Turkmen opposition leader blames West for his woes

MOSCOW, Feb 5 (Reuters) Turkmenistan's exiled opposition leader accused the West today of turning a blind eye to his woes ahead of presidential elections this month and of putting business ties before democracy.

The exiled opposition movement had become disillusioned with the West, which talked about democracy but took no action, Khudaiberdy Orazov told Reuters in a telephone interview.

''When it comes to doing real things, they just embrace those who happen to have most power. It's dirty,'' he said from Sweden, which granted him political asylum in the 1990s.

Turkmenistan is a key gas-producing state in Central Asia.

The West, while criticising human rights violations, kept up relations with Turkmenistan during the rule of autocratic leader Saparmurat Niyazov, who died on December. 21.

His death galvanised the exiled opposition and briefly raised hopes for more openness and democracy.

The exiled opposition wanted Orazov to be a candidate in the presidential vote but, he said, he could not risk going home without Western security guarantees. His name is not on the ballot.

''We could have gone there anyway if ... we had not been left out of the game. If (the West) had told us that we should be taking part (in the election), we would have gladly done so,'' he said.

Acting President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who has promised to honour all contracts with foreign companies and continue Niyazov's policies, is expected to win the election.

The nation has never held an election judged free or fair by foreign monitors.

Turkmenistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, is central to Western foreign policy in the region. Assistant US Secretary of State Richard Boucher attended Niyazov's funeral and said Washington hoped to start a new era in ties with Turkmenistan.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said last week it planned to avoid publicly judging the poll because it had too little time to prepare.

Orazov said the OSCE and Western nations simply did not want to anger the country's new leaders in exchange for establishing dialogue.

The OSCE refused to comment on the matter but a source in the organisation said separately ''it's really not our role'' to support the opposition.

''It's not our role to do so in any election that the OSCE monitors,'' the source said.

REUTERS MS PM2213