Turkmenistan

I

INTRODUCTION

Turkmenistan, republic in the southwestern portion of Central Asia, bordered on the north by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, on the east by Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, on the south by
Afghanistan and Iran, and on the west by the Caspian Sea. Ashgabat is Turkmenistan’s capital and largest city.

In Turkmen, the official language, the name of the republic is Turkmenistan Respublikasy (Republic of Turkmenistan). Turkmens constitute the dominant ethnic group. Turkmenistan was formerly the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). It became an independent country in 1991 and adopted its first post-Soviet constitution in 1992.

II

THE PEOPLE OF TURKMENISTAN

`Turkmenistan is the least populated of the five former Soviet republics in Central Asia. In 2008 the country had an estimated population of about 5,179,571, giving it an average population density of 11 persons per sq km (27 per sq mi). Settlement is concentrated along rivers, canals, and other oases; the Garagum desert and the mountains are sparsely populated. Some 46 percent of Turkmenistan’s population lives in urban areas. Ashgabat, the capital, is located on the Garagum Canal in south central Turkmenistan. Other large cities are Chärjew, located on the Amu Darya in the east, and Dashhowuz, located in the north.

A

Ethnic Groups

With Turkmens constituting 77 percent of the population, Turkmenistan is the most ethnically homogeneous of the Central Asian republics. Uzbeks make up the largest minority group, with about 9 percent of the population. Other ethnic groups include Russians, Kazakhs, Tatars, Ukrainians, Azeris (ethnic Azerbaijanis), Armenians, and Baluch. In 1993 a bilateral treaty between Turkmenistan and Russia granted dual citizenship to Russians in the republic. At the 1995 census Russians constituted about 7 percent of the population, but since then many have chosen to immigrate to Russia. In 2003 dual citizenship was abolished, prompting many more of the country’s remaining Russians to leave for Russia.

Turkmens have retained centuries-old tribal allegiances that tend to be stronger than their sense of nationhood. As a result, tribal-based hostilities are far more pronounced than interethnic tensions. To date no tribal unrest has developed against the government, which has carefully avoided obvious favoritism toward any one tribe and generally worked to suppress tribal identification. The three largest Turkmen tribes are the Tekke in the central part of the country, the Ersary in the southeast, and the Yomud in the west.

B

Language

The official language of Turkmenistan is Turkmen, a language belonging to the Southern Turkic (or Oghuz) branch of Turkic languages. During the Soviet period, the traditional Arabic script of the Turkmen language was replaced in the late 1920s by a modified Latin (Roman) script, which was in turn replaced in 1940 by a modified Cyrillic script (the script of the Russian language). In 1993 the government of independent Turkmenistan announced that the country would officially return to a Latin script. The new script was largely based on the alphabet used in Turkey, but with specific modifications for the Turkmen language. Beginning in 1996 all primary and secondary schools were required to teach the new script, and by the early 2000s the new script was almost universally adopted. Russian is also spoken in Turkmenistan, mainly by the Russian minority. Under Turkmenistan’s 1992 constitution, which made Turkmen the state language, Russian lost its official status as the language of interethnic communication (a status it had held since 1990).

C

Religion

The predominant religion in Turkmenistan is Islam, which was introduced in the area by Arab invaders in the 7th and 8th centuries. Turkmens and other Central Asian peoples are traditionally Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school unni Islam). The officially atheistic Communist regime of the Soviet period sought to suppress religion in general, but Islam especially, because of its potential for creating coherent resistance to Soviet rule. Since Turkmenistan gained independence in 1991, many Turkmens and other Central Asians have revived their Islamic heritage. Today, Sunni Muslims account for about 85 percent of Turkmenistan’s population. Sufism, or Islamic mysticism, is also prevalent in the republic. Some of the country’s ethnic minorities—notably Russians, Ukrainians, and Armenians—are Eastern Orthodox Christians. The Azeri minority stands alone as Turkmenistan’s only Shia Muslim community.

D

Education

Turkmenistan has a literacy rate of 99.7 percent, a holdover from the Soviet period when the government implemented a system of compulsory and tuition-free education. Under the Soviet system, education was the primary mode of Communist indoctrination. Reforms implemented since the late 1980s, and especially since independence, have provided for changes in curricula and teaching materials. Education is compulsory in Turkmenistan until the age of 14. Most students also complete secondary school, which lasts until the age of 17. Turkmen State University (founded in 1950), located in Ashgabat, is the country’s largest university. Turkmenistan also has a number of specialized institutes that train students for careers in agriculture, economics, medicine, and fine arts.

