President claims he wants to make country more democratic Turkmenistan's leader has said he wants to overhaul the gas producer's constitution to reflect its commitment to market economics, democracy, and human rights. The new more liberal constitution, due to come into force this year, has however failed to stem criticism from human rights groups over the slow pace of reform in Turkmenistan. The basic law replaces a more autocratic text drafted to suit the late Saparmurat Niyazov, who ruled Central Asia's biggest gas producer for 21 years and tolerated no dissent. "Reforming the constitutional basis of society and state is a true necessity triggered by the objective conditions of the era of new renaissance," said President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, using a phrase coined by him to describe Turkmenistan's reformist drive...
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