Turkmenistan's new president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov (right, seen with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev) has signed a decree to shut down the International Fund of Saparmurat Niyazov.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Thaw Comes to Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan’s new president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has abolished the International Fund of Saparmurat Niyazov, launched purges in the army and announced a military reform to do away with the legacy of the deceased authoritarian leader Saparmurat Niyazov. Turkmen opposition views the steps as the coming of a political “thaw” which will denounce the cult of personality in the country.
Turkmenistan’s new president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov surprised his allies by saying he would not like to stage nationwide celebrations for his birthday. “I feel grateful for that, but as a head of the state I don’t have a right to give instructions about something that concerns me personally,” the president said on Friday, the Turkmen TV reported.
The president also signed a decree to shut down the International Fund of Saparmurat Niyazov.
Unofficial sources of Kommersant say the fund was a closed firm with bank accounts overseas which received money from Turkmen gas contracts as well as donations to Mr. Niyazov from his foreign friends including sheikhs from the Persian Gulf. Saparmurat Niyazov was personally in charge of the money management.
Elsewhere, Colonel Bairamgeldy Akummedov has been appointed new commander of the land forces, the government said Saturday. Several army units got new commanders. Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov went on to say that he aims at “comprehensive transformations in the army force.” In the first signal of the new epoch, Lieutenant-General Akmurad Redzhepov, Mr. Niyazov’s former bodyguard and power broker, was dismissed and arrested in May.
Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov called on police to crackdown on drug trafficking. Under Saparmurat Niyazov, the problem, which is a particular concern in Turkmen villages, was largely hushed up and ignored.
In a recent interview, opposition leader Bairam Shikhmuradov referred to the ongoing changes as “thaw”. He noted, however, that the steps are still not as fast and effective as exiled opposition would like to see them probably due to persistently strong influence of Mr. Niyazov’s allies. Mr. Shikhmuradov says a trial for Akmurad Redzhepov and amnesty for political prisoners would signal a genuinely profound and lasting change in the society.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of June 25, 2007
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