The King Is Dead. Long Live The King?
By Joseph Grosso18 January, 2007
Countercurrents.org
On December 21st, 2006 one of the world’s most horrid dictators, one whom received barely a speck of attention, passed away of a heart attack. Thousands of people, in a nation with a population of only five million, went to the presidential palace where his body was laid out and according to media reports appeared genuinely saddened by his passing. Afterwards a tank carried the coffin from the palace to the village of his birth to be buried.Suparmurat Niyazov, the self proclaimed “Father of the Turkmen”, ruled Turkmenistan with the audacity and narcissism that few leaders in history have been able to muster. Indeed one may have to the days of Roman emperors to find a ruler renaming the month of January after himself and other months for his parents. In early 2005 Niyazov announced the closure of most of the country’s libraries with the logic that books citizens need should already be present in homes and work places, including the “Holy” Rukhnama- an allegedly divinely inspired masterpiece authored by Niyazov (Niyazov at one point managed to get a copy of this work attached to a Russian space rocket). Other such decrees included the banning of opera and ballet, as well as recorded music on television and at weddings (Freedom House Report 2005). In an irony considering the similarities to the theocratic Taliban regime, Niyazov flexed his anti-Islamic muscles by banning the wearing of beards and restricting the number of mosques in the country. Pictures of Niyazov were a necessary display everywhere and dissent was crushed and humiliated in Stalinist inspired tribunals.
Predicatively the death of such a megalomaniac left the people of a resource rich nation greatly impoverished (Turkmenistan has the fifth largest natural gas reserves in the world). While economic statistics are state secrets, poverty and employment rates are estimated at nearly 60%; this while Niyazov spent lavishly on great structures built in his honor, including a multi-billion dollar artificial lake named the Golden Age Lake.
It must be pointed out that throughout his reign Niyazov was something of an American ally and a member of NATO’s partners for peace. He was welcomed to the Clinton White House in April 1998 to explore investment opportunities in Central Asia’s vast oil and gas reserves and in April 2002 received a visit and praise from then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for cooperation in the war on terrorism (Niyazov had granted the U.S. access to Turkmenistan’s airspace during operations in Afghanistan). Millions of dollars in military aid was given to the Niyazov regime by both Clinton and Bush. As has largely been the case with the ghastly Islam Karimov in next door Uzbekistan, Western governments, along with emerging Asian powers, have been willing to make clients of Central Asian dictators in exchange for access to the final frontier of the planet’s oil and gas wealth.
Michael Klare, in his excellent book Resource Wars, writes about the Caspian region’s oil:
What is most significant, however, is not the scale of Caspian
reserves, but the fact that production in this region is expected
to rise in the years ahead while production in many other
oil-bearing areas is likely to decline.
Klare notes that oil production in the Caspian region totaled only 1.1 million barrels per day; by 2020 the number is expected to reach 6 million barrels.Early indications are that the presidency of Turkmenistan will be passed in a Soviet style transition to Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov who assumed power with Niyazov’s death. The country will be subjected to some sort of election on February 11th; all six “candidates” have expressed commitment to the program of the Great Leader. It’s a fair bet that Berdymukhammedov will emerge as president one way or another (obvious evidence for this is the fact that as acting president Berdymukhammedov was prohibited by Turkmenistan’s constitution from running for president; the national legislature simply changed the rules).
At the same time Berdymukhammedov has publicly proposed making some changes to lesson the country’s isolation. These include making internet access, currently restricted practically out of existence, universal, as well as giving students access to Western universities. He also alluded to freeing some of the economy from state hands.
Given the nature of Turkmenistan’s regime and Bredymukhammedov’s total lack of emphasis on political reform even the most tentative suggestions towards freedom should be met with extreme skepticism. However it would be wonderful if the international community held the future president of Turkmenistan to these words.In an interview with Voice of America- Russia Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher is quoted as saying “As we hope Turkmenistan will move forward to a new future, we’re quite ready for a new relationship.” Boucher speaks here as if Niyazov never visited the White House. However a new relationship should be founded by the international community putting its economic interests aside to insist that the human rights of Turkmenistan’s citizens are paramount.
On January 12th Khudaiberdy Orazov, former chief of Turkmenistan’s Central Bank and now a leading opposition figure who says he will return to Turkmenistan to compete in the upcoming election even though his name will not appear on the ballot, spoke to an audience at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace via satellite from Germany. His words, quoted by the International Herald Tribune, are well worth remembering:
Please show that human rights and human freedoms,
this is not some abstract concept with you, and that
you’re ready to fight for them, not only in places where you
find convenience, but wherever it is happening in the world.
Specifically regarding Turkmenistan Orarzov urged the U.S. and others to not accept “a cynical deal based on the formula ‘gas in exchange for acceptance of dictatorship’”
Turkmenistan was conquered by Russia in the late 19th century and became part of the Soviet Union in 1924. Since “independence” in 1991 it has been ruled as the personal fiefdom of a brutal narcissist. Now the king is dead and Turkmenistan has a chance, however slim it appears at the moment, to join the community of nations. One only hopes this community is willing to truly embrace it.
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