Niyazov, Saparmurat (1940–2006)

Turkmen politician, president 1990–2006. He became communist party leader and prime minister in the Turkmenistan Republic in 1985 and entered the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) Politburo in 1990. He led the republic's breakaway from the USSR, after a pro-independence referendum in 1991, and subsequently ruled in an autocratic manner, developing a personality cult and suppressing opposition. Elected unopposed as president in 1992, his term was extended to 2002 by a referendum in January 1994.

He initially supported the attempted coup by conservative communists against Mikhail Gorbachev in August 1991. After independence, he promoted secular values and cautious economic reform, and encouraged foreign investment to develop the country's huge natural gas and oil reserves. He adopted the title ‘Turkmenbashi’ (leader of the Turkmen).

Born in Ashgabat, he grew up in a Soviet orphanage after his father was killed fighting Nazi Germany during World War II and the rest of his family died in an earthquake in 1948. After training in St Petersburg, Russia, he joined the CPSU in 1962 and worked in a variety of party positions in Turkmenistan from the 1960s.