WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- What a difference nine months makes. Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, nine months ago a relatively unknown Turkmen apparatchik, made his first official visit to the United States, attending the opening of the United Nations' 62nd General Assembly and dazzling the Bush administration with promises of Western access to Turkmen energy resources. Given longstanding Turkmen grievances against Russia underpaying for its most valuable export, against all odds Washington might have staked a tentative claim to the Caspian basin’s last underdeveloped hydrocarbon assets, which Moscow formerly saw as its own. If the negotiations come to fruition, they represent an astonishing turnaround in U.S. fortunes in Ashgabat, which up to now have been marked by a mixture of indifference and ineptitude.

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began a visit to Turkmenistan Tuesday in a bid to, among other things, shore up energy ties.

MOSCOW, June 14 (UPI) -- LUKoil, reaching its first deal in energy-rich Turkmenistan, has won rights to develop three Caspian offshore fields.

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- The government of Turkmenistan announced Tuesday that the election to replace the late President Saparmurat Niyazov would be Feb. 11.

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Exiled Turkmen leaders hope to return to their homeland soon, following the death of President Saparmurat Niyazov.

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Turkmenistan's deputy prime minister was named interim president Thursday, following the death of President Saparmurat Niyazov.