Turkmenistan: Agriculture Minister Sacked for Shortcomings

Agriculture Minister Esenmurat Orazgeldiev, who was appointed in January 2006 not long before then-president Saparmurat Niyazov died, was sacked because of "shortcomings in his work," the state news agency reported on March 17.

Orazgeldiev will head the newly created Turkmen Agricultural Institute. Deputy Minister Myratgulush Atayev will assume "temporary [ministerial] duties, the report added.

Orazgeldiev's demotion now leaves only two Niayzov-era appointees still in President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov's cabinet: Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov, appointed in 2001, and Minister of Environmental Protection Makhtumkuli Akmyradov, who was appointed in 2005.