Portal:Turkmenistan

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Turkmenistan is a country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ashgabat is the capital and largest city. It is one of the six independent Turkic states. With a population of 6.5 million, Turkmenistan is the 35th most-populous country in Asia and has the lowest population of the Central Asian republics while being one of the most sparsely populated nations on the Asian continent.

Turkmenistan has long served as a thoroughfare for several empires and cultures. Merv is one of the oldest oasis-cities in Central Asia, and was once among the biggest cities in the world. It was also one of the great cities of the Islamic world and an important stop on the Silk Road. Annexed by the Russian Empire in 1881, Turkmenistan figured prominently in the anti-Bolshevik movement in Central Asia. In 1925, Turkmenistan became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkmen SSR); it became independent after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The country is widely criticized for its poor human rights, its treatment of minorities, and its lack of press and religious freedoms. Since the independence declared from the Soviet Union in 1991, Turkmenistan has been ruled by repressive totalitarian regimes: that of President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov (also known as Türkmenbaşy/Türkmenbaşı or "Head of the Turkmens") until his death in 2006; Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, who became president in 2007 after winning a non-democratic election (he had been vice-president and then acting president previously); and his son Serdar, who won a subsequent 2022 presidential election described by international observers as neither free nor fair, and now shares power with his father.

Turkmenistan possesses the world's fifth largest reserves of natural gas. Most of the country is covered by the Karakum Desert. From 1993 to 2019, citizens received government-provided electricity, water and natural gas free of charge. Turkmenistan is an observer state in the Organisation of Turkic States, the Türksoy community and a member of the United Nations. (Full article...)

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Ashgabat, also spelled Asgabat (/ˌɑːʃɡəˈbɑːt/ or /ˈɑːʃɡəbæt/; Turkmen: Aşgabat, [ɑʃɢɑˈbɑt]; Persian: عشق‌آباد, romanized: Ešqābād), formerly named Poltoratsk (Russian: Полтора́цк, IPA: [pəltɐˈratsk]) between 1919 and 1927, is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies between the Karakum Desert and the Kopetdag mountain range in Central Asia, near the Iran-Turkmenistan border. The city has a population of 1,030,063 (2022 census).

The city was founded in 1881 on the basis of an Ahal Teke tribal village, and made the capital of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924. Much of the city was destroyed by the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake, but has since been extensively rebuilt under the rule of Saparmurat Niyazov's "White City" urban renewal project, resulting in monumental projects sheathed in costly white marble. The Soviet-era Karakum Canal runs through the city, carrying waters from the Amu Darya from east to west. Since 2019, the city has been recognized as having one of the highest costs of living in the world largely due to Turkmenistan's inflation and import issues. (Full article...)

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Turkmenistan
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General images

The following are images from various Turkmenistan-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Turkmen woman's jewelry, metal and cornelian, 20th century. Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, France. (from Culture of Turkmenistan)
Image 2Female figurine of the "Bactrian princess" type, 2500-1500 BCE, chlorite (dress and hat) and limestone (head, hands and a leg), height: 13.33 cm, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (USA). (from History of Turkmenistan)
Image 3Tekke Turkmen kapunuk (door surround), early 19th century. A kapunuk is designed to surround a door frame, providing a decorative entry to a circular Turkmen yurt. (from Culture of Turkmenistan)
Image 4Turkmen man and his son hoist the flag of Turkmenistan while on horseback at the opening ceremony for the 2008 World Nomad Games. (from Culture of Turkmenistan)
Image 5Detail of a Salor Turkmen ceremonial carpet, dating from the mid-1700s to the mid-1800s (from History of Turkmenistan)
Image 6Hoisting the Red Banner in Tashkent 1917 (from History of Turkmenistan)
Image 7Oghuz Yabgu State, 750–1055 (from History of Turkmenistan)
Image 8Soviet soldiers returning from Afghanistan. 20 October 1986, Kushka, Turkmenia. (from History of Turkmenistan)
Image 9Turkmen woman's jewelry, silver, gold and cornelian, 20th century. Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, France. (from Culture of Turkmenistan)
Image 10Seljuk Empire at its greatest extent in 1092, upon the death of Malik Shah I. (from History of Turkmenistan)
Image 11Map of the Timurid Empire (from History of Turkmenistan)
Image 12The Parthian Empire in 94 BC at its greatest extent, during the reign of Mithridates II (r. 124–91 BC) (from History of Turkmenistan)