III

ECONOMY

Turkmenistan was the poorest republic of the former USSR. The Soviet regime developed the republic to supply the raw materials of natural gas, oil, and cotton. The focus on raw materials left other sectors of the economy underdeveloped, as most of the materials were shipped to processing and manufacturing plants located in other Soviet republics. Because of the emphasis on raw material production, Turkmenistan did not experience a collapse of the industrial sector following the breakup of the USSR, unlike many other former Soviet republics. This initially cushioned Turkmenistan from severe economic disruption.

However, Turkmenistan remained highly dependent on imports of food and consumer goods, which were provided on a subsidized basis during the Soviet period. Due to price deregulation throughout the former USSR, prices for imported goods increased substantially. The country was therefore even more dependent on its export revenues, which were inconsistent from year to year due to sharp fluctuations in world prices, especially for natural gas. In addition, Turkmenistan’s largest purchasers of natural gas were often unable to make timely payments, leading to production cuts and decreased revenue.

The country’s gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the value of goods and services produced, declined through most of the 1990s. However, the country reported strong economic growth in 1999 and the early 2000s, mainly as a result of increased natural-gas exports. Exports of fossil fuels and cotton continue to form the foundation of the economy. In 2006 GDP was an estimated $10.5 billion.

The government of Turkmenistan has been slow to reform the economic structures it inherited from the Soviet system. Although some state-owned enterprises have been transferred to the private sector, progress has been limited and slow. The government continues to control the production and export of gas, oil, and cotton, as well as some other industries. It also dictates prices and production quotas for agricultural products such as wheat. The government justifies its control through large subsidies that provide gas, water, and bread to the population free of charge.

A

Agriculture

Turkmenistan’s economy is predominately agricultural, with more than 40 percent of the labor force employed in the sector. Cotton is the primary crop, and Turkmenistan is one of the world’s leading producers of the fiber. However, Turkmenistan’s hot, dry climate and scarcity of water resources make it ill-suited for cotton production. Great amounts of water must be diverted to cotton crops through outdated and inefficient irrigation canals, such as the Garagum Canal, which were built during the Soviet period.

Turkmenistan’s government has encouraged some shift away from cotton cultivation, with the goal of diversifying crops and achieving self-sufficiency in food production. Although the principal food crop is wheat, Turkmenistan must import large quantities of the grain. Other cereal grains, vegetables, and fruit are also grown in the country. Livestock raising is also important, especially of Karakul sheep, horses, and camels. Although the collective (state-run) farms of the Soviet period have been reorganized into farmer-operated associations, the government continues to intervene in the sector. For example, it imposes production targets for wheat and cotton harvests and requires farms to supply state orders for those crops at low prices.

B

Mining and Manufacturing

The principal industry in Turkmenistan is the extraction of natural gas and oil. The country also produces important industrial minerals, including gypsum, iodine, bromine, sulfur, and salt. Energy products, primarily natural gas, are the largest export item. Turkmenistan is the second largest producer of natural gas among the former Soviet republics (after Russia). The gas deposits are located along the Caspian Sea coast and in the northern and eastern sections of the country. In the early 1990s the Turkmenistan government launched several large-scale ventures involving foreign partnerships to explore, develop, and export natural gas. Foreign investment was especially needed for the construction of new export pipelines, which the government sought as a way of achieving economic independence. In 1997 the first new pipeline opened, connecting gas fields in Turkmenistan with northern Iran. By the early 2000s, however, foreign interest in additional development had waned, mostly due to better prospects in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Most of Turkmenistan’s gas and oil continued to be exported through pipelines controlled by Russia, which imposed transit fees and quantity limitations. Aside from the production of fuels, industry in Turkmenistan is limited mainly to food processing and textile production.

C

Currency and Trade

Turkmenistan remains dependent on trade with former Soviet republics, most of which now belong to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The export of fossil fuels drives the country’s foreign trade, and Turkmenistan has secured long-term gas-export agreements with Russia, Ukraine, and Iran. Besides other members of the CIS, Turkmenistan’s important trading partners include Turkey, Italy, and the United States. Turkmenistan’s involvement in international trade has been limited by the country’s geographic isolation, as well as its limited range of products. Its landlocked location poses significant problems in transporting products to and from world ports. It gained a new route to international markets in 1996 by the opening of a new railroad connecting Turkmenistan with Iran, and thereby the Indian Ocean. Because the new railroad connects with the former Soviet railway grid, it also significantly reduces travel time by rail between Europe and Southeast Asia.

