Turkmen leader buried in Soviet-style funeral

ASHGABAT, Dec 24 (Reuters) Turkmenistan's autocratic leader Saparmurat Niyazov was buried today in a ceremony reminiscent of the grand funerals of the Soviet era.

From early morning, tens of thousands of mourners, some weeping and some holding flowers, moved slowly past the open coffin placed in a marble, colonnaded hall at Niyazov's palace, topped by a gilded dome.

A military orchestra played mournful music from a Soviet-era Turkmen film about unfulfilled love. Turkmens queued in orderly lines past a tall, gilded statue of Niyazov that rotates to face the sun -- the city's main landmark.

Niyazov, who had ruled the Central Asian nation since 1985 when it was still a Soviet republic, died on Thursday aged 66.

A former communist apparatchik, he ran Turkmenistan with an iron fist through a self-obsessed personality cult. Niyazov declared himself president-for-life and was referred to at home as Turkmenbashi or Head of the Turkmen.

His death plunged into political uncertainty a country with vast natural gas reserves key to Russia and the West. The United States and Russia sent top officials to the funeral.

US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said after talks with Turkmenistan's interim leadership that the United States hoped to launch a new start in relations.

''Whatever one thinks of President Niyazov, the people of Turkmenistan are going through a period of uncertainty ... I thought it important to convey at this time that we were open to the possibility of a new beginning,'' he told reporters.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and Alexei Miller, CEO of gas giant Gazprom, also attended the funeral.

FUTURE Armoured vehicles and a black Mercedes carrying a huge portrait of Niyazov escorted the coffin to Kipchak, his home town west of Ashgabat. Soldiers stood to attention and saluted.

Heavy clouds hanging over Ashgabat since Niyazov's death gave way to sunshine as his body, wrapped in a green national flag, was lowered into a grave in a family mausoleum near a vast marble mosque.

Six fighters flew low over the site in a deafening roar.

Niyazov crushed dissent, jailed critics and controlled every aspect of people's lives. But many Turkmens fear a future without him.

''I am really scared,'' said Olga, an ethnic Russian in her 50s, who would not give her last name. ''The future of Turkmenistan is unclear after President Niyazov's death.'' Others were less pessimistic or just repeated the official line.

''It was fate that he died,'' said Suleiman, a trader in his 30s.

''But his politics will live on.'' The crowds recalled the mass mourning following the 1953 death of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Stalin's death after nearly three decades in power led to major changes in the Soviet Union, mostly through palace coups.

Niyazov governed his nation like a personal fiefdom, mixing old communist ways and eccentricities. He left no heir apparent, creating fertile ground for political infighting.

In a first sign of a power struggle in Turkmenistan, security forces led by Defence Minister Agageldy Mamedgeldyev set up a Security Council and named little known Deputy Prime Minister Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov as acting head of state.

The highest representative body, the Khalq Maslakhaty or People's Council, meets to discuss the succession on Tuesday.

REUTERS DKA VC1910