue of Niyazov which rotates 360 degrees every 24 hours so as to always face the sun.

President Niyazov put the revival of Turkmen culture as one of the top priorities in Turkmenistan's development. He introduced a new Turkmen alphabet based on the Latin alphabet to replace Cyrillic. Turkmen language is the state language. All names of months in Turkmenistan were changed from Roman to Turkmen representing famous Turkmen heroes, poets and state leaders.

Security

After an alleged assassination attempt against him on November 25 2002 the Turkmen authorities proceeded to arrest suspected conspirators and members of their families. Critics claim that the attempt was staged in order to crack down on mounting political opposition from inside the country and abroad.

The summer of 2004 saw a leaflet campaign in the capital, Aşgabat, calling for the overthrow and trial of Niyazov. The authorities were unable to stop the campaign and the President responded by firing his interior minister and director of the police academy on national television. He accused the minister of incompetence and declared: "I cannot say that you had any great merits or did much to combat crime."

In May 2000, the government revoked all Internet licenses except for the state-owned Turkmen Telecom and in June 2001 shut down all Internet cafés. By 2005, there were 36,000 Internet users, representing only 0.7% of the population.

Foreign policy

Niyazov was the main proponent of Turkmenistan's constitutional neutrality. Under this policy, Turkmenistan does not participate in any military alliance and does not contribute to United Nations monitoring forces.

Niyazov met with former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien to discuss an oil contract in Turkmenistan for a Canadian corporation in late 2004. In March 2005 news of this meeting caused an uproar amongst opposition circles in Canada, who claimed the affair could damage Chrétien's legacy.

Niyazov announced in 2005 that Turkmenistan would downgrade its links with the Commonwealth of Independent States. He furthermore promised free and fair elections by 2010 in a move that surprised many Western observers.

In 2006, the European Commission and the international trade committee of the European Parliament voted to grant Turkmenistan "most favored nation" trading status with the European Union, widely seen as motivated by interest in natural gas, after Niyazov announced he would enter a "human rights dialogue" with the EU.

Presidential decrees

As President-for-Life of Turkmenistan, he had issued many unconventional decrees, such as:

  • In April, 2001, banning ballet and opera, describing them as "Not a part of Turkmen culture"
  • In 2004, forbidding young men to have long hair or beards
  • In March 2004, dismissing 15,000 public health workers in wide-ranging cuts that particularly targeted nurses, midwives, school health visitors and orderlies
  • In April 2004, urging young people not to get gold tooth caps or gold teeth, suggesting instead that they chew on bones to preserve their teeth
  • In April 2004, ordering the construction of an ice palace near the capital in spite of Turkmenistan's climate and more pressing social needs.
  • In 2004, insisting that all licensed drivers pass a morality test.
  • In 2004, banning news readers from wearing make-up as Niyazov had difficulty telling male and female readers apart
  • In February 2005, ordering the closure of all hospitals outside Aşgabat, saying that if people were ill, they could come to the capital; also ordering the closure of all rural libraries of Turkmenistan, saying that ordinary Turkmen do not read books anyway.
  • In November 2005, ordering that physicians swear an oath to him instead of the Hippocratic Oath
  • In December 2005, banning video games, stating that they were too violent for young Turkmen to play
  • In January 2006, Russian media reported that he had ordered to stop paying pensions to 1/3 (more than 100,000) of the country's elderly people, cutting pensions to another 200,000, and ordering to pay the pensions received in the past two years back to the State. This has supposedly resulted in a huge number of deaths of old people, who may have had their pension (ranging from US$10 to US$90) as the only source of money. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan strongly denied these allegations, accusing the media outlets of spreading "deliberately perverted" information on the issue.
  • In September 2006, the Daily Telegraph reported that Türkmenbaşy had issued a new pay scale for Turkmen teachers, which was to come into effect in October of that year. Until then, teachers who wished to avoid being put on the lowest grade of pay or even sacked, would have to write a newspaper article praising Türkmenbaşy and have it published in one of the two newspapers of the country.
  • In October 2006 Turkmenistan claimed to have set free 10,056 prisoners, including 253 foreign nationals from 11 countries on Night of Omnipotence. Niyazov said: "Let this humane act on the part of the state serve strengthening truly moral values of the Turkmen society. Let the entire world know that there has never been a place for evil and violence on the blessed Turkmen soil."
  • The Taipei Times reports that the Turkmen leader changed the Turkmen word for bread, and name of the month of April, to that of his late mother.
  • Car radios were banned.
  • Video monitors were required in all public places.
  • Niyazov never liked dogs so dogs were banned from the capital.

Death

On December 21 2006, Turkmen state television reported that President Niyazov had died of a sudden cardiac arrest. It was known that Niyazov had been taking medication for an unidentified cardiac condition. The Turkmen Embassy in Moscow later confirmed this report. According to the Turkmen constitution, Ovezgeldy Atayev, the chairman of the Turkmen parliament, would assume the presidency. Deputy Prime Minister Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow was named to head the commission to organize the state funeral. According to Reuters, Berdimuhammedow has also been declared temporary president, because of the imprisoning of Ovezgeldy Ataev. It is speculated that President Niyazov died of poisoning. On the same day, Acting President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow stated that the date for the next presidential election would be announced on 26 December 2006; he also claimed that these elections would be democratic.