The currency of Turkmenistan is the manat, which was introduced in 1993 to replace the Russian ruble. The government maintains a fixed exchange rate on the manat, rather than allowing market forces to determine its value. The official rate of exchange in 2001 was 5,200 manats per U.S.$1.

IV			HISTORY
A		Russian Conquest

By the mid-1800s the Russian Empire, which sought to expand its frontier into Central Asia, had gained control of the Kazakh lands in the northern part of the region. In the 1860s Russia began a systematic military conquest of the remainder of Central Asia. By 1876 the Russians had subjugated the entire region, except for the bulk of Turkmen territory. Russian military outposts were by then established in the north near Khiva and along the Caspian Sea coast. In 1877 Russian forces began a military campaign against the Turkmens. The Turkmens, particularly the Tekke tribe, proved to be a formidable force, putting forth the greatest resistance the Russians had encountered in their military advance into Central Asia. The Tekke in Gökdepe, near Ashgabat, soundly defeated Russian forces in 1879. However, in 1881 Gökdepe finally fell to the Russians, with the loss of about 150,000 Turkmen lives. Russia’s successful conquest of this Turkmen stronghold brought an end to any effective resistance among the Turkmen people. Russian control over all of Central Asia was completed in 1884 with the annexation of Merv. In 1887 and 1895 Russia and Britain (which was contending with Russia for control in Central Asia) signed border-delimitation agreements that fixed Russia’s southern frontier, thereby formalizing Russia’s annexation of its vast new territory in Central Asia.

In the first years after the Russian conquest, Central Asian nomads dispossessed of their traditional grazing lands waged sporadic revolts against Russian rule. In June 1916, during World War I, the Russian government issued a decree drafting the Central Asian peoples for noncombatant duties, igniting a revolt that spread throughout the entire region. Among the Turkmens, the Yomud tribe was especially fierce in its refusal to submit to the draft. The subjugation of the Yomud, accomplished by the end of the year, required heavily armed Russian troops.

The Russian monarchy was overthrown in the Russian Revolutions of 1917, and Bolsheviks (Communists) seized power in Russia. The Turkmens resisted Bolshevik domination, fighting against Bolshevik forces during the Russian Civil War (1918-1921). In April 1918, following Bolshevik military gains in southern Central Asia, the Bolsheviks proclaimed the Turkistan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR), which included the bulk of Turkmen territory and other parts of southern Central Asia. In July Turkmens led by Junayd Khan reversed the Bolshevik gain in Turkmen territory with the aid of British forces. An independent Turkmen administration was set up in Ashgabat with the protection of a British garrison. The war-weary British subsequently withdrew, however, and by 1920 Bolshevik forces had regained control. The bulk of Turkmen territory was reincorporated into the Turkistan ASSR. The Bolsheviks also conquered the emirate of Bukhara and the khanate of Khiva, which included the eastern and northern portions of present-day Turkmenistan; these two states were designated People’s Soviet Republics (Khiva was renamed Khorezm, as it had been known prior to the 16th century). Many Turkmens continued to fight against Bolshevik rule as guerrillas in the basmachi movement, Central Asian resistance that was widespread among the Muslim peoples of Central Asia until the early 1920s. In 1922 the Bolsheviks founded the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and in 1924 Turkmen territory was designated the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR). The Turkmen SSR included portions of the Khorezmian and Bukharan People’s Soviet Republics, which were abolished as political entities.

B

Soviet Period

In the late 1920s the Soviet authorities began to take land and set up state-owned farms, forcing the local population to settle in one place in order to work in agriculture. Many Turkmens fought fiercely against this directive, as it threatened their traditional nomadic way of life. A number of Turkmen intellectuals became leading figures in the Turkmen Communist Party, a branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and the only legal party in the republic. These Communist Turkmen leaders were denounced as nationalists and executed in the 1930s as part of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s violent and extensive purges of Soviet society.

In contrast to the massive industrialization taking place in most other Soviet republics, the industrial sector in the Turkmen SSR received little development. Instead, the republic was an important provider of raw materials, mainly natural gas and cotton, to the more developed Soviet republics. In the 1960s the Soviet government devised a scheme to make the southern part of Central Asia the USSR’s primary base for cotton production. As a result of the strong emphasis on cotton growing, the Turkmen republic was unable to supply itself with basic food commodities and became increasingly dependent on the central government. The Soviet government’s demands for intensive cotton cultivation also led to the extravagant overuse of scarce water resources. The need for water for agriculture prompted construction of the Garagum Canal in the southern portion of the Turkmen republic beginning in 1954. This canal, the largest in the Soviet Union, diverted more water from the Amu Darya than any other irrigation works in the region. As such, it was the single greatest contributor to the drying of the Aral Sea. The canal also supplied polluted drinking water to the local population, contributing to the Turkmen SSR’s extremely high infant mortality rate.

