The Manila Times

Turkmenistan leader taps father to lead council

Turkmenistan’s leader has appointed his father to head their country’s newly formed supreme representative body, further expanding the older man’s clout in the gas-rich Central Asian nation.

President Serdar Berdymukhamedov, 41, named his father, former president Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, as chairman of Halk Maslahaty, or People’s Council, on Saturday night. State television showed 2,000 members of the council greeting the presidential order with a standing ovation.

Serdar, who was elected in March 2022 to succeed his father, also signed a law granting his father the title of the “national leader of the Turkmen people.”

The elder Berdymukhamedov initiated the creation of the People’s Council as the upper house of parliament in 2021 and previously presided over it. On Saturday, the council was transformed into the supreme representative body.

The People’s Council isn’t elected and consists of top officials and representatives of regions, unions and public organizations. The parliament will be reelected as one chamber in a vote scheduled for March 26.

The revamped council has the power to change the country’s constitution and determine the main guidelines of domestic and foreign policies, giving the 65-year-old Gurbanguly powerful levers to steer the country’s course.

He ruled the isolated ex-Soviet country since 2006 following the death of his eccentric predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov. Niyazov, who led the desert nation as its Communist boss during Soviet times and then as president after the 1991 collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, renamed the month of January after himself, required school children to study his writings and ordered citizens to call him “Turkmenbashi,” or The Father of All Turkmen.

Gurbanguly abolished Niyazov’s cult of personality and established one of his own, taking the title of Arkadag, or protector, and demonstrating his physical fitness with stunts, including driving sports cars, target shooting and hoisting a gold weightlifting bar to applause from his Cabinet.

Turkmenistan’s economy has been largely driven by its vast natural gas reserves, with China replacing Russia as the main customer.

Asia And Oceania

en-ph

2023-01-24T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-01-24T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://manilatimes.pressreader.com/article/282016151452525

The Manila Times