Saparmurat Niyazov, the authoritarian president of Turkmenistan died unexpectedly early Thursday, the Turkmen government said, raising questions about succession and stability in a country essential for European energy supplies.
Niyazov, who gave himself the name Turkmenbashi, the Leader of All Turkmen, had ruled his sparsely populated country since becoming chairman of the Turkemen Communist Party in 1985, when the country was a Soviet republic.
He easily weathered the Soviet Union’s collapse, becoming the president of newly independent Turkmenistan and pushing through a Constitution that concentrated power in his hands. He then embarked upon a megalomaniac career as president for life.
While other post-Soviet countries suffered disorder and, in some cases, revolutions or war, Niyazov lorded over Turkmenistan with a sprawling security apparatus and a fantastically well-developed personality cult.
Turkmenistan, located in Central Asia and adjacent to Iran, Afghanistan and the Caspian Sea, contains many of the world’s largest natural gas fields and provides gas to Russia and European countries.
Foreign governments and energy analysts expressed misgivings about the expected succession battles ahead, and what they might mean for stability and the intense international competition for the gas reserves.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, his German counterpart, encouraged Turkmenistan at a joint appearance to conduct a legal and orderly succession. “We hope that the transfer of power will remain within the framework of the law,” Lavrov said according to the Interfax news agency.
Goldman Sachs sent a note to investors saying the abrupt political change “throws into question the country’s political stability and control over its substantial natural gas exports.”
It added that with Niyazov gone, the Unites States and perhaps the European Union might compete with Russia and urge Turkmenistan to consider new export routes and weaken the position at Gazprom, Russian’s state-controlled gas monopoly. Gazprom relies in part on Turkmen gas to met commitments to its customers.
(International Herald Tribune, 22/12/2006)