by Ruslan Tukhbatullin
At the Cabinet session on 1 November, the Chairperson of Turkmenistan’s Parliament Akdja Nurberdyeba stated that documents were now being prepared to adopt the law “On the Khalk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan”.
The unexpected decision to reinstate the Elders’ Council back to the Khalk Maslakhaty (the People’s Council) was voiced during the course of the latest Council session which was held on 9 October.
Neither the official media outlets nor other sources have reported on these changes and for this reason the conversion of the Elders’ Council into the People’s Council has caused bewilderment among residents of Turkmenistan and international experts.
The history of establishing and the role of the Khalk Maslakhaty was not initially fully clear.For various reasons the Council was comprised of representatives from all branches of power: khyakims of etraps and velayats, parliament members and ministers of various ranks.
Apart from officials, national representatives, including elders, public sector employees, and entrepreneurs were selected to serve on the Council.The Council was pronounced the highest representative body of the state despite the fact that this role is usually played by the Parliament.
In 2008 after Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov’s rise to power, the People’s Council was renamed the Elders’ Council and was deprived of all legislative powers.
Now, ten years later, for some reason the country’s authorities need the abolished body with all its broad powers.
In order to understand what this might mean for the country and what objectives the President was pursuing by reinstating this body, “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” contacted experts to provide explanations to the following questions:
— What objectives was Saparmurat Niyazov pursuing by setting up the Khalk Maslakhaty?
— Why did Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov abolish the body after his rise to power?
— Why was the People’s Council reinstated and why did it happen now?
“I have always treated the Khalk Maslakhaty as some decoration”
A human rights activist, editor-in-chief of the information website “TurkmenYurt” and President of the international expert centre “Yanardag” Geldy Kyarizov:
I have always treated the Khalk Maslakhaty as some form of decoration.All the elders who took part in the sessions were only actors whom I met at various large-scale events.
I attended one of them and saw first hand how zealous they were when the Council had been voting to enact lifelong presidency for Saparmurat Niyazov.
The Khalk Maslakhaty had to convince an external spectator, i.e.various embassies in Turkmenistan and the international community at large, that Turkmenistan was a democratic regime.
For the population he was the guide to a new ideology.The former Communist party, subsequently converted into the Democratic Party, was quite weak and was not fit for this role.
People selected to serve on the Council had more credibility and influence among residents.
It should be noted that Niyazov had been using this tool quite successfully to bypass some laws, for example, when the crowd was chanting “Ölüm! Ölüm!” (“Death! Death!”) demanding that those arrested in connection with the assassination attempt against Niyazov be executed.
Niyazov highlighted that these assemblies were part of the Turkmen culture.For instance, Nurberdy-Khan convened this council in the run-up to the Geoktepe battle.
However, one must realize that at that time Turkmens did not have any statehood.There were separate tribes residing on the territory of the present-day Turkmenistan and these councils were needed to coordinate their actions.
The assemblies in the format set up by Niyazov had nothing to do with the history of the nation.
By the time Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov rose to power, this body had some authority and could have prevented the newly-elected President from squaring their shoulders.Berdymukhammedov wanted to get rid of those members of the Khalk Maslahaty who were most influential and trustworthy among residents in order to leave only the most pliable members, who elected other, more influential yashuli members of the Elders’ Council the body which was set up on the basis of the Khalk Maslakhaty.
Moreover, one can say that the hands of the Khalk Maslakhaty members are coated with blood following the assassination attempt when members of the assembly called for the death of detainees. Many overseas observers, including foreign diplomats who used to work in Turkmenistan, enquired about the fate of those convicted.
Berdymukhammedov was driven to reinstate the Khalk Maslakhaty by his desire to convince the international community of the democratic nature of the regime as previous attempts had been unsuccessful, and the heads of democratic states did not even congratulate him on his victory in the recent elections.
Berdymukhammedov does not like that he is considered to be an usurper by civilized countries and therefore he reinstated the Khalk Maslakhaty, where all social groups rather than only older generations will be represented, to prove that democracy exists in Turkmenistan.
This should give back to him legitimacy as viewed by the international community because not only the elders but the whole nation will support him.
For the time being increased pressure is being exerted on Berdymukhmammedov in connection with the campaign “Prove they are alive”.At some point he could have refused to have anything to do with Niyazov’s crimes but he did not do so.
Moreover, there are new political prisoners who are being held incommunicado and are included in the list of those missing in Turkmen prisons.Now, with the help of the Khalk Maslakhaty the blame for all the crimes might be shifted to the people’s will.
“Niyazov needed the Khalk Maslakhaty to get control over the Parliament”
Chairperson of the Republican Party of Turkmenistan (in exile) Nurmukhammed Khanamov:
Niyazov needed the Khalk Maslakhaty to get control over the Mejlis.Initially he abolished the position of the head of government and personally chaired the Cabinet of Ministers, and after that he sought to take charge of the legislative power, i.e.
Parliament. (Pursuant to the Constitution of Turkmenistan and democratic principles of the state, the head of the executive branch cannot simultaneously act as head of the legislative branch. — comment by editor).
This scheme with the People’s Council, which eventually became the highest representative body (with higher authority than the Parliament) provided him with this opportunity as he took on the leadership of it.
Members of the Council included parliament members, khyakims (heads) of various velayats (regions) and etraps (districts) and the elders, which allowed Niyazov to claim that the initiatives put forward at the Council sessions came not from the President but from representatives of the Khalk Maslakhaty and decisions were made with the consent of the nation.
With the help of the Khalk Maslakhaty, Niyazov promoted his ambiguous ideas and illegal decisions. For instance, in the course of the Council session and in violation of the Constitution he secured the right to become the President for life.
Needless to say, the Parliament chairperson would not dare to contradict Niyazov, who could have received all the necessary decisions from the Mejlis but this would have required more time and additional initiatives.
Somebody would need to propose the initiatives and then the Parliament would have to discuss and eventually approve them.In the Khalk Maslakhaty the initiatives would have been passed much faster.
Moreover, the situation when the legislative body had delegated more and more authority to the President would have looked absurd.
After his rise to power, Berdymukhammedov claimed on the one hand that he would continue the policy pursued by his predecessor, but on the other hand was urged to demonstrate to the international community that he was ready to implement reforms.
For this reason he retained the Council but stripped it of all its authority by converting it from a higher representative body into the advisory body.
Now that Berdymukhammedov has a firm grip of power and, as the head of state, communicates on a high level with Russia, China and other countries, he does not feel any threat toward his legitimacy. I think that he is only now beginning to realize the meaning and advantages of the Niyazov-era Khalk Maslakaty.
At the same time, I do not relate the decision to reinstate the Khalk Maslakhaty with the crisis and some internal turmoil. I believe that in any case sooner or later he would have come to this decision.
“The mere existence of the Khalk Maslakhaty contradicted several articles of the Constitution”
Editor-in-chief of the information website “Gundogar” Bairam Shikhmuradov:
The Khalk Maslakhaty was meant to be a super-democratic institution, the community body of self government, with the help of which Saparmurat Niyazov sought to demonstrate that he was close to the nation and national traditions.
In reality the legal status of this institution posed many questions from the very beginning. Its mere existence contradicted several articles of Turkmenistan’s Constitution, in particular, article 4 which proclaimed the principle of separation of power into legislative, executive and judicial branches.
The Khalk Maslakhaty caused imbalance in the government authorities by neutralizing the underlying constitutional principle of their independence, equilibrium and mutual restraint.Despite its title, the Khalk Maslakhaty (People’s Council) was in reality not what it was designed to be, since it was almost fully comprised of officials appointed by the President.
At the same time, as the head of the executive branch, the President was obliged to obey the decisions made by the Khalk Maslakhaty, which he signed as its chairperson— a unique situation which has no precedents in world history.
Experts referred to the Khalk Maslakhaty as the “main legitimizing body of anti-legal initiatives by the dictator” and one could agree with this definition.
As viewed from the legal perspective, Berdymukhammedov rose to power as a result of doubtful procedures, closely verging on conspiracy and coup.He urgently needed to exonerate himself in front of the world community and for this reason the issue of reforms was brought up in Turkmenistan, primarily the reform of government authorities.
Deciding to abolish the Khalk Maslakhaty one of the pillars of Niyazov’s regime, which everybody was fed up with Berdymukhammedov was praised overseas and gained approval in his home country.
As regards the revival of the People’s Council, there is no reasonable explanation for this decision as it is absolutely irrational. It can do only harm to the state. There is nothing to comment on.