 Niyazov's father served as General Secretary of the Turkmen SSR from 1985 until 1991 and then President from 1991 until his death in 2006 with the title of Türkmenbaşy.Murat Niyazov has persuaded Turkmenistan to avoid any contracts with Bridas in regards to their ideas of building oil pipelines.He convinced the country their only motivation was exploitation.