Turkmenbashi's Successor

Last week, I was at a used book store and found a copy of Night Train to Turkistan, a story about a group of Americans who traveled by land to Turkistan, or Xinjiang Province in China. The cashier, upon seeing the book, said, "Whoa, didn't the president of Turkistan just die?" I replied: No, that is Turkmenistan, not Turkistan. I usually do not like to correct people because I don't want to come off like a smart aleck and I don't want the other person to feel bad. But on this occasion, I really felt it necessary to educate people about the differences between the "-stans". Our collective ignorance about Central Asia is so overwhelming, not even William Safire mentioned Turkmenistan last Sunday in a NYT magazine article in which he tried to list all the -stans.

Turkmenbashi

Of all the -stans, Turkmenistan is the most eccentric. Its personality cult, which is based around Turkmenbashi (Saparmurat Niyazov), is akin to that based around Kim Sr. and Jr. of North Korea. When Niyazov unexpectedly died of a heart attack on December 21, the big question was, who was going to take his place?

G.B. in center

In just a few days, the answer became clear. It was going to be Vice Premier Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov ("G.B."). A one-time dentist, he is best known for closing all hospitals outside of the capital city because he, as the health minister, wanted to assure quality health care to all. Though that was a pretty bone-headed move, his machinations after Niyazov's death would make even Machiavelli proud. This is what he did to consolidate power:

1. Appointed himself the task of organizing Niyazov's funeral.
2. Under the constitution, the Parliament speaker was to succeed as interim president. G.B. immediately had the speaker arrested.
3. G.B. became interim president.
4. Under the constitution, the interim president is not allowed to seek the presidency. On Dec. 26, G.B. has the People's Council grant him the eligibility to run.
5. G.B. then has the People's Council unanimously nominate him for the presidency.
6. Simultaneously, G.B. has a law passed that bars citizens living abroad from running for the presidency. This effectively disqualifies all exiled opposition leaders.
7. The only viable opponent living within Turkmenistan that was not in jail was Nurberdy Nurmammedov. He was immediately arrested/disappeared.

Surprisingly, our government has been quiet through all of this. But I'm sure it has nothing to do with Turkmenistan's location (between Iran and Afghanistan) or the fact that it has one of the largest natural gas reserves in the world. Democracy, schmocracy.

Machiavelli smiling down at G.B.

Happy New Year!

CKY