Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Begench Atayevich Gundogdyev ( tk, Begenç Ataýewiç Gündogdyýew, russian: Бегенч Атаевич Гундогдыев) is a Turkmen general and politician who currently serves as the 10th Minister of Defense of Turkmenistan under President Serdar Berdimuhamedow. He previously served in this same position from 2011 to 2015, succeeding

Yaylym Berdiyev Yaylym Yagmyrovich Berdiyev ( tk, Ýaýlym Ýagmyrowiç Berdiýew, Cyrillic: Яйлым Ягмырович Бердиев) is a Turkmen general and politician. He is a former Minister of National Security as well as the former Secretary of the S ...

Biography

Early career

He was born in the city of

Ashgabat Ashgabat or Asgabat ( tk, Aşgabat, ; fa, عشق‌آباد, translit='Ešqābād, formerly named Poltoratsk ( rus, Полтора́цк, p=pəltɐˈratsk) between 1919 and 1927), is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies ...

in November 1976 to an ethnically Turkmen family. He joined the army in September 1993, attending the Military Institute of the Ministry of Defense and graduating in June 1997 with a degree in command and tactical artillery troops. In March 2012, he graduated from the academic faculty of advanced training for the high command at the institute. In June 2012 he graduated in absentia from the

Military Academy of Belarus Military Academy of the Republic of Belarus ( be, Ваенная акадэмія Рэспублікі Беларусь, ) is higher military educational institution in the national education system of the Republic of Belarus and the leading insti ...

with a degree in state and military administration. From 1997 to 2009, he served in various positions in the Armed Forces of Turkmenistan. In July 2009, Gundogdyev was made deputy Minister of Defense and concurrently the Head of the Main Department for Procurement and Logistics of Turkmenistan. Up until then, he was the Turkmen

military attaché A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Oppo ...

to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. Four months later, he was made

Chief of the General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is a post in many armed forces ( militaries), the head of the military staff. List * Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (United States) * Chief of the General Staff (Abkhazia) * Chief of General Staff ( ...

, a position he would keep for 1 year and 144 days before he became the Minister of Defense of Turkmenistan, at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Defense Minister (1st time)

In July 2011, he was demoted to colonel for his handling of the 2011 arms depot explosion. One of his first major appearances in this role was in the

Turkmen Independence Day Parade The Turkmen Independence Day Parade is one of the main events celebrating the Independence of Turkmenistan from the Soviet Union in 1991. Independence Day is the main holiday of Turkmenistan. The parade is held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan every ...

, where he inspected the troops on Independence Square. Gundogdyev also oversaw military maneuvers in the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad s ...

in the second year of his tenure. On 11 March 2012, he visited Turkmen cadets at the Belarusian University of Civil Protection of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. On 25 January 2013, President

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow Gurbanguly Mälikgulyýewiç Berdimuhamedow (born 29 June 1957), also known as Arkadag (Cyrillic: Аркадаг, "protector"), is a Turkmen politician who served as the second president of Turkmenistan from 2006 to 2022. A dentist by profess ...

promoted him to

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

(one-star). On 28 September 2021, the president promoted him to

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

(two-star).

Other positions

He was dismissed as minister on 5 October 2015, being replaced by

, and appointed commander of the garrison of the Naval Forces, a position he would keep until the spring of 2016. On 1 March 2016, he was appointed chief of the State Border Service of Turkmenistan and concurrently the commander of the Turkmen Border Troops. On 15 August 2017, President Berdimuhamedow demoted Gundogdyev to colonel following the latter's failure to handle incidents on the Turkmen border with

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 Turkm ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

in July 2017, when four

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic language, Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician language, Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughou ...

militants tried to cross into the territory of

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the s ...

. Despite these incidents, he would be repromoted in March 2018 to major general.

Defense Minister (2nd time)

He was reappointed defense minister on 14 June 2018. On 22 January 2020, he received a "stern reprimand with final warning for improper performance of official duties". He was reprimanded among other things for allowing troops to write off still serviceable cars to private individuals (for example, several

ZIL OJSC AMO ZiL, known fully as the Public Joint-Stock Company – Likhachov Plant () and more commonly called ZiL (, was a major Russian automobile, truck, military vehicle, and heavy equipment manufacturer that was based in Moscow, Russia. The la ...

and Ural trucks were sold from a motor pool stationed in the city of Serdar). In June 2020, Gundogdyev led the Turkmen delegation in place of the president at the

2020 Moscow Victory Day Parade The 2020 Moscow Victory Day Parade was a military parade that took place in Moscow's Red Square on 24 June 2020 to commemorate the 75th Diamond Jubilee of both the capitulation of Nazi Germany in the Second World War in 1945 and the historic Mosco ...

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːətʲ) is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical bui ...

. On 6 April 2022 Gundogdyev was concurrently appointed secretary of the State Security Council of Turkmenistan.

Private life

Besides the

Turkmen language Turkmen (, , , or , , , ), sometimes referred to as "Turkmen Turkic" or "Turkmen Turkish", is a Turkic language spoken by the Turkmens of Central Asia, mainly of Turkmenistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. It has an estimated 5 million native speake ...

, he also speaks

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

. He is married with four children.

Awards

Decorations

* Medal "For the love of the Fatherland" (2014) * Jubilee Medal "20 years of Independence of Turkmenistan" (2011) * Medal "Participant of the military parade dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Turkmenistan's independence" * Jubilee Medal "25 Years of Neutrality of Turkmenistan" (2020)

Honorary Ranks

* "Türkmenistanyň Watan goragçysy" ("Defender of Homeland Turkmenistan")

Reprimands

* 22 January 2020, stern reprimand with final warning for "improper performance of official duties" * 5 June 2022, reprimand for "inadequate performance of assigned duties, deficiencies in the work"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gundogdyev, Begench Living people Ministers of Defence of Turkmenistan Turkmenistani generals 1976 births