Elaborate funeral honors Niyazov

Turkmenistan President Saparmurad A. Niyazov was buried near a golden-capped mosque he had built and named for himself in an elaborate funeral marking the last grand gesture for a man who devoted much of his two decades in power to his own glorification.

The mourning ceremonies started with a long line of Turkmens mixed with foreign dignitaries streaming solemnly past Niyazov as he lay in state in the marble rotunda of the presidential palace. At 66, the president-for-life outlived his country’s average life expectancy by five years, but he left no successor.