Beginning in the mid-1980s Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev promoted major economic and political reforms in the USSR. The reforms fostered movements for greater local autonomy in most of the Soviet republics. However, no mass movement occurred in the Turkmen SSR, in part because of long-standing tribal divisions. Then in September 1989 Turkmen intellectuals formed a popular front organization called Agzybirlik. The Turkmen Communist Party banned Agzybirlik in January 1990. Elections to the Supreme Soviet were held later that month, and the Turkmen Communist Party won a majority of seats. The new legislature appointed Saparmurad Niyazov, the first secretary of the Turkmen Communist Party since 1985, as chairperson of the Supreme Soviet (the highest government office in the republic at that time). Conceding to popular pressure, the Supreme Soviet accorded official status to the Turkmen language in May and adopted a declaration of sovereignty in August. Niyazov was directly elected to the newly created post of president in October.

In August 1991 Communist hard-liners, who were opposed to the democratic reforms taking place in the USSR, staged an unsuccessful coup attempt in Moscow. Although the CPSU was officially banned after the coup attempt, Niyazov announced that the Turkmen Communist Party would remain the ruling party in the Turkmen republic. In October the Turkmen SSR formally declared independence, and the name of the republic was changed to the Republic of Turkmenistan. In December Gorbachev resigned, and the Soviet Union officially ceased to exist. That month Turkmenistan joined the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose alliance of most of the former Soviet republics. Meanwhile, the Turkmen Communist Party changed its name to the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan, retaining Niyazov as chairperson.

C

Foreign Relations

In December the governments of Turkmenistan and Russia granted Turkmenistan’s Russian minority dual citizenship—the first such agreement between any of the former Soviet republics—in a move to prevent a large-scale emigration of Russians from Turkmenistan. The government of Turkmenistan also agreed to allow Russian troops to be stationed indefinitely along Turkmenistan’s southern borders with Iran and Afghanistan.

In May, meanwhile, Turkmenistan was the only CIS member that refused to sign a declaration of intent to form a CIS economic union. Although Turkmenistan subsequently agreed to join the economic union, it resisted further integration within the CIS. Turkmenistan was the only CIS member state in Central Asia to remain neutral regarding the civil war between government and Islamic rebel forces in Tajikistan, and it did not contribute troops to the CIS peacekeeping force that was deployed to that war-torn country in 1993.

Turkmenistan sought to strengthen regional trade relations with other Central Asian states as well as Turkey and Iran. In January 1996 Turkmenistan eased tense relations with neighboring Uzbekistan by signing a package of agreements on border disputes and the sharing of the waters of the Amu Darya. Relations with Iran received a boost from the opening of a cross-border rail line in 1996 and an oil pipeline in 1997. Until then, the only existing pipeline from Turkmenistan passed through Russia, which maintained monopoly control over the pipeline. Turkmenistan has continued to seek ways to develop its rich oil and gas reserves.

C1

Niyazov’s Authoritarian Regime

In a national referendum held in January 1994, voters approved extending Niyazov’s term until 2002 without the need for a presidential election. Elections to the country’s new legislature, the Majlis, were held in December 1994. The only legal party was the DPT, and nearly all seats were filled by candidates who ran unopposed.

Niyazov’s style of leadership became increasingly authoritarian, and he developed a cult of personality. He was officially known as Turkmenbashi (Leader of the Turkmens). Numerous streets, buildings, and institutions were named after him, and his portrait was displayed prominently in public places . In December 1999 the Khalk Maslakhaty, the nation’s most powerful government body, removed all term limits on Niyazov’s presidency, effectively making him president for life.

Niyazov’s government became known as one of the most authoritarian regimes in the world. Niyazov maintained a one-party state and tolerated no political dissent. His government completely controlled the media, and censorship was widespread. Political freedoms were routinely suppressed. Following an alleged assassination attempt against Niyazov in late 2002, the government imposed strict laws to regulate public gatherings and broadened the definition of treason. The government also maintained strict control over the Islamic hierarchy, which publicly supported Niyazov, to prevent the development of a fundamentalist Islamic movement that could undermine the absolute authority of the state.