Turkmenistan and the EU: Contexts and possibilities for greater engagement
Turkmenistan and the EU: Contexts and possibilities for greater engagement

Author(s): Michael Denison
Subject(s): Environmental and Energy policy, Government/Political systems, International relations/trade, Comparative politics
Published by: CEPS Centre for European Policy Studies
Keywords: Turkmenistan; EU; domestic political landscape;
Summary/Abstract: The sudden death of Turkmenistan’s President Saparmurat Niyazov on 21 December 2006, has opened a window for engagement between the European Union and Turkmenistan. There appears to be a realisation across the Turkmen political elite that Niyazov’s style of policy micro management was unsustainable and undesirable, both in terms of its immediate outcomes and for its broader impact on political and social cohesion. Accordingly, a more balanced and predictable form of governance under President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov has emerged, albeit with an increasingly accented personalistic tone.

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