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ASHKABAD, Nov 25: A motorcade carrying Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov came under submachinegun fire on Monday in an assassination attempt on the controversial leader of the ex-Soviet republic, government officials and media said.
Niyazov, who has ruled Turkmenistan as head of state since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, survived the attack in the centre of the capital, Ashgabat, a government official said.
“This morning in the centre of the city Niyazov’s motorcade came under fire. No one was hurt,” the official said.
The official gave no other details other than that a cabinet meeting was held afterwards.
Russia’s Itar Tass news agency earlier quoted a source close to the government as saying the motorcade came under submachine gun fire from a truck.
Niyazov, who tolerates no opposition, has been named president for life and has developed a huge personality cult around himself.
Ashgabat, capital of a country bordered by Afghanistan and Iran, was calm on Monday evening.
The atmosphere was little different from normal with the city tightly patrolled by police and soldiers, but with a slightly greater security presence outside the presidential palace.
Tass reported that at the emergency cabinet meeting, Niyazov blamed the assassination attempt on political enemies.
CONTROVERSIAL RULE: Niyazov has been a controversial figure during his lengthy rule, which started in 1985 when he became communist party boss of what was then the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic.
Ashgabat, which has been largely rebuilt on a heroic scale over the last few years, is festooned with billboards and statues of Niyazov.
One, a gold statue on top of a huge tower vaguely reminiscent of the Eiffel Tower, revolves once every 24 hours so the figure of Niyazov can gaze continuously over the whole city.
One of his official titles is Saparmurat Turkmenbashi the Great. Turkmenbashi means Leader or Father of all the Turkmen.
It was under this name that he wrote his most famous book, “Ruhnama”, a spiritual guide for Turkmens which he says was inspired by God and which is now compulsory in school from the age of eight, and is on the syllabus right through university.
In August, Niyazov made headlines around the world when he renamed the month of January, calling it Turkmenbashi. Another month is now named after his mother, and another is called Ruhnama.—Reuters
