Turkmenistan on Friday faced the prospect of an eventful political transition a day after its leader died following 21 years of totalitarianism and isolation.
The death of President-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov (66) who enjoyed an extravagant personality cult and filled the country with statues of himself, left the strategic Central Asian nation and the wider world speculating about who would succeed him.
Turkmenistan-watchers forecast a turbulent period as Russia and the West fight for influence in a country which lies on some of the world’s biggest natural gas reserves.
”We’re definitely going to see a colourful transition,” said Martha Brill Olcott, a Central Asia expert at Carnegie Endowment For International Peace.
Flags flew at half-mast from buildings in Ashgabat. But its Soviet-era streets were calm and there were no obvious public displays of grief.
Niyazov’s funeral was set for December 24 and the government scheduled December 26 for Turkmenistan’s highest representative body to meet to decide on the succession and set a date for elections.
Until the poll, which should be held within two months, Deputy Prime Minister Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov (49) will be acting head of state.
No heir
Niyazov crushed all dissent in his former Soviet state. He left no designated heir and his death raised concerns about the transfer of power in the Caspian nation bordering Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
United States State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Washington would work with the interim government in Turkmenistan. He said the US believes democracy should be in the country’s future, but stopped short of calling on the interim government in Turkmenistan to hold elections.
”We have to make an assessment of exactly what course this administration is going to chart. But absolutely, that should remain the goal for all people around the world, all people who have not experienced the freedom to choose who will govern them,” McCormack told reporters in Washington.
The West and Russia are nervously looking out for signs of instability in Turkmenistan, which is a key link in the supply chain between former Soviet gas fields and European consumers.
”We are waiting to see the change in actors on the scene,” an EU diplomat in Russia said. ”We are concerned, but it is too soon to say what will happen.”
Since gaining independence from Moscow’s rule in 1991, Turkmenistan has forged what it calls a foreign policy of ”neutrality,” snubbing both Russian and Western influence.
A former Soviet apparatchik, Niyazov adopted the title ”Turkmenbashi [Head of the Turkmen] the Great.” Thousands of portraits and statues of him dot the country.
A gilded statue of him rotates to face the sun in the capital Ashgabat. He renamed the month of January after himself, and a sea port and even a meteorite are also graced by his name. – Reuters