|
|
|
|
Location
Central Asia.
Time
GMT + 5.
Area
488,100 sq km (188,456 sq miles).
Population
5 million (UN estimate 2005).
Population Density
10.2 per sq km.
Capital
Ashgabat. Population: 574,000 (UN estimate 2003).
Geography
Turkmenistan shares borders with Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the east, Afghanistan to the southeast and Iran to the south. To the west is the Caspian Sea. Nearly 80% of the country is taken up by the Kara-Kum (Black Sand) Desert, the largest in the CIS. The longest irrigation canal in the world stretches 1,100km (687 miles), from the Amu-Darya River in the east, through Ashgabat, before being piped the rest of the way to the Caspian Sea.
Government
Republic. Gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Head of State
Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov since 2007.
Recent History
President Saparmyrat Niyazov ruled Turkmenistan for 21 years until December 2006, when he died suddenly at the age of 66. The president had acquired the honorific title of Türkmenbashy (leader of all Turkmen) which conveys something of