Dangatar Abdyevich Kopekov ( tk, Dangatar Abdyeviç Köpekow; russian: Данатар Абдыевич Копеков) was a Turkmen general and the former Minister of Defense of Turkmenistan and the last Chairman of the Turkmen KGB.

Early life and career

Security career

Kopekov was born in Ashgabat in 1933. He worked as a junior operative and operative with the First Department of the KGB at the Council of Ministers of the Turkmen SSR. Then he was transferred to the First Main Directorate of the

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

of the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

(external intelligence). In 1968, he was sent to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

to work as an assistant to the KGB resident in Mashhad. In 1971, he was deported back to the USSR. Twenty years later, in March 1991, he was appointed the Chairman of the KGB of the Turkmen SSR.

Defence minister

In January 1992, he was appointed the first Minister of Defense of independent Turkmenistan and soon he was also appointed rector of the Military Institute of the Ministry of Defense. In the early 1990s, Kopekov was awarded the military rank of Colonel-General, and later became a General of the Army of Turkmenistan. He had a great influence on the

President of Turkmenistan The president of Turkmenistan ( tk, Türkmenistanyň prezidenti), officially the president and chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, is the head of state and head of government of Turkmenistan. The president is also the supreme c ...

Saparmurat Niyazov. On September 12, 1998, a terrorist attack was committed in Ashgabat, which resulted in the death of seven people. On September 17, Kopekov was removed from his post, stripped of his rank, and appointed head of the Department of Law Enforcement and Military Agencies of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan.

Later life

He was awarded the Order of the Red Star, as well as the Edermenlik Order in 1993, and the Order "For Love of the Fatherland" in 1996. He was also made an Honorary Elder of the People in 1995. He died on September 21, 2011, in a military hospital. He had lived in retirement in Ashgabat since 1999.

Ranks

* Major (1971) * Lieutenant-Colonel (1974) * Colonel * Major-General (1990) * Lieutenant-General (1992) * Colonel-General (1993) *

References