Berdimuhamedovs: father, son and power in Turkmenistan

Serdar Berdimuhamedov seated in a gilded armchair beside the flag of Turkmenistan — Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov at talks in the Kremlin, 10 June 2022. Photo: Presidential Executive Office of Russia / Kremlin.ru / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, edited

Mezon Central’s analysis desk has read Galiya Ibragimova’s piece for Carnegie Politika for you and sums up the main points. She suggests judging how power is shifting in Ashgabat by appointments, dismissals and who is given the floor in public.

In 2022 Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov handed the presidency to his son Serdar. He himself took charge of the Halk Maslahaty, Turkmenistan’s People’s Council, and carried on receiving foreign delegations and representing the country abroad. At first Serdar was seen as a president whose father made the decisions for him. Four years on, that picture is changing.

Serdar is replacing people in key posts

In 2026 the minister of national security, the head of the border service, the deputy prime minister for oil and gas and the heads of three regions were all replaced. Ibragimova sees the reshuffle as Serdar’s attempt to put together a team of his own.

Even so, it is hard to sort officials into the father’s people and the son’s. The new minister of national security, Dovletgeldi Meredov, ran Serdar’s security detail before his appointment, and before that was responsible for Gurbanguly’s security.

Two more figures in this story

The president’s sister, Oguljahan Atabayeva, has become vice-president of her father’s charitable foundation. She meets foreign politicians and gives interviews to foreign media. Serdar, for his part, entrusts the speaker of parliament, Dunyagozel Gulmanova, with leading parliamentary delegations abroad and accepting ambassadors’ credentials. Ibragimova reads the rise of both women as another sign of rivalry between father and son.

The father stays in view

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov smiling, with a Turkmen flag pin on his lapel — Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov in 2022. Photo: Presidential Executive Office of Russia / Kremlin.ru / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, edited

At the session of the People’s Council, Gurbanguly was in the chair, but Serdar gave the main speech. Abroad, each has his own meetings. Serdar met Donald Trump in the C5+1 format, which brings together the Central Asian states and the United States, while Gurbanguly met King Charles III at the Royal Windsor Horse Show. In Ibragimova’s view, what mattered to the former president was that the meeting took place at all: it showed that he still counts abroad.

Ibragimova thinks the rivalry may grow, but considers an open conflict unlikely. Both want power to stay in the family, and a public split could weaken each of them.

Galiya Ibragimova’s full article is available in English here.