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

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

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

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.

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.

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

* Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov ( 19 January 1990 – 2 November 1990 )

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.

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.

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.

Ashgabat was also home to the Arch of Neutrality, a 250-foot-tall tripod crowned by a golden statue of late president Saparmurat Niyazov ( also known as Turkmenbashi, or leader of all Turkmen ).

* Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmen politician

Saparmurat Niyazov

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.

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.

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

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

On June 4, 2001 Turkmenistan President Saparmurat Niyazov ( also known as Turkmenbashi ) authorized a decree that required foreigners to pay a $ 50, 000 fee to marry a Turkmen citizen ( regardless of how they met ), and to live in the country and own property for one year.

The lyrics were written by the first president of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov ( also known as Turkmenbashi, ).

* Eric Schultz of the U. S. Embassy in the Turkmenistan met with Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov to discuss responses to the September 11th attacks.

From 1985 it was led by Saparmurat Niyazov, who in 1991 renamed the party to the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan, which is no longer a communist party.

Winners include Turkmenistan president-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov, who received the award in 2003 for his books " Blessed Be the Turkmen People ” and " Five Epochs of the Spirituality of the Turkmen People.

Türkmenbaşy, or Turkmenbashi in anglified spelling, literally " Head of all Turkmens ," is a term coined by Saparmurat Niyazov that was used in several contexts:

In 1997 ( well after independence ), the anthem was changed to " Independent, Neutral, Turkmenistan State Anthem ", the music and lyrics of which were written by President-for-Life Saparmurat Niyazov.

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.

In 1993, Krasnovodsk was renamed by President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov, after his self-proclaimed title Türkmenbaşy (" Leader of all Turkmen ").

In Turkmenistan, the local party apparatus led by Saparmurat Niyazov was converted into the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan.

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

Also pointing to high-level government corruption in the drug trade, Turkmenistan ’ s president, Saparmurat Niyazov, publicly declared that smoking opium was healthy.

By the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century, Turkmenistan ’ s Saparmurat Niyazov regime was sometimes considered a neo-Stalinist one ( especially regarding his cult of personality ).

Ruhnama ( The Book of the Soul ), is a book written by Saparmurat Niyazov, late President for Life of Turkmenistan, combining spiritual / moral guidance, autobiography and revisionist history ; much of it is of dubious or disputed factuality and accuracy.

* Saparmurat Niyazov, president-for-life and dictator of Turkmenistan, gave himself the title Türkmenbaşy (" Leader of all Turkmens ")

During the long rule of president Saparmurat Niyazov large pictures and statues of him could be seen in public places in Turkmenistan.

Saparmurat Niyazov, the recently deceased president of Turkmenistan, ordered the construction of a huge ice palace near the capital city of Aşgabat in April 2004, a remarkable project considering Turkmenistan's climate.

When Turkmenistan became independent in 1991, president Saparmurat Niyazov immediately instigated a return to the Latin script.

* Saparmurat Niyazov-President of Turkmenistan from 1990 until his death in 2006.

Former President Saparmurat Niyazov's book of spiritual writings, the Ruhnama, is imposed on all religious communities.

The full name of this tournament is the " IX Turkmenistan President Great Saparmurat Turkmenbashi Cup ".

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

Niyazov once proclaimed that anyone who reads this book three times will " become more intelligent, will recognise the divine being and will go straight to heaven ".

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.