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Turkmen Strongman was Beholden to No One!

Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov is the president-for-life of the Republic of Turkmenistan, a country formerly part of the Soviet Union. Elected in 1990, he is the first and only president of the country. He died from heart failure in December 2006.

Niyazov was born on February 19, 1940, into a worker's family in Ashgabat, which is now the capital of Turkmenistan. His father died fighting the Germans in World War II and the remaining members of his family perished in Ashgabat's massive earthquake of 1948. He was raised first in an orphanage and later in the home of distant relatives.

Niyazov graduated from the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute in 1966 with a degree in power engineering and began work at the Bezmeinskaya Power Station near Ashgabat.

In 1962 Niyazov became a member of the Communist Party. In 1985 he was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Turkmenistan and was subsequently elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkmenistan, the highest state and party post. On January 13, 1990, Mr. Niyazov became Chairman of the Supreme Soviet, the supreme legislative body in the republic.

On October 27, 1990, Niyazov was elected the first president of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkmenistan). Under his leadership, on October 27, 1991, Turkmenistan proclaimed its sovereignty from the Soviet Union.

As founder and president of the Association of Turkmens of the World, Niyazov holds the official title of Turkmenbashi, Leader of all Ethnic Turkmens. He was awarded the Magtymguly International Prize for achieving the aim of Magtymguly, the great Turkmen poet and philosopher: the establishment of an independent state of Turkmenistan.

Niyazov is widely criticized in the west as one of the world's most authoritarian, repressive and corrupt dictators. However, in Turkmenistan many regard him as the leader of all the Turkmen. Global Witness, a London-based human rights organization, reported that Niyazov controls over $3 billion, of which $2 billion is thought to be held by Deutsche Bank in Germany. He has also had statues of himself erected throughout the nation and renamed months and days of the calendar after himself and his family.

There is essentially no freedom of speech in Turkmenistan, and criticism of Niyazov is considered treason and is punishable by prison, imprisonment in mental institutions, or exile. Private conversations are monitored by government informers.

Niyazov has a record of bizarre and sadistic decrees. In February 2005, he ordered the closure of all hospitals outside Ashgabat, saying that if people were ill, they could come to the capital. He also had all rural libraries of Turkmenistan closed, saying that ordinary Turkmen do not read books anyway.

Turkmenistan is one of the largest producers of natural gas, second to Russia. Niyazov has applied the country's wealth toward such projects as an artificial lake in the Kara Kum desert, a large cypress forest in an attempt to change the desert climate, a ski resort, a 130-foot pyramid and an ice palace near the capital.

Mr. Niyazov left behind a wife and two children. He had an interest in poetry, philosophy, history and music.