Turkmenbashi dies suddenly

I am incredibly worried about this occurrence and have absolutely no idea how the general populace will deal with this loss. This guy was a total maniac, but he made his nation obsessed with him and totally dependent.

Irrational Islamic hotbed that will spiral into lunacy from this day on? whatadaya think?


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6198983.stm

Quote:

---

Turkmenistan's 'iron ruler' dies
Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov
Saparmurat Niyazov: His word was absolute law
Turkmenistan's authoritarian president Saparmurat Niyazov, who ruled the Central Asian country for 21 years, has died aged 66, state TV has reported.

Niyazov, who named cities and airports after himself in a bizarre personality cult, left no designated successor.

Turkmenistan, which has large gas reserves, now faces an uncertain future with rival groups and outside powers scrambling for influence, analysts say.

Niyazov died at 0110 local time (2010 GMT Wednesday) of a heart attack.

Last month, the president publicly acknowledged he had heart disease.

His funeral is set to take place on 24 December in the capital, Ashgabat.

Deputy Prime Minister Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has been named head of the commission handling the funeral, state television said.


President Niyazov was in effect the state and what he decreed on any subject, from politics, to culture to science, was absolute law
Michael Hall
Central Asia analyst

According to Turkmen law, the president is succeeded by the head of the legislative body, the People's Assembly. But this post was held by Mr Niyazov himself.

Turkmenistan has called an emergency meeting of its highest representative body for 26 December to decide on Mr Niyazov's succession, the government said.

Mr Berdymukhamedov has also been named acting head of state until then, according to government sources.

The cabinet of ministers and the National Security Council in Turkmenistan have held emergency sessions to discuss the situation.

Uncertainty

Analysts say Mr Niyazov's legacy is grim: education, healthcare, society generally have crumbled under his rule.


SAPARMURAT NIYAZOV
Became head of Communist Party in Turkmenistan in 1985
Styled himself Turkmenbashi, Father of the Turkmen
Built up a cult of personality, with cities, airports and months named after him
Introduced bizarre laws, banning young men from wearing beards and listening to car radios
Poverty remained rife in the energy-rich country
Niyazov publicly acknowledged taking medicine for a heart condition

Obituary: President Niyazov
In pictures: Turkmen life

"President Niyazov was in effect the state and what he decreed on any subject, from politics, to culture to science, was absolute law," says Michael Hall, Central Asia project director for the International Crisis Group.

A mostly Muslim nation, Turkmenistan boasts the world's fifth largest natural gas reserves as well as substantial oil resources.

Cult of personality

Mr Niyazov became Communist Party chief of what was then a Soviet republic in 1985 and was elected first president of independent Turkmenistan in 1991.

In 1999, he was made president-for-life by the country's rubber-stamp parliament.

Turkmenistan's map

During his reign, Mr Niyazov established a cult of personality in which he was styled as Turkmenbashi, or Leader of all Turkmens.

He renamed months and days in the calendar after himself and his family, and ordered statues of himself to be erected throughout the desert nation.

Cities, an airport and a meteorite were given his name.

Mr Niyazov was intolerant of criticism and allowed no political opposition or free media in the nation of five million people.

His laws became increasingly personal. It was forbidden to listen to car radios or smoke in public, or for young men to wear beards.

An alleged assassination attempt in 2002 was used to crush his few remaining opponents.

All candidates in the December 2004 parliamentary elections, at which there were no foreign observers, were his supporters.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TuffStuffMcGruff

Irrational Islamic hotbed that will spiral into lunacy from this day on? whatadaya think?

---

Quote:

---

A mostly Muslim nation, Turkmenistan boasts the world's fifth largest natural gas reserves as well as substantial oil resources.

---

:yes:

Ah the dangers of not bothering to set up a proper country.

Dying is a very irresponsible thing to do when you personally run an entire country.

Oh dear - cat among the pigeons time, I think. Darned inconsiderate time for him to pop his clogs, I would have expected such a heroic leader would have had a better grasp of the geopolitical situation. Unseemly power struggle, clamp down by the Old Guard or popular uprising all seem possible. I would like to see an outbreak of moderate democracy and a gentle undoing of all his deeds, but I won't be holding my breath...

This is the 'Stans, with Russia, the US and China all jockeying for power and influence and not giving a hoot about what sort of nutjobs they have to support to get those (IIRC Turkmenbashi was on Russia's payroll).

Can't say I'm holding my breath either.

Good riddance.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dâriûsh

Good riddance.

---

Well yeah, but will it get better or worse ?

Besides, he didn't seem all that bad, he made one of his ministers give back a bunch of stolen buckets didn't he ? :yes:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by doc_bean

Well yeah, but will it get better or worse ?

Besides, he didn't seem all that bad, he made one of his ministers give back a bunch of stolen buckets didn't he ? :yes:

---

Yeah right... he changed the names of the months to praise him and his mother. Built countless palaces when people starved.
When he discovered that only one hospital provides the kind of service he seen as good enough he... NO he didn't improve the condiions in other hospitals investing some oil and gas generated cash, but he DID close all hospitals except the single one...

He will be remembered as one of those little tyrants with peculiar habits - only slightly better than Kim Dzong Il of N. Korea.:book:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cegorach

Yeah right...

---

He wasn't downright evil, just crazy.

I wonder how quickly all those odd laws and memorials and everything will be undone. I would imagine that would all go long before anyone thinks about a new government. It was quite a small country (in population). I don't think it will break down into a civil war since a nation of only 5 million hardly has the manpower to do that. It'll propably just be another of the big wigs up the top unless there is some outside interference.

The estimated population of England in the 1640s, the time of the English Civil War, is between 5 and 6 million. Population levels have no bearing on whether a nation will war upon itself.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by doc_bean

Well yeah, but will it get better or worse ?

Besides, he didn't seem all that bad, he made one of his ministers give back a bunch of stolen buckets didn't he ? :yes:

---

It might be an opportune moment for the IMU and Hizb ut-Tahrir. Either way all the members of the “Democratic Party of Turkmenistan” (:laugh4:) will trip over themselves to congratulate whoever ousts Berdymukhamedov (oof, long name)

I'm thinking that Turkmenistan will slowly be made into...
Bushland! Muslims? What Muslims? The only thing I see here are Texans, oil derricks, peace, democracy, and firm grasp on the oil I mean reality. :help:

Oh, man... the man who demanded an ice palace in the middle of a burning hot desert is dead.

LIES!!! alll LIES!!! our benevolent leader can never die. why do you confuse the people with such falshoods, he has not died, he has simply taken on a more spiritual form so that he may guard the people eternally.

on a different note, i heard he caused a sucession crisis because the prime minister is supposed to replace our august president if he died quickly. and who was the prime minister you ask? you already know the answer to this one, our fearless leader himself. he was first in line to succeed himself.