AP News, December 23rd, 2006
Turkmenistan's security minister has promised that his forces will preserve calm in the Central Asian country following the death of longtime authoritarian leader Saparmurat Niyazov, newspapers reported Saturday.
In a statement published in state-run newspapers, Lt. Gen. Geldimukhammed Ashirmukhammedov vowed to pursue policies set forth by Niyazov, who also was called "Turkmenbashi" _ or Father of All Turkmen.
The national security ministry "will day and night stand guard on the achievements founded by Saparmurat Turkmenbashi the Great ... and vigilantly preserve the calm and happy life of our people and to support stable conditions within the country," the statement said.
Niyazov, who died Thursday after two decades of rule that produced an all-encompassing personality cult, left no apparent preferred successor.
Signs of power-jockeying emerged just hours after his death was announced. Although the constitution stipulates that the parliament speaker become acting president, the deputy prime minister was given the job and he later dismissed the speaker.
With Niyazov gone, exiled opposition leaders are clamoring to return. World powers appeared positioned to compete for influence over Turkmenistan and its vast energy resources.
Acting President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov said that on Tuesday the chief legislative body will set a date for elections. But one-party rule does not appear threatened in the country, which has never known democracy.
Commentators said would-be successors were maneuvering behind the scenes.
They also said Niyazov's sudden death could lead to a contest between Russia and the West over the former Soviet republic's enormous natural gas and petroleum reserves, with the Kremlin seeking to influence who will be president.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a condolence message that "strengthening our partnership is in the true interests of the peoples of Russia and Turkmenistan." And President Bush said the U.S. hopes "to expand our relations with Turkmenistan."
Niyazov, 66, became absolute leader _ and the center of a personality cult _ after Turkmenistan became independent with the 1991 Soviet collapse. The desert nation of 5 million lies north of Afghanistan and Iran.
Analysts said powerful security officials stood behind Berdymukhamedov, a deputy prime minister who is likely only an interim leader.
Under the constitution, Parliament Speaker Ovezgeldy Atayev was next in line for the presidency. But shortly after Niyazov's death was announced, Atayev was charged with abuse of power and human rights violations.
Berdymukhamedov signed an order dismissing Atayev for "committing a deed incompatible with the high position entrusted him."
Turkmenistan's prosecutor general accused Atayev in a statement of harassing and humiliating his own daughter-in-law and driving her to attempt suicide.
Berdymukhamedov said the People's Council, a 2,000-member legislature chosen by Niyazov, will meet Tuesday to pick the candidates and set a date for presidential elections. But a decree the acting president signed suggested any elections may not be competitive.
"National presidential elections will be held on a democratic basis that has been laid by the great leader," the decree said, referring to Niyazov.
The late president banned opposition parties, personally approved the content of all newspapers and had authorities block Web sites critical of his reign.
Khudaiberdy Orazov, Turkmenistan's former Central Bank chief living in exile in Sweden, told The Associated Press that he and two other opposition leaders planned to return home to compete in the presidential election.
Another expatriate, former Foreign Minister Avdy Kuliyev, told Russia's RIA-Novosti news agency that he planned to return from Norway. "We must hurry to Turkmenistan because time is on the side of the Niyazovite group," he said.
Azhdar Kurtov, an analyst with the Moscow-based Institute for Strategic Research, predicted Turkmenistan's security agencies would tightly control the election.
"The Turkmen people won't face any democratic choice in the elections," he said. "A single candidate with no alternatives will be put forward for whom everybody will have to vote."
Niyazov won Turkmenistan's last presidential elections in 1992 with a reported 95.5 percent of the vote. He was named president for life in 1999.
