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Gurbanguly Mälikgulyýeviç Berdimuhamedow became the first president of Turkmenistan in 2006 after the death of his predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov. He has been reelected to the position three times since then, most recently in 2017. Under Berdimuhamedow, Turkmenistan has become a more authoritarian state, with critics of the government being imprisoned or harassed.