Niyazov, Saparmurad (1940-2006), was president of the republic of Turkmenistan from 1992 to 2006. He had been the leader of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) since 1985.
As president, Niyazov suppressed political opposition and gave himself tremendous power. Under the Constitution introduced in 1992, the term of office for the president was five years. A 1994 referendum extended Niyazov’s term to 2002. In 1999, Niyazov had Turkmenistan’s parliament make him president for life.
Niyazov encouraged the development of Turkmenistan’s economy and promoted the modernization of Turkmenistan’s oil and gas industry. He supported the building of an oil and gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Iran. In 1997, he allowed private ownership of land to be legalized.
Saparmurad Atayevich Niyazov was born on Feb. 19, 1940, in Ashgabat, the capital of what was then the Turkmen SSR. In 1962, he became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). He graduated from the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute in what is now St. Petersburg in 1966. After working his way up the ranks of the Communist Party in Turkmenistan, he began work for the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1984.
Niyazov became president of the Council of Ministers in 1985. The same year, he was elected first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR. As first secretary, he was also the head of state within the Turkmen SSR. In 1990, he became chairman of the Turkmen Supreme Soviet (parliament).
In 1990 and 1991, Niyazov served as a member of the Politburo, the policymaking body of the CPSU. Niyazov initially supported an attempted coup against Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev in August 1991. But in a referendum in October 1991, the people of Turkmenistan decisively backed independence, and Niyazov changed his views. Turkmenistan gained its independence, and Niyazov was directly elected president of the new independent republic of Turkmenistan soon afterward. Niyazov died on Dec. 21, 2006.
