Turkmen Leader Says Democracy Cannot Be Imported

Turkmenistan's new president has said he will not rush to reform the system of government established by late leader Saparmurat Niyazov.

President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov told the Russian-based magazine "Turkmenistan" in an interview published on its website that "any attempt to solve a sociopolitical or economic problem immediately and forever only brings chaos and instability."

He described democracy as a "tender substance" that cannot be imposed from the outside.

Berdymukhammedov praised his country's stability, saying that "in 15 years of independence, Turkmenistan has experienced no economic or political shocks."

Berdymukhammedov was elected president of Turkmenistan in a vote last week that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said marked an improvement but could not be described as a genuine election.

Niyazov ruled the ex-Soviet republic with an iron fist for more than two decades before dying suddenly of a heart attack in late December.

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