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The politics of Turkmenistan takes place in the framework of a presidential republic, whereby the President of Turkmenistan is both head of state and head of government. Turkmenistan has a multi-party system.〔("Turkmenistan takes reformist step" ), BBC, 26 September 2008〕 Turkmenistan is sometimes described as a ''"reclusive ex-Soviet nation"''.〔("Turkmenistan publishes names of candidates" )〕 ==Political background== After 69 years as part of the Soviet Union (including 67 years as a union republic), Turkmenistan declared its independence on 27 October 1991. President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov, a former bureaucrat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, ruled Turkmenistan from 1985, when he became head of the Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR, until his death in 2006. He retained absolute control over the country after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. On 28 December 1999 the Mejlis (parliament) declared Niyazov President for Life. (The Mejlis itself had taken office only a week earlier in elections that included only candidates hand-picked by President Niyazov; no opposition candidates were allowed.) Prior to 2008 the authorities permitted only a single political party, the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan. Political gatherings are illegal unless government sanctioned. All citizens must carry internal passports, noting place of residence—a practice carried over from the Soviet era. Movement into and out of the country, as well as within its borders, is difficult. Turkmenistan is dominated by a pervasive cult of personality extolling the late president Niyazov as Türkmenbaşy ("Leader of all Turkmen"), a title he assumed in 1993. His face adorns many everyday objects, from banknotes to bottles of vodka. The logo of Turkmen national television is his profile. The two books he has written are mandatory readings in schools and public servants are quizzed yearly about their knowledge of their contents. They are also common in shops and homes. Many institutions are named after Niyazov's mother. All watches and clocks made must bear his portrait printed on the dial-face. A giant 15-meter (50 ft) tall gold-plated statue of Niyazov stands on a rotating pedestal in Ashgabat, so it will always face into the sun and shine light onto the city. A slogan popular in Turkmen propaganda is "Halk! Watan! Türkmenbashi!" ("People! Motherland! Leader!") Niyazov renamed the days of the week after members of his family and wrote the new Turkmen national anthem/oath himself. Foreign companies seeking to exploit Turkmenistan's vast natural gas resources cooperated with Niyazov since he also controlled access to the natural resources. His book, ''Ruhnama'' (or ''Rukhnama'', 2001 and 2004), which is revered in Turkmenistan almost like a holy text, has been translated into 41 languages〔 〕 and distributed for free among major international libraries.〔 http://www.tagesspiegel-berlin.de/weltspiegel/nachrichten/personenkult/71702.asp 〕 Niyazov once proclaimed that anyone who reads this book three times will "become more intelligent, will recognise the divine being and will go straight to heaven".〔() 〕 After Niyazov's death, deputy prime minister Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow became acting-president, and was elected president in his own right on 11 February 2007 in elections condemned by international observers as fraudulent. On 20 March, in a decision of significant symbolical weight in the ongoing rejection of Niyazov's personality cult, he abolished the power of the president to rename any landmarks, institutions, or cities. After the death of Saparmurat Niyazov Turkmenistan's leadership made tentative moves to open up the country. Berdimuhamedow repealed some of Niyazov's most idiosyncratic policies, including banning opera and the circus for being ''"insufficiently Turkmen"''. In education, his government increased basic education from 9 years to 10 years, and extended higher education from two years to five. He has also increased contacts with the West, which is eager for access to the country's natural gas riches - but fears were mounting that the government would revert to Niyazov's draconian style of rule. The constitution provides for freedom of the press, but the government does not practice it. The government controls all media outlets. Only two newspapers, ''Adalat'' and ''Galkynysh'', are nominally independent, but they were created by presidential decree. Cable television, which existed in the late 1980s, was shut down. Turkmen authorities restrict the activities of all but the officially recognized Russian Orthodox and Sunni Muslim faiths. Religious congregations must register with the government, and individual parishes must have at least 500 members to register. Severe measures deal with religious sects that have not been able to establish official ties of state recognition, especially Baptists, Pentecostals, Seventh-day Adventists, Hare Krishna, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Bahá'ís. Practitioners of these sects have allegedly been harassed, imprisoned, and/or tortured, according to some foreign human-rights advocacy groups. Corruption continues to be pervasive. Power is concentrated in the presidency; the judiciary is wholly subservient to the régime, with all judges appointed for five-year terms by the president without legislative review. Little has been done to prosecute corrupt officials. The United Nations General Assembly recognized and supported Turkmenistan's "status of permanent neutrality" on 11 January 1996.〔(Resolutions Adopted by the General Assembly: Maintenance of International Security and Permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan ) (pdf). ''United Nations General Assembly''. 90th Plenary Meeting. 11 January 1996. (Dead Link)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Politics of Turkmenistan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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