Turkoman autocracy lives on while market reforms bite
November 8, 2009
By Olzhas Auyezov Ashgabat
ALMOST three years after the death of the "Leader of all Turkomans", Turkmenistan's people find their new leader comes with a similarly autocratic personality cult, but a new readiness to carry out painful reforms.
President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has not taken down the golden statues of the horse-loving Saparmurat Niyazov from the streets. But his own portraits, some showing him riding a horse, feature prominently on the white marble buildings of the capital, Ashgabat.
Petrol, electricity and water are still free in Turkmenistan, which sits on the world's fourth-largest gas reserves. But petrol has gone up eight-fold and a decision to use market-exchange rates is causing pain. Ordinary people frequently complain about rising prices and low pay. A hotel guard says his family of four can barely get by on a salary of $200 (R1 513) a month.
But mutterings of discontent are muted, since Berdymukhamedov has shown himself no more tolerant of political dissent than his predecessor.
Turkmenistan remains closed and reclusive, and citizens are reluctant or afraid to speak to journalists.
However, Western human-rights groups say opposition politicians are persecuted, imprisoned or forced into exile, and no independent political parties can operate openly..
It was a formula that worked for Saparmurat Niyazov, who proclaimed himself Turkmenbashi, or Leader of all Turkomans, while running the country with an iron fist for 21 years until his sudden death in 2006.
Niyazov ruthlessly crushed political opposition and restricted basic freedoms, such as foreign travel. But he created a social-welfare system that allowed most of the population to meet basic needs for free or at subsidised prices.
Foreign guests are now asked to lunches in Berdymukhamedov's honour in the same way they were once asked to toast Niyazov.
Some saw a whiff of freedom when Berdymukhamedov made good on a promise to allow internet cafés. But websites critical of the authorities are blocked, and staff at the cafés register visitors' passports.
Berdymukhamedov's term expires in 2012. Few doubt his grip on power will ensure he is swiftly re-elected.
But while Niyazov presided as a kind of benign despot over a "golden age" paid for by gas revenues, Berdymukhamedov has chosen to use his near-absolute power to try to reform the ex-Soviet state's communist-style command economy.
Official propaganda proclaims Berdymukhamedov's rule as an "era of great revival" and touts the new leader as the single architect of a new historical era's "great reforms".
Pledging to open up the ex-Soviet nation - and aware Turkmenistan needs to attract foreign investment to modernise its gas infrastructure - he has undertaken some economic reforms foreign businesses praise.
These include a law to combat money laundering and putting pressure on banks to lend more.
But corruption remains a way of life. Some of the reforms have hit ordinary Turkomans in their wallets, causing anger, and nostalgia for Niyazov's rule.
The government increased the heavily subsidised petrol price eightfold in 2008, although Turkomans still get 120 litres a month for free. At about 20 US cents a litre (R1.50), it is still cheap enough for many to leave their engines running while shopping.
Another unpopular reform was the alignment of the official exchange rate of the local currency, the manat, with the market rate. The effect was to strengthen the manat, and so reduce the remittances of thousands of Turkoman migrant workers.
Turkomans, unfamiliar with the market economy, perceive these measures as a corrupt elite's attempts to increase its wealth at their expense.
There are no official unemployment figures in Turkmenistan. But Ashgabat residents say young men are flocking to the capital in search of jobs.
"Many of them fail (to find work) and turn into tramps and beggars," says hotel guard Yunus.
Turkhbatulin's Turkoman Initiative for Human Rights reports protests over wage arrears. Sources in Turkmenistan say Turkomans building a gas pipeline to China have clashed with Chinese fellow workers who were being paid more.
Foreign businessmen say some construction projects in Ashgabat have been frozen as government finances took a hit from the disruption of gas sales to Russia.
But Berdymukhamedov is pressing ahead with several gigantic schemes initiated by Niyazov, such as the construction of an artificial lake in the Karakum Desert.
Other projects are the Caspian Sea resort Avaza and a railway connecting Kazakhstan and Iran. Some observers doubt the feasibility of the projects, but one of the aims may be to create jobs. - Reuters
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