Turkmenistan

NEW YORK CITY -- Three of the world's most notorious dictators - Chile's Augusto Pinochet, Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Turkmenistan's Saparmurat Niyazov - died last month. The first two were well-known, out of office and no longer able to terrorize their former subjects. The lesser-known tyrant, Mr. Niyazov, died suddenly while still serving as president-for-life of Turkmenistan, the natural-gas-rich former Soviet republic that borders Afghanistan and Iran. The future of Turkmenistan and its more than 5 million people is up for grabs, and the United States has a splendid opportunity to use its diplomatic influence to effect a democratic outcome.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia brokered an agreement yesterday with two Central Asian countries to build a new gas pipeline to Russia, delivering a major setback to continuing American efforts to send Central Asian natural gas exports directly to Europe. The presidents of Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan agreed to build a new pipeline around the Caspian Sea, giving Russia significantly more control over much of Central Asia's massive natural gas reserves.

MOSCOW -- Supporters of two Central Asian journalists who have been arrested here launched a campaign yesterday to try to block their extradition to Turkmenistan.The two men are critics of the Turkmen president, Saparmurat Niyazov, who has smashed his opposition at home, spread his portrait everywhere (even on coins and bills), and renamed himself "Turkmenbashi," or Father of All Turkmen.Like many dissidents fleeing oppression in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, the two journalists, Murad Esenov and Khalmurad Soyunov, had come to Moscow to continue their work.

NEW YORK CITY -- Three of the world's most notorious dictators - Chile's Augusto Pinochet, Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Turkmenistan's Saparmurat Niyazov - died last month. The first two were well-known, out of office and no longer able to terrorize their former subjects. The lesser-known tyrant, Mr. Niyazov, died suddenly while still serving as president-for-life of Turkmenistan, the natural-gas-rich former Soviet republic that borders Afghanistan and Iran. The future of Turkmenistan and its more than 5 million people is up for grabs, and the United States has a splendid opportunity to use its diplomatic influence to effect a democratic outcome.

With the wave of a meat ax and a smile, a young man in a bloody butcher's apron tries to entice me into buying a skinned sheep carcass. Careful not to offend, I smile and move briskly to the next stall. This is the start of my Saturday morning shopping grocery shop at the Mir Market Bazaar in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Two years ago, I might have complained about the long lines in American supermarkets or the paralyzing number of choices of cereal. But after two years as a State Department official in the central Asian country of Turkmenistan, bordered on the south by Iran and the west by Afghanistan, I've decided when I return to the United States, I'll stop complaining.

THE PRESIDENT of Turkmenistan, who several years ago adopted the name Turkmenbashi, or Father of All Turkmen, yesterday renamed January after himself. He renamed April after his mother, who died in an earthquake in 1948. He renamed September after his book, Rukhname, which is required reading for all Turkmen schoolchildren. He also renamed the other months, and the days of the week. (Wednesday becomes Good Day. That's creative.) The National Council acclaimed the changes, by unanimous vote.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia brokered an agreement yesterday with two Central Asian countries to build a new gas pipeline to Russia, delivering a major setback to continuing American efforts to send Central Asian natural gas exports directly to Europe. The presidents of Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan agreed to build a new pipeline around the Caspian Sea, giving Russia significantly more control over much of Central Asia's massive natural gas reserves.

MOSCOW -- President Saparmurat Niyazov, an eccentric leader who ruled Turkmenistan with an iron hand, died suddenly yesterday, triggering a scramble for power in the gas-rich Central Asian state. Niyazov, who used the name Turkmenbashi, or "Father of all the Turkmen," was 66. State television said he died of a heart attack. In an apparent sign of an immediate power struggle, the country's Security Council announced the opening of a criminal investigation against the speaker of parliament, Ovezgeldy Atayev, who under the constitution was in line to become acting president.

RED ODYSSEY.Marat Akchurin.HarperCollins.406 pages. $25.7/8 "I . . . made a death mask of what was formerly the Soviet Union," writes Marat Akchurin of what he accomplished in "Red Odyssey." "That country no longer exists and never will again."That was the result, not what he set out to do, because when he left on his backwater tour in 1990 the Soviet Union still was sputtering along and the unimaginable events of August 1991 were still unimaginable.Most of the news westerners got about the Soviet republics dealt with Moscow and the major Russian cities.

