As part of the support team to the Civil-Military Emergency Preparedness (CMEP) program, we recently got our first chance to participate in an emergency planning workshop in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. While we have supported the CMEP program elsewhere for years, the closed nature of the country has not permitted us to have full scale international workshops or table-top exercises with technical support like this in Turkmenistan before.
Turkmenistan got its independence from the Soviet Union 19 years ago and was promptly closed down by its leader at the time, Saparmurat Niyazov (later given the title of President for Life and also referred to as Türkmenbaşy – leader of all Turkmens). The time of Niyazov's rule until his death in 2006 was mostly characterized by aggressive promotion of Muslim and Turkmen nationalist culture, personality cult and complete one-party dictatorial rule.
Ashgabat has been under heavy reconstruction recently. Photo by Rahim Alizadeh, August 2010
The country has been showing signs of opening up to the world since the new president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, has been in charge, even though his own election to the position has been contested as rigged by international observers. Having large reserves of natural gas an oil and a large part of the Caspian coast, Turkmenistan has the potential to be a major regional influence.
