The Gate to Hell has been open since the 1980s – but it might finally be running out of gas. Deep in the arid desert of Turkmenistan, a huge crater has been burning with the wrath of a thousand flames ...

And no one has heard of Statkevich. And no one has seen him either. Neither his lawyer, nor his relatives, nor the inmates of ...

During the presidency of Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan’s first president, the changes in power distribution between the country’s assembly bodies were directed by his urge to build an ultra ...

When Niyazov, Turkmenistan’s first president, died in 2006, Berdymukhamedov was deputy chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, a post essentially the same as a vice president and one he’d held ...

As head of Turkmenistan's Communist Party from 1985, Niyazov was a hardliner and ambivalent about the reforms championed by then-leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Turkmenistan marked its 25th year of independence on October 27 and -- while life has always been hard for the some 5 million people in the isolationist, authoritarian state -- this year’s anniversary ...

When the Soviet Union collapsed, Niyazov became president and took on the task of strengthening Turkmenistan’s independence and national character.

Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan's first President-for-Life, once suggested that reading his “Ruhnama” (“The Book of the Soul”) three times would be enough to guarantee a person's place in heaven. But ...

One of Ashgabat’s districts, previously called Niyazov’s district after the former President of Turkmenistan, has been renamed as Bagtyiarlyk, allegedly due to the expansion of the capital’s borders.

The BBC's Rayhan Demytrie asks whether Turkmenistan has changed since the death of long-time leader Saparmurat Niyazov, as it holds elections with the result a foregone conclusion.