The great and illustrious leader of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov, died today from a heart attack.

Pretty impressive way to go for a guy who was supposed to live forever in all of his godliness.

Of all the countries in the world, Turkmenistan is perhaps one of the worst in terms of poverty, economic and politics freedoms, and just about every other indicator to the general health of the society. Turkmenbashi was able to create such a utopian society through the careful construction of a massive cult of personality since the end of the Soviet Union. In fact, the man has so warped the country based on his narcassistic ego that if you were to ask, “What is Turkmenistan?” the answer would be: Turkmenbashi.

A list of his crowning achievements, both economic, political, and cultural, since he came to power oh so long ago:

– Successfully renamed the months and days of the week after himself and close family members in order to reflect the ancestral legacy of the country.
– He is an accomplished author, having written a work of nonfiction called the Ruhnama, which has and always will be the best selling book in all of Turkmenistan, beloved by schoolchildren and adults alike!
– His image is constantly craved by the people for all his godliness, so statues and pictures of his face have been placed in every public area, on currency, and on vodka bottles. The people dedicated a 120 foot gold statue in his honor, a monument so beautiful that the sun rotates around it.
– Has upheld the public morality by public music, ballets, and operas.
– Turkmenbashi is so all-knowing that the people give him their greatest confidence, so when parliament meets, they approve all of his plans and even made him president for life.

Turkmenistan also owes the following accomplishments to their great and powerful leader:

– Rank 155 out of 159 on Transparency International’s “most corrupt countries” list.
– The worst score possible for both political rights and civil liberties on Freedom House’s “freedom in the world” list.
– Over 50% of the population is living in poverty.
– All independent media is banned.
– All political parties except for his are banned.
– Most religions are banned.
– NGOs are effectively banned.
– If you can think of it, it’s probably banned.

That Turkmenbashi has created such a huge cult of personality for himself while leaving the country in tatters, much like North Korea, means that his death could bring great political instability to the country unless those under him have a plan for succession. Turkmenbashi, unlike most dictators, was able to centralize so much power to himself that he was a threat to anyone else with power — a cause for much jealousy and ire from those below, which caused him to constantly purge his government.

Given the huge amount of natural gas wealth that is ripe for the extracting, I anticipate that that there will be an immense struggle for power unless there is something of a power-sharing agreement. We will either see the elites tear themselves apart or form a Politburo-style committee of all the major groups that will come to a consensus on who the new leader shall be. If the Soviet Union is any example, we may also see, much like what happened following Stalin’s death, a de-Turkmenbashi-ization in which the entire cult of personality is torn down in favor of a little more function.

Personally, I don’t see how Turkmenistan can become any worse than it already is. If anything, barring a situation where violence erupts, the death of a singular leader based on a cult of personality will lead to a situation where the elites don’t have to be as paranoid, which ultimately would mean a more relaxed policy toward economic and possibly even civil liberties.

In this case, one man’s end could be the beginning of a much better future (at least comparatively!) for Turkmenistan.