MOSCOW, Dec. 21 -- Saparmurat Niyazov, who wove a bizarre and gilded cult of personality into dictatorial rule as president for life of the energy-rich former Soviet republic Turkmenistan, died ...

President Saparmurat Niyazov, who created a vast cult of personality during two decades of iron-fisted rule over arid, energy-rich Turkmenistan, has died, officials said Thursday. He was 66. A ...

Niyazov's isolationist policy leaves Turkmenistan with no real friends in the international community. Many governments are interested in Turkmenistan's hydrocarbon wealth, but few know anything ...

Visit Atlas Obscura for more on Turkmenistan’s Niyazov legacy, including the Arch of Neutrality, the Giant Ruhnama, the Independence Monument, and the Walk of Health.

An RFE/RL analyst discusses the domestic, regional, and global fallout from the December 21 death of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov.

In Turkmenistan, nearly six million people are still caught in the iron grip of an eccentric dictator who is no longer even alive. Saparmurat Niyazov died last December and was succeeded by his ...

Talk of Niyazov's health has also sparked discussion about what will happen after Niyazov is no longer president -- whether that happens this year, next year, or far into the future. Filip Noubel, a ...

Last week Turkmenistan buried its brutal dictator, Saparmurad Niyazov. His ruthless reign spanned two decades, during which time his policies became increasingly irrational and unpredictable. The ...

Niyazov, Turkmenistan's Soviet-era Communist Party boss, has ruled the Central Asian nation for 20 years and has developed an elaborate personality cult.

Amid the collapse of Turkmenistan's health-care system, the health of the country's mercurial president, Saparmurat Niyazov, has become the subject of conjecture. An opposition-run website recently ...

MOSCOW — Moving swiftly to consolidate power, Turkmenistan’s political elite endorsed the Central Asian nation’s acting president Tuesday as its favored candidate to succeed the late ...