The Life and Death of Saparmurat Niyazov

Saparmurat Niyazov, head of the country of Turkmenistan, suddenly passed away today at the age of 66. If it weren't for the fact that his countrymen were so poor or they lived in a police state, the story of Niyazov would actually be quite funny.

The nation of Turkmenistan sits just north of both Iran and Afghanistan and borders the Caspian Sea. It was one of the central Asian nations to be annexed by Russia in the 19th century. Geographically, Turkmenistan is roughly the size of California with 5 million residents. Most are ethnic Turkmen and nearly 90% of the citizens are Muslims.

Despite being next to the Caspian Sea and consequently having access to significant natural gas resources, the population of Turkmenistan is extremely poor. This is largely a result of the extreme mismanagement of the nation's resources by Niyazov, a former Soviet apparatchik.

In recent years, Turkmenistan and Russia have had disputes largely relating to energy but have begun bilateral negotiations for Russia to provide energy due to the underdevelopment of Turkmenistan's resources and Russia's extortionist energy policies.

The amusing aspect of Niyazov is his total messianic cult of personality. This was manifested in the fact that, like other tin-pot dictators, he has honored himself by erecting paintings of himself everywhere. However (imagine Robin Leach's voice) this dictator has taken self adulation to a whole new level. Niyazov erected a 20 foot gold statue (featured above) which rotates throughout the day to face the sun. Additionally, he took the title of "Turkmenbashi" or father of the Turkmen and even renamed the month of January after himself.

Of course, someone this crazy certainly has his detractors, most of whom are in prison or in a different country. Many of them have been tortured and/or killed. To state the obvious, dissent was not tolerated under the leadership of Saparmurat Niyazov.

While Niyazov did have heart problems, it would not be outside the realm of possibility to wonder about his actual cause of death. Russia has been quite active in the assassination and strong-arm game as of late and would have a significant financial interest in taking over Turkmenistan's oil and natural gas fields. Stranger things have happened.