Translated material
A year without Turkmenbashi
In Turkmenistan, where there was no prepared heir to power (now we understand this better), they also tried to avoid shock and unnecessary thoughts with the help of quick and decisive measures. Much has already been written about the suspicious oddities of the first day after the death of Turkmenbashi: somehow they hung mourning flags around the capital very quickly and in an organized manner, made portraits of the deceased, where he is depicted young and handsome - exactly the same as he looked in real life sitting under with this portrait of his successor. His name immediately spread throughout the world: Gurbanguly Myalikgulyevich Berdimuhamedov . Other reports from Turkmenistan also seemed strange - in particular, that the country's security forces were put on high alert several days before December 21.
It is unlikely that we will ever know for certain what happened in those days at Niyazov’s dacha in Firyuz at the bedside of the dying dictator. If indeed the decisive role in the events of a year ago was played by the head of the president’s personal security, General Akmurat Rejepov, who brought to power the Turkmen Minister of Health and Medical Industry and, as they say, Niyazov’s former personal dentist, then there is a very high probability that we will NEVER hear the story again the main witness of those events. General Rejepov was put in prison for almost two decades last May and is unlikely to come out alive during the lifetime of the current Turkmen ruler.
Most likely, we will have to be content with the legendary version of events at Niyazov’s dacha - just as the story of the last days of Stalin’s life at the “nearby” dacha in Kuntsevo has become overgrown with legends. Especially after Lavrentiy Beria and other leaders of the Soviet punitive agencies were shot in the same 1953. Niyazov’s family, who no longer lived with him throughout the post-Soviet years: widow Muza Alekseevna, daughter Irina and son Murat, are not yet ready to share their memories of what they experienced in those days. According to reliable data from sources close to the family, its members are unlikely to want to visit Ashgabat in the coming years...
On the first anniversary of Berdymukhamedov's coming to power, there is a temptation to take stock of this year in power. But any conclusions will not be accurate. The second president of Turkmenistan has not yet firmly established himself in power. What seems to us to be obvious features of the regime he is establishing are, rather, only steps to build this regime. It seems that Berdymukhamedov is walking forward like a blind man, tapping a safe path ahead of him with his stick - just so as not to stumble by taking the wrong step. Does this explain his fear of releasing those whom Niyazov accused of organizing a conspiracy against himself in November 2002? Among the several dozen prisoners are people whose authority Berdymukhamedov may believe threatens his power.
Until now, many of his steps have been correct - at least from the point of view of image and building up personal authority, but at the same time they have not gone beyond the usual style of power for the Turkmens. Berdimuhamedov accurately assessed the need for a speedy abolition of the most odious, most draconian regulations of Turkmenbashi in the field of education, health care, and social security. It was the easiest, most painless and, at first, most rewarding task. But then, it seems, problems began. Economic administration is clearly not the former dentist's strong point. Here Berdymukhamedov uses primitive Niyazov techniques - to intimidate, buy, imprison and have mercy. And they have already begun to lead the new leader into a dead end. All that remains is to maneuver in the outside world, bargaining and blackmailing gas buyers in the West and East, in the North and South.