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23-2-22
Turkmenistan: World’s Strangest Dictatorship | Fake Image - Ilya > .
After over a century of being a part of the
Russian Empire and then the
Soviet Union (including 67 years as a union republic), Turkmenistan declared its independence on
27 October 1991, following the
dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Saparmurat Niyazov, a former official of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union, ruled Turkmenistan from
1985, when he became head of the
Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR, until his death in
2006. He retained absolute control over the country as
President after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. On 28 December 1999, Niyazov was declared
President for Life of Turkmenistan by the Mejlis (parliament), which itself had taken office a week earlier in elections that included only candidates hand-picked by President Niyazov. No opposition candidates were allowed.
The former Communist Party, now known as the
Democratic Party of Turkmenistan, is the dominant party. The second party, the
Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, was established in August 2012, and an
agrarian party appeared two years later. Political gatherings are illegal unless government sanctioned.
Since the December 2006 death of Niyazov, Turkmenistan's leadership has made tentative moves to open up the country. His successor, President
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, repealed some of Niyazov's most idiosyncratic policies, including banning operas and circuses for being "insufficiently Turkmen", though other such rules were later put into place such as the banning of non-white cars. In education, Berdimuhamedow's government increased basic education to ten years from nine years, and higher education was extended from four years to five. Berdimuhamedow was succeeded by his son
Serdar in
2022.
The politics of Turkmenistan take place in the framework of a
presidential republic, with the
President both
head of state and
head of government. Under Niyazov, Turkmenistan had a
one-party system; however, in September 2008, the People's Council unanimously passed a resolution adopting a new
Constitution. The latter resulted in the abolition of the council and a significant increase in the size of Parliament in December 2008 and also permits the formation of multiple political parties.
In 2013, the first multi-party parliamentary elections
were held in Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan was a one-party state from 1991 to 2012; however, the 2013 elections were widely seen as rigged. In practice, all parties in parliament operate jointly under the direction of the DPT. There are no true opposition parties in the Turkmen parliament.
Turkmenistan has long served as a thoroughfare for several empires and cultures.
Merv is one of the oldest oasis-cities in Central Asia, and was once among the biggest cities in the world. It was also one of the great cities of the
Islamic world and an important stop on the
Silk Road. Annexed by the
Russian Empire in 1881, Turkmenistan figured prominently in the
anti-Bolshevik movement in Central Asia. In 1925, Turkmenistan became a constituent republic of the
Soviet Union, the
Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkmen SSR); it became independent after the
dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The country is widely criticized for its
poor human rights, its treatment of minorities, and its lack of press and religious freedoms. Since the independence declared from the Soviet Union in 1991, Turkmenistan has been ruled by repressive totalitarian regimes: that of
President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov (also known as Türkmenbaşy/Türkmenbaşı or "Head of the Turkmens") until his death in 2006;
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, who became president in 2007 after winning a
non-democratic election (he had been vice-president and then acting president previously); and his son
Serdar, who won a subsequent
2022 presidential election described by international observers as
neither free nor fair, and now shares power with his father.
Turkmenistan possesses the world's fifth
largest reserves of natural gas. Most of the country is covered by the
Karakum Desert. From 1993 to 2019, citizens received government-provided electricity, water and natural gas free of charge. Turkmenistan is an observer state in the
Organisation of Turkic States, the
Türksoy community and a member of the
United Nations.
