The King is Dead. Long Live the King.

So much for friendly-old Berdy.

Radio Liberty has sent around a statement that one of its contributors in Turkmenistan was beaten and tortured in recent days for refusing to stop reporting for the American-funded broadcaster. Sazak Durdymuradov, whom Radio Liberty says is a history teacher who files reports on educational and constitutional reform, was seized from his home three days ago. According to the report, his beating and torture occurred at the same time that senior Turkmen officials were talking with European Union officials about human rights in the capital of Ashkabad.

Western governments have largely withheld judgement on Turkmenistan's new president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, hoping that he is different from his megalomaniacal predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov. Berdymukhamedov has raised hopes by taking down ego-driven statues memorializing Niyazov, and reviving the right of young Turkmen to a full education, among other things.

But the human rights situation doesn't appear to have changed much.

Photo: Nicolai Bangsgaard

Rights: Creative Commons

Turkmenistan Starts to De-Bizarre: Libraries Legalized

It's true that outsiders (including myself) have spent a good 15 years making Turkmenistan the butt of our Central Asian humor. But in our defense, everyone from ordinary Turkmen to Central Asia's presidential circles felt the same way. When you'd simply mention the name "Turkmenbashi," local people couldn't contain themselves.

That of course was what Saparmurat Niyazov insisted that people call him -- Turkmenbashi, or Father of all Turkmen.

Well, all good fun must come to an end. Niyazov died a year ago, and today his successor, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov (a dentist by profession who my friends at Registan.net insist on calling "Stomatalogbashi, or Father of all Dentists) began to discard some of the country's weirdest laws.

Berdymukhamedov announced in a nationally broadcast news conference that Turkmenistan needs a few libraries. Some working cinemas. An opera. A ballet. A circus.

What's next -- will he trash the Ruhnama, the delusional Niyazov tract that's required reading of all Turkmen?

I for one hope that Berdymukhamedov does not melt all the Niyazov statues for scrap. Humor, after all, is the root of sanity.

Photo: Jensimon7
Rights: Creative Commons

Turkmenbashi's Hidden Wealth

A website I hadn't previously heard of -- Gundogar -- poses one of the most self-evidently important questions I've heard recently: Whatever happened to Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov's fortune?

In her excellent piece, Gulnoza Saidazimova frames the stakes -- billions of dollars -- and the players (mainly German institutions) in the as-yet undisclosed location of Niyazov's presumed wealth.

We all know, just as a teaser, that the main reason the ultra-important trans-Caspian natural gas pipeline wasn't built during the 1990s was that Niyazov demanded that a $500 million bribe be deposited into his German bank account by the Western project developers, but was rebuffed.

What about the bribes that were paid? Given the history of the wealth of the world's fallen dictators, and the European banks that protect them, one is led to believe the money won't get back to Turkmenistan soon.