Since succeeding Turkmen “president for life” Saparmurat Niyazov on December 22, 2006, Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov has swiftly moved to consolidate power and improve Turkmenistan’s international image with an assuredness that has startled analysts. First, on May 16 Ashgabat announced that Akmurat Redzhepov, head of the feared... MORE

The December 21, 2006, death of Turkmenistan’s self proclaimed president-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov set off an intense round of speculation about both the succession process and who might gain access to the world’s fifth-largest energy reserves, responsible for more than $2 billion annually in export revenues.... MORE

On July 17 in Beijing, the Turkmen and Chinese governments signed grandiose-looking agreements on gas field development in Turkmenistan and gas sales to China. Presidents Hu Jintao and Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov -- on his first visit to China since becoming president in February -- witnessed the... MORE

With the unexpected death of Turkmen-President-for-Life Saparmurat Niyazov on December 21, 2006, many Western governments believed that a new era of openness and access to the country’s natural gas deposits, the fifth largest in the world, was about to begin. Six months later, it appears... MORE

At a summit meeting in the Kremlin on April 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to press his Turkmen counterpart on a variety of issues, notably Caspian energy. But during his first official visit to Moscow Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov refrained from making any new commitments. During... MORE

Even before the late Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov was buried last December, foreign government delegations were scrambling to meet with his successor, Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov, either to get reassurance that earlier energy contracts would be honored or to angle for new ones to exploit the world’s... MORE

Following the death of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov on December 21, his successor, Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov, is carefully opening his country’s Internet access to the outside world. Under Niyazov, Turkmenistan had long been isolated from the World Wide Web. According to the Internet World Stats directory,... MORE

On March 7 Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov met Igor Makarov, the CEO of Russian gas trader Itera. During the meeting Makarov reiterated Itera's interest in expanded cooperation with Turkmenistan. He also suggested that Zarit, a joint venture founded by Itera and Russian state-run companies Zarubezhneft... MORE

The election of Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov as Turkmenistan’s new president, widely expected since he became acting president after the death of Saparmurat Niyazov in December, has already witnessed diplomatic overtures by a number of countries keen to develop closer ties with Turkmenistan. Russian President Vladimir Putin,... MORE