Person

Saparmurat Niyazov

1940–2006 · 20th century · Also known as Turkmenbashi

Saparmurat Niyazov was first secretary of the Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR from 1985 and president of independent Turkmenistan from 1991 until his death in 2006. Styling himself Turkmenbashi, "head of the Turkmen", he built an extreme personality cult, renamed months after himself and his mother, and made his book the Ruhnama compulsory reading.

Saparmurat Niyazov
Image: Danny Gys · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 2 state histories

Turkmen SSRTurkmenistan

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Saparmurat Niyazov. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/saparmurat-niyazov
MLA
“Saparmurat Niyazov.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/saparmurat-niyazov. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Saparmurat Niyazov.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/saparmurat-niyazov.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Saparmurat Niyazov’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/saparmurat-niyazov (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