Some Turkmenistan opposition sources claim that Saparmurat Niyazov died several days before December 21.

The New York Times reported that his son, Murat Niyazov was in contention to succeed his father as president after the elder Niyazov ammended the constitution to allow people other than pure ethnic Turkmen to qualify for the presidency.

Monuments to Niyazov

Miscellaneous

  • 2005 was declared the year of Ruhnama by the parliament.
  • The second Sunday of every August is known as Turkmen Melon Day following a decree given by Niyazov in 1994. Melon Day is a national holiday in celebration of the country's muskmelon, a close relative of the watermelon.
  • In October 2005, 100,000 copies of a new book by Niyazov were printed. The book included his lyrical poetry and short stories.
  • Niyazov ordered the building of a new university to be named after Ruhnama. The university was scheduled to be built in 2010.
  • All Turkmen people knew jokes about Türkmenbaşy, even though they were forbidden. One of the most sarcastic pictures of Türkmenbaşy is designed by Aleksandr Abramovic Bejderman.
Preceded byMuhammad Gapusov General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR
1985 – June 21 1991 		Succeeded byNone (Position Dissolved)
Preceded byNone (Position Created) President of Turkmenistan
June 21 1991 – December 21 2006 		Succeeded byGurbanguly Berdymukhamedov (acting)

References and notes

  1. "[[:Template:Ru icon]] Наследником Туркменбаши может стать следователь московской прокуратуры". Komsomolskaya Pravda. 2006-12-22. Retrieved 2006-12-22. {{cite web}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  2. Turkmenbashi.org.
  3. http://www.globalwitness.org/reports/index.php?section=oil
  4. ^ C. J. Chivers (2006-12-22). "Intrigue Follows Death of a President for Life". New York Times. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  5. "Turkmenistan's 'iron ruler' dies". BBC. 2006-12-21.
  6. Associated Press, Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmen Leader, Dies at 66, The New York Times, December 21 2006
  7. Turkmenbashi Everywhere - CBS News
  8. "IFLA Blasts Turkmenistan Library Closings and Rights Violations". American Library Association. 2005-5-6. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. Turkmenistan Workshop
  10. His Excellency Saparmurat Niyazov "Turkmenbashi" The official Website
  11. Turkmenistan Workshop
  12. Short resume maintained by Reporters Sans Frontières
  13. "** TURKMENISTAN. STRUGGLING FOR NEWS IN TURKMENISTAN, Michael Clarke". DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-014. January 24, 2003.
  14. The World Factbook entry for Turkmenistan information retrieved on August 30 2006
  15. "Double Standard for Dictators". WashingtonPost.com. 2004-04-14. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  16. ^ Whitlock, Monica (2004-02-25). "Young Turkmen face beard ban". BBC News. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  17. Whitlock, Monica (2004-03-01). "Troops to replace Turkmen medics". BBC News. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  18. Burke, Justin (2004-04-07). "Turkmen president urges youth to avoid gold teeth". EurasiaNet.org. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  19. Osborn, Andrew (2004-08-15). "Dictator orders ice palace to be built in central Asian desert". The Independent on Sunday. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  20. Romanoff, Lance Jonn (2005-08-18). "Absolute Power Makes You Absolutely Crazy". Ljonn.com. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  21. "Turkmenistan Project Weekly News Brief, August 13-19, 2004". EurasiaNet.org. 2004-06-19. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  22. Morgan, David (Translator) (2005-02-14). "President of Turkmenistan closes hospitals, libraries and nature reserves". Prima-News. Retrieved 2006-12-22. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  23. "Turkmen Doctors Pledge Allegiance To Niyazov". Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty (RFERL). 2005-11-15. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  24. "Туркменбаши решил истребить всех стариков". NEWSru.com (in Russian). 2006-02-03. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  25. "...Russian media outlets disseminate "deliberately perverted" information on republic's pension maintenance". Turkmenistan.ru. 2006-04-02. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  26. Praise Turkmen leader or else, teachers are told - Telegraph (UK)
  27. "Turkmenistan to set free 10056 prisoners..." Turkmenistan.ru. 2006-10-17. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  28. ""Tensions Rising as Turkmenistan Stops Pension Payments"". Taipei Times. 2006-02-05. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  29. ^ "Turkmenistan bans recorded music". BBC News. 2005-08-23. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  30. "In the realm of fantasy". The Sunday Times Online. 2006-12-17. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  31. Turkmenistan leader dies aged 66 - BBC News
  32. President of Turkmenistan dies at 66 - breakingnews.ie
  33. Power in Turkmenistan temporarily moved to Berdymukhamedov (in Russian)
  34. "Saparmurat Niyazov 's werelds gekste dictator". Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  36. Turkmenbashi dies several days ago (in Russian)
  37. Niyazov's address on the occasion of the Turkmen Melon Day

External links

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