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Masquerading democracy in an ‘unchanging hell’
Turkmenistan’s government on Monday said its election was a milestone in democracy, although only state-approved candidates were permitted to stand.
Ashgabat
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Internet returns as Turkmenistan reforms
Turkmenistan opened its first two internet cafés on Friday as new President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov moved to fulfil promises of limited reform in the Central Asian nation. The curtailing of the internet was one of the hard-line moves ordered by late dictator Saparmurat Niyazov.
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Eccentric Turkmen strongman laid to rest
Turkmen ruler Saparmurat Niyazov, whose elaborate cult of personality pervaded every aspect of life in the gas-rich Central Asian country, was laid to rest on Sunday in a lavish funeral attended by foreign dignitaries and throngs of tearful mourners.
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‘Colourful transition’ after Niyazov’s death
Turkmenistan on Friday faced the prospect of an eventful political transition a day after its leader died following 21 years of totalitarianism and isolation. The death of President-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov (66) left the strategic Central Asian nation and the wider world speculating about who would succeed him.
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‘Turkmenbashi’, the Central Asian idol, dies
Turkmenistan’s leader Saparmurat Niyazov, who died on Thursday, ruled his Central Asian state for more than 20 years with a relentless personality cult. Niyazov (66) whose country has the world’s fifth-biggest reserves of natural gas, was an ex-Soviet apparatchik who got rid of elections and declared himself president-for-life
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Penguins in desert for Turkmenistan’s leader
Turkmenistan’s President-for-life, Saparmurat Niyazov, has ordered a zoo be built for 300 species of birds and animals, including penguins, in the Central Asian republic’s Kara Kum desert, state television announced on Tuesday. A year ago, Niyazov announced construction of an ice palace capable of holding 1 000 people.
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Major Afghan oil deal signed
The leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan on Friday reached a long-awaited agreement for a pipeline to carry Turkmenistan’s natural gas to the Indian Ocean via Afghanistan and Pakistan.
