Published December 24th, 2006 by Future Atlas
Turkmenistan: the lid comes off?
The death of brutal (and comically megalomaniacal) dictator Saparmurat Niyazov makes the future of the tightly controlled Central Asian nation suddenly uncertain.
Says a Russian expert in the Christian Science Monitor, “We might see a military coup, or an extended period of clashes among the elite.”
Another Russian expert adds, “Basically, there is no predictable script for a power transfer in Turkmenistan.”
Observers also suggest that Turkmenistan’s energy resources might become more accessible to Western energy companies in the future.
More broadly, Turkmenistan may end up at the center of a renewed multipolar “Great Game” in the 21st century. As the IHT puts it, “The country is of great interest to the West, Russia, China and Iran because of its vast natural gas reserves and its geographical position.”