When Turkmenistan’s President Niyazov died in 2006, it was the end of an eccentric personality cult. His successor promised to open the state up but today the gas-rich nation is still an enigma.

Leaders of the five littoral states, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan, had been due to meet March 8-9 in the city of Turkmenbashi ... reason for this," Niyazov said at ...