PHILADELPHIA - A major early civilization - rivaling in sophistication the ones that emerged in the Indus Valley or Mesopotamia, the famed Cradle of Civilization - apparently thrived in central Asia between 2200 B.C. and 1800 B.C. These people, who lived in desert oases in what is now Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, used irrigation to grow wheat and barley, forged distinctive metal axes, carved alabaster and marble into intricate sculptures, and painted pottery...

MOSCOW -- President Saparmurat Niyazov, an eccentric leader who ruled Turkmenistan with an iron hand, died suddenly yesterday, triggering a scramble for power in the gas-rich Central Asian state. Niyazov, who used the name Turkmenbashi, or "Father of all the Turkmen," was 66. State television said he died of a heart attack. In an apparent sign of an immediate power struggle, the country's Security Council announced the opening of a criminal investigation against the speaker of parliament, Ovezgeldy Atayev, who under the constitution was in line to become acting president.

With the wave of a meat ax and a smile, a young man in a bloody butcher's apron tries to entice me into buying a skinned sheep carcass. Careful not to offend, I smile and move briskly to the next stall. This is the start of my Saturday morning shopping grocery shop at the Mir Market Bazaar in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Two years ago, I might have complained about the long lines in American supermarkets or the paralyzing number of choices of cereal. But after two years as a State Department official in the central Asian country of Turkmenistan, bordered on the south by Iran and the west by Afghanistan, I've decided when I return to the United States, I'll stop complaining.

THE PRESIDENT of Turkmenistan, who several years ago adopted the name Turkmenbashi, or Father of All Turkmen, yesterday renamed January after himself. He renamed April after his mother, who died in an earthquake in 1948. He renamed September after his book, Rukhname, which is required reading for all Turkmen schoolchildren. He also renamed the other months, and the days of the week. (Wednesday becomes Good Day. That's creative.) The National Council acclaimed the changes, by unanimous vote.

PHILADELPHIA - A major early civilization - rivaling in sophistication the ones that emerged in the Indus Valley or Mesopotamia, the famed Cradle of Civilization - apparently thrived in central Asia between 2200 B.C. and 1800 B.C. These people, who lived in desert oases in what is now Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, used irrigation to grow wheat and barley, forged distinctive metal axes, carved alabaster and marble into intricate sculptures, and painted pottery...

MOSCOW -- Supporters of two Central Asian journalists who have been arrested here launched a campaign yesterday to try to block their extradition to Turkmenistan.The two men are critics of the Turkmen president, Saparmurat Niyazov, who has smashed his opposition at home, spread his portrait everywhere (even on coins and bills), and renamed himself "Turkmenbashi," or Father of All Turkmen.Like many dissidents fleeing oppression in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, the two journalists, Murad Esenov and Khalmurad Soyunov, had come to Moscow to continue their work.

RED ODYSSEY.Marat Akchurin.HarperCollins.406 pages. $25.7/8 "I . . . made a death mask of what was formerly the Soviet Union," writes Marat Akchurin of what he accomplished in "Red Odyssey." "That country no longer exists and never will again."That was the result, not what he set out to do, because when he left on his backwater tour in 1990 the Soviet Union still was sputtering along and the unimaginable events of August 1991 were still unimaginable.Most of the news westerners got about the Soviet republics dealt with Moscow and the major Russian cities.

Pauline Harris loves a word for "grandmother" that traces back to her Polish heritage: "Busia" (pronounced BOO-shah). She heard it often while growing up in a mostly Polish section of Canton and looked forward to the day when her grandchildren would call her that. "But when my first grandson was born, he couldn't pronounce, 'Busia,' " said Harris, 52, who now resides in Federal Hill. "He started calling me, 'Becka.' " Close enough, she figured, as long as he doesn't call her "Grandma."

In line with government and name changes in the former Soviet Union, The Sun has changed its spelling for some of the republics and its style for datelines from those republics. The spellings of five republics have changed. Byelorussia is now Belarus (bell-uh-ROOSE), Kirghizia is Kyrgyzstan (keer-geez-STAHN), Moldavia is Moldova, Tadzhikistan is Tajikistan and Turkmenia is Turkmenistan. There has been no change in the remaining republics. The Sun no longer uses "U.S.S.