Turkmenistan: No Job Security for Officials -- Even Old Presidential Friends

Turkmenistan is well-known for its parade of rotating ministers and other high-level officials. This summer has been especially hard. In at least two cases officials were appointed then dismissed within roughly two months. For one, that dismissal came with criminal charges.

If there were job-opportunity sections in Turkmen newspapers for vacant government posts, they might read something like this:

"Wanted for short-term employment -- reliable person to serve in ministerial post. Loyalty a must, experience in field not a prerequisite. Continued employment dependent on performance. Failure to perform could result in incarceration. Recommended that people responding to this ad not have any long-term plans."

In Turkmenistan, President Saparmurat Niyazov has the final say on everything, including appointments to -- and dismissals from -- government posts. Lately, it is his firings more than his hirings that have been at the center of attention.

Construction Minister Amangeldy Rejepov is the latest government official to be fired for "serious shortcomings in his work." He had been in the position just over a month.

Rejepov was not the only "short-term" official to lose his job in August. On 12 August, Niyazov dismissed Saparmemed Valiev, a state minister and head of the state oil company Turkmenneft. Valiev had been at that post just over two months.

At a 12 August cabinet session, Niyazov expressed his displeasure with Valiev, whom he accused of corruption and pilfering oil wealth from the state. "According to the law, I should take away your freedom and take away your title of