Turkmenistan

Note: This page is incomplete

Turkmenistan is a country in Central Asia, bordering Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north and east, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. The country has a population of 6 million, the lowest in Central Asia and one of the lowest in Asia, with Ashgabat being the capital and largest city. Turkmenistan citizens are called Turkmenistanis, Turkmenians and Turkmens.

Turkmenistan has been a upbringing for civilization, with Merv being one of the older Central Asian cities and once the largest city worldwide, was a large city of the Islamic world, and was a important part of the Silk Road. Russia would gain occupation of Turkmenistan in 1881, and would play a key role against the Bolshevik in the Russian Civil War. Turkmenistan became a republic of the Soviet Union in 1925, as the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkmen SSR), and would gain independence in 1991, after the Soviet Union dissolved.

Turkmenistan holds the 4th largest natural gas reserves. Most of Turkmenistan is covered by the Karakum Desert. Between 1993 and 2017, electricity, water, and natural gas were given to citizens for free.

Turkmenistan was originally ruled by Saparmurat Niyazov, president for life, until death in 2006. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow was elected president afterwards in 2007. Turkmenistan has faced critique for its low human rights record, specifically in minorities, press freedom, and religious freedom. The death penalty would be suspended, and the capital punishment would be banned in the 2008 constitution.

Name
Turkmenistan can be divided into Turkmen, the name for the people who reside in the region, and -stan, a Persian suffix to mean "place of." Turkmen can be divided between Turk and -men, meaning "almost Turk," but some argue it is an intensifier, to mean "pure Turks."

History
Historically occupied by Indo-Iranians, the first writings of people in modern Turkmenistan are from the Achaemenid Empire in Ancient Iran when the nation annexed the region. In the 8th century AD, Turkic-speaking Oghuz tribes moved from Mongolia into Central Asia. These Oghuz tribes, being part of a powerful confederation of tribes, were the starting point for modern Turkmen culture. "Turkmen" was first coined to describe Oghuz groups that accepted Islam, who began to occupy modern Turkmenistan. They were then under the Seljuk Empire, composed of Oghuz groups in modern Iran and Turkmenistan. Oghuz groups under the Seljuks had an important role of spreading Turkic culture westward to modern Azerbaijan and eastern Turkey.

In the 12th century, Turkmens, alongside others, overthrew the Seljuks. In the next century, the Mongols took over the more northern lands where Turkmens had settled, scattering them southward and causing more new tribal groups to form. The 16th and 18th centuries saw splits and confederations across the nomadic Turkmen tribesmen, who were strictly independent and placed fear in neighbors. By the 16th century, most of these tribes were under the control of Khiva and Bukhoro, two Uzbek khanates. Turkmens were important to the Uzbek militaries during this. In the 19th century, rebellions from the Yomud Turkmen tribes results in that group's dispersal by Uzbek rulers. In 1855, the Turkmen tribe of Teke, led by Gowshut-Khan, defeated the invaded army of the Khan of Khiva Muhammad Amin Khan and in 1861 the invading Persian army of Nasreddin-Shah.

Administrative Divisions
Turkmenistan is divided into five provinces, or welayat, and one capital city district. Provinces are divided into districts, considered countries and cities. and the 2008 constitution states that some cities may have the welayat status.