ASHGABAT: Turkmenistan’s new president pledged on Saturday to continue the tightly-controlled country’s political course, including international neutrality, at an inauguration ceremony confirming the Central Asian state’s father-son leadership transition.

       Official results showed Serdar Berdymukhamedov, 40, winning last Saturday’s ballot with 73 percent of the vote, beating eight token candidates.

       It marked the beginning of a new era after 64-year-old strongman Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov announced plans to step down last month.

       Donning a giant golden chain of office in a ceremony rich with pomp, the younger Berdymukhamedov said he would “continue the path of development created over 30 years of our sacred independence”. “In our external relations we will retain the policy of neutrality,” he added.

       Gas-rich Turkmenistan, a former Soviet republic, is one of the world’s most repressive, secretive states and little is known about how the regime makes day-to-day decisions.

       Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2022