1991 Turkmen independence referendum

26 October 1991 (1991-10-26)
Do you agree with the legislative establishment of Turkmenistan as an independent democratic state?
For   94.1% Against   5.9%
Do you support the statement of the President and Supreme Soviet of the Turkmenistan Soviet Socialist Republic "On the domestic and foreign policy of Turkmenistan" and the practical activity to implement it?
For   93.5% Against   6.5%

Politics of Turkmenistan
Constitution People's Council Chairman:Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow President Serdar Berdimuhamedow Cabinet Assembly Speaker:Dünýägözel Gulmanowa State Security Council Political parties Agrarian Party Democratic Party Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Recentelections Presidential:2012 2017 2022 Parliamentary:2018 2021 2023 Administrative divisions Region Districts Cities Foreign relations Visa policy Human rights Ruhnama
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Anindependence referendum was held in theTurkmen SSR on 26 October 1991.

The policies ofdemokratizatsiya andperestroika as enacted byMikhail Gorbachev led to the gradual loss of theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union's iron grip over its constituent federal republics. Nationalistic sentiments were on the rise—often fomenting in widescale protests—across late 1980s, leading to theparade of sovereignties.

In Turkmenistan, thenational conservativeAgzybirlik (Unification) took up the cause of independence and gained a significant base among native Turkmens.Saparmurat Niyazov—then Secretary of the Supreme Soviet—had the party banned for anti-Soviet activities, and suppressed dissent. However, in what the first multi-party election to the Supreme Soviet (1990), multiple independent candidates won and propagated nationalist sentiments.

Despite this, in theMarch 1991 referendum, 98% of voters proposed to preserve the Turkmen SSR as an equal sovereign republic of the USSR. Atreaty to the effect was agreed upon to be signed but a day before, hardline communists launcheda coup in Russia. Niyazov remained ambivalent to the coup but once it failed and Russia made its intentions clear to leave USSR, he prepared for the inevitable disintegration of the USSR and independence of Turkmenistan. The independence referendum was held in this context, and with the aim of rebranding Niyazov as an able leader in the testing times of transition and to pave the way to eventual autocracy.

Voters were asked two questions:^[1]

1. Do you agree with the legislative establishment ofTurkmenistan as an independent democratic state?
2. Do you support the statement of thePresident and Supreme Soviet of the Turkmenistan Soviet Socialist Republic "On the domestic and foreign policy of Turkmenistan" and the practical activity to implement it?

• Dissolution of the Soviet Union
• 1991 referendums
• 1991 in Turkmenistan
• Referendums in Turkmenistan
• Independence referendums
• Referendums in the Soviet Union

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