President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov, a former bureaucrat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, ruled Turkmenistan from 1985, when he became head of the Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR, until his death in 2006.

However, some, such as Rafael Carrera, François Duvalier, Saparmurat Niyazov, José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia and Josip Broz Tito have managed to rule until their ( natural ) deaths.

The DPT was led by former Soviet provincial Party leader Saparmurat Niyazov from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s until his death in 2006.

Since the death of Saparmurat Niyazov Turkmenistan's leadership made tentative moves to open up the country.

After the death of Niyazov, Deputy Prime Minister Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow took over, despite the fact that Öwezgeldi Ataýew, the Chairman of the Parliament of Turkmenistan, would be the next in line in the order of succession ( allegedly because the prosecutor-general had initiated investigations against Ataýew ).

Following the death of President Saparmurat Niyazov in December 2006, there has been much speculation and uncertainty regarding the fate of Turkmenistan's natural resources.

Niyazov died on 21 December 2006, and two years after his death the reference to Turkmenbashi in the chorus was replaced with the people.

After the death of Niyazov, its popularity remained high.

A presidential election to replace Niyazov was held on 11 February 2007.

The 50-foot-high statue, which rotated in order to always face the sun during daylight hours, was removed on August 26, 2010 after Niyazov ’ s successor, current President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, made it clear earlier in the year that the statue was going to be taken out of Ashgabat ’ s parliament square.

" Additionally, a silhouette of Niyazov was used as a logo on television broadcasts and statues and pictures of him were " erected everywhere ".

For these, and other reasons, the US Government has gone on to claim that by the time he died, " Niyazov ’ s personality cult ... had reached the dimensions of a state-imposed religion ".

After the August 1991 coup attempt against the Gorbachev regime in Moscow, Turkmenistan's communist leader Saparmurat Niyazov called for a popular referendum on independence.

Many political parties in opposition to the authoritarian rule of President Niyazov continued to use the Cyrillic alphabet on websites and publications, most likely to distance themselves from the alphabet that Niyazov created.

* In Ashkhabad, U. S. envoy Eric Schultz met with Turkmenistan's President Saparmurad Niyazov to brief him on proposed retaliatory measures against the September 11th attacks.

Niyazov first placed copies in the nation's schools and libraries but eventually went as far as to make an exam on its teachings an element of the driving test.

Former Turkmenbashi Saparmurat Niyazov banned playing of video games, listening to car radios, performing opera and ballet, smoking in public, long hair on men, and even growing facial hair.

President Saparmurat Niyazov, was elected unopposed on 21 June 1992.

In December 2008, Berdimuhamedow announced changes to the national anthem, which involved removing the repeated references to former President Niyazov.

On 28 December 1999, Niyazov was declared President for Life of Turkmenistan by the Mejlis ( parliament ), which itself had taken office only a week earlier in elections that included only candidates hand-picked by President Niyazov ; no opposition candidates were allowed.

* Saparmurat Niyazov ( 21 December 1985-16 December 1991 )

On 21 October 1995, these two companies signed a separate agreement with Turkmenistan's president Saparmurat Niyazov.

* 2006 – Saparmurat Niyazov, President of Turkmenistan ( b. 1940 )

* 1940 – Saparmurat Niyazov, President of Turkmenistan ( d. 2006 )

As in the Soviet era, central planning and state control pervade the system, and the Niyazov government ( in power 1991 – 2006 ) consistently rejected market reform programs.

In January 2006, Saparmurat Niyazov ordered to stop paying pensions to ⅓ ( more than 100, 000 ) of elderly people, cutting pensions to another 200, 000, and ordering to pay the pensions received in the past two years back to the State.

Saparmurat Niyazov, who was ruler of Turkmenistan from 1985 to 2006, is another oft-cited cultivator of a cult of personality.

* Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan ( 1999 ) – died in office 2006.

File: Saparmurat Niyazov. jpg | Saparmurat Niyazov, President for Life of Turkmenistan ( 1999 – 2006 )

* A title Niyazov bestowed upon himself during his lifetime term as President of Turkmenistan from 1991 to 2006

In March 2006, Niyazov was recorded as saying that he had interceded with God to ensure that any student who read the book three times would automatically get into heaven.

* In Turkmenistan, the local party apparatus led by Saparmurat Niyazov was renamed the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan and abandoned communist ideology.

The last living person to be officially proclaimed president for life was Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan.

Independence came in 1991, as Saparmurat Niyazov, a former local communist party boss, declared himself absolute ruler for life as Turkmenbashi or Leader of the Turkmen and transitioned the newly independent Turkmenistan into an authoritarian state under his absolute control and has thus far resisted the democratization that has influenced many of the other former Soviet Republics.

In 2008, Berdimuhamedow restored the traditional names of the months and days of the week ( Niyazov had renamed them after himself and his mother, among other things ), and announced plans to move the infamous gold rotating statue of Niyazov from Ashgabat's central square.

") Niyazov renamed the days of the week after members of his family and wrote the new Turkmen national anthem / oath himself.

Foreign companies seeking to exploit Turkmenistan's vast natural gas resources cooperated with Niyazov since he also controlled access to the natural resources.

Niyazov added the post of chairman of the Supreme Soviet in January 1990, and was elected as the country's first president that October.

Election results: Mejlis – DPT 100 %; seats by party – DPT 50 ; note – all 50 elected officials are members of the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan and are preapproved by President Niyazov.

Former President Niyazov stated that the neutrality would prevent Turkmenistan from participating in multi-national defense organizations, but allows military assistance.

The bribes also took the form of luxury European vacations, armored Mercedes vehicles for high-ranking government officials and a birthday gift to the then notorious dictator of Turkmenistan, Turkmenbashi ( Saparmurat Niyazov ), including a golden box and 10, 000 copies of his personal manifesto, Ruhnama, translated into German.

Niyazov or Niazov, f. Niyazova or Niazova (, Noyozov ) is a Russianized Central Asian ( Kazakh, Uzbek, Bukhari Jewish, Tajiki, and Turkmen ) family name, and it may refer to: