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Eurasia
July 26, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
Confusion surrounds fate of Turkmen leader after unconfirmed reports of his death
Kanat Shaku in Almaty
If Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov is dead, who was that on the phone? Such a question on July 24 faced all those still choosing to believe rumours that the autocrat has passed away after Uzbekistan’s presidential press service reported that the Turkmen leader spoke by phone with Shavkat Mirziyoyev to congratulate the Uzbek president on his birthday.
The statement marked the first official report
on Berdimuhamedov’s activities since July 21, when rumours and unconfirmed reports from Rus- sian news outlets created speculation that the 62-year-old was dead. Speculation persisted despite Turkmen ambassador to Russia, Shadurdy Mereyov, telling Russian TASS news agency on
the same day that the reports were "an absolute hoax". Moreover, the Turkmen government's web- site posted an official note on July 21, attributed to Berdimuhamedov, congratulating Turkmen medical workers and awarding them a workers' day holiday.
However, neither state media nor government officials in Ashgabat commented on the reports of the claimed death for three days. RFE/RL noted that on June 29, during celebrations to mark the Turkmen dictator’s 62nd birthday, imams at mosques across the country prayed for his health, something they have not done
in previous years. Also, the news service reported that early on July 24 municipal workers in Ashgabat began cleaning the facades of public buildings – a task usually performed in preparation for a large public event, such as a state funeral or an international conference.
broke on July 24, Turkmen state TV showed video footage of Berdimuhamedov at a construction site in the capital, Ashgabat, claiming the footage was recorded on July 24. Despite presenting apparent footage of him at the construction site on that day, the report insisted several times that the president was on vacation until August 15.
Unable to separate truth from fiction Turkmenistan is one of the world’s most closed and remote countries. The repressive nature of the tightly controlled Central Asian nation makes its environment conducive to rumours that spread quickly. Independent journalists are often left unable to separate truth from fiction.
Speculation on the state of Berdimuhamedov’s health began as early as July 6 after he failed to appear in public on that day and the previous day, when EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini visited Ashgabat.
Turkmenistan's state news agencies are normally full of reports about Berdimuhamedov’s day-to- day activities as part of his personality cult. Such reports have come to a rapid halt this month, adding further fuel to the belief that he might be dead after all.
When neighbouring Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov died in 2016, independent reports of him passing away came out much earlier than the government’s official confirmation of his death.
If the Turkmen leader has indeed died, then the Turkmen elites will likely keep denying any reports of his death until they can decide on a successor.
Shortly after the Uzbek report of the phone call