20 Manat 20 years of the Constitution

Turkmenistan adopted its first post-Soviet constitution on May 18, 1992, roughly eight months after independence was declared following the USSR's dissolution. The document enshrined Saparmurat Niyazov — later self-styled as Türkmenbaşy, "Father of all Turkmen" — as the dominant political force, a position he held until his death in 2006. By 2012, when this coin was issued, his successor Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow had already begun revising the constitution to consolidate his own authority, making the anniversary commemoration a notably political act dressed as a civic one.