Turkmenistan to bury leader, succession undecided

ASHGABAT, Dec 24 (Reuters) Turkmenistan buries today President Saparmurat Niyazov, who isolated the Central Asian state from the world and ruled with an extravagant personality cult, amid signs of a simmering struggle for the succession.

The 66-year-old leader, referred to at home as Turkmenbashi or Head of the Turkmen, died of a heart attack on Thursday, plunging into uncertainty a country whose gas reserves are important for Europe, Russia and the United States.

Niyazov's body will be put on display in a palace in Ashgabat for a farewell ceremony at 0930hrs attended by top Turkmen officials and foreign delegations.

At noon, Niyazov will start his last 15-km (10-mile) journey to his home town of Kipchak, where a family mausoleum stands next to the biggest mosque in ex-Soviet Central Asia -- a huge marble building constructed for him by a French firm.

He will be buried next to his father, killed in World War Two, and mother and two brothers, who died in a 1948 earthquake.

Tens of thousands of Turkmens are expected to line the road to watch the motorcade carrying Niyazov's body pass.

Turkmenistan is in seven days of official mourning but there has been no outpouring of public grief for a man who crushed dissent, jailed critics and controlled every aspect of people's lives -- from the clothes they wore to the books they read.

A statement after a meeting of the new National Security Council and cabinet said yesterday people ''were maintaining their reserve and calm ... public order is being upheld''.

Acting President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, the official Turkmen news agency said, asked the central bank chief to ''keep under his control the issue of prompt payment of salaries''.

''It is vital to do everything so that in this difficult time, the Turkmen people want for nothing, that consumers get uninterrupted supplies of staples and that all key systems functions properly,'' the report quoted him as saying.

The statement may have been aimed at countering allegations Niyazov had amassed a large personal fortune. Opposition exiles have asked Germany's government and Deutsche Bank to freeze accounts in which they say Niyazov held 3 billion dollars.

''Why should I be upset?'' said a taxi driver who, like most residents, would not disclose even his first name to a visitor.

''As long as there is no war, the Turkmen people are very calm.'' Turkmenistan watchers do not expect the country to see unrest of the kind that changed governments in ex-Soviet Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan in recent years.

MORE REUTERS MQA RN0804