Dangatar Kopekov

Dangatar Abdyevich Kopekov (Dangatar Abdyeviç Köpekow; 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 Carrer
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 of the USSR (external intelligence). In 1968, he was sent to Iran to work as an assistant to the KGB resident in Mashhad. In 1971 he was deported to the USSR. In March 1991, he was appointed the Chairman of the KGB of the Turkmen SSR. In January 1992, he was appointed the first Minister of Defense of independent Turkmenistan. He had a great influence on the President of Turkmenistan Saparmurat Niyazov. He has lived in retirement in Ashgabat since 1999. He died on September 21, 2011 in a military hospital.

Ranks

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