Country profile

BRIEF HISTORY

The land that is now Turkmenistan and the Turkmen tribe that lives there has a long and bloody history, including guest appearances from some of history's greatest conquerors such as Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane as well as both Tsarist and Bolshevik Russia and Imperial Britain;

ANCIENT HISTORY Parts of what is now Turkmenistan have been inhabited since Mesolithic times, and around 550BC the area began its cycle of being part of whatever empire held sway in the region, first in line were the Zoroastrians under Cyrus the Great. The all-conquering Alexander replaced the fire-worshippers, then it was the turn of the Parthians who founded the famous city of Merv, who were followed by a succession of less well-known empires such as the Sasanians and Seljuks. The Turkmen tribe, nomadic horse-breeders moved into the area around the 11th or 12th century and were promptly wrapped up in the world-spanning empires of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane. Finally, after several more changes of landlords, it was the turn of the new emergent power in the region; The Russians

THE GREAT GAME TO THE COLLAPSE OF SOVIET RULE Russian Tsar Peter the Great's aggressive expansion of Russian influence over the Central Asian trade routes and British suspicion of Russian intentions towards India led to the events of the 'Great Game', a tense diplomatic and military cold war between the foremost powers of the age. Often acting through proxy forces, the Great Powers played a decades long game of chess with the region's borders and peoples until the pressures of World War I forced British withdrawal from the region and the Bolshevik revolution in Russia dramatically changed the nature of the new dominant regional power. In 1925 Turkmenistan officially became a State in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), in which it was to remain until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Independence was declared on October 27th of that year and Turkmenistan became an independent republic under the leadership of Sapamurat Niyazov, who had been the General Secretary of the Turkmenistan Soviet Socialist Republic since 1985.

THE NATION, THE MOTHERLAND, THE GREAT TURKMENBASHI! President Niyazov was re-elected in 1992 with just a smidge under 100% of the vote and a couple of years later after having his term of office extended to 10 years he was named as President for life and Turkmenbashi (Leader of all Turkmen - just where this leave those residents of Turkmenistan who are not Turkmen, such as the Russian, Uzbek and Iranian minorities is unclear). Since then the spread of the President's personality cult has been exponential; almost every building is decorated with a slogan deifying him or praising such works of his as the Ruhnama, (the National book, written by the President - -It is a freewheeling examination of History, Poetry, Politics, Quotations and Opinions, a second volume has been added and possession and study of these modern day holy texts are compulsory for all in Turkmenistan) and collections of his poetry. The Turkmenbashi has also embraced the twin pillars of Islam and Neutrality, the two principles which guide the nation and the people (subordinate of course to the will and works of the President) and has become well known around the world for his gold statues, unlikely schemes such as ice palaces in the desert, and for enacting legislation to limit such things as beards, gold teeth, smoking (since he himself quit the habit), and true social evils such as miming to recorded music. In modern Turkmenistan it is now impossible to separate the nation from the leader. Hence the ubiquity of the slogan Halk, Watan, Beyik Turkmenbashi! (The Nation, The Motherland, The Great Turkmenbashi!)

POST TURKMENBASHI The Reign of Niyazov came to an end on December 21st 2006 when he suffered a fatal heart attack and passed away, a constitutional struggle ensued between rivals at the higher levels of government which ended with the victory in a general election of Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov who managed a creditable 89% of the vote (it helped that all those who stood against him also endorsed him in the election). Although sweeping changes were expected under the new regime these have not materialised yet although social freedoms have been slightly relaxed and there is an air of optimism in Ashgabat most of the new Presidents moves have been towards guaranteeing the stability of his country, such as the recent huge oil and gas deal with China in which 30 years worth of Turkmenistan’s main product will be piped across Kazakhstan to the ever hungrier People’s Republic in the East. Whether this has wiped out the need for diversification of the national economy remains to be seen, watch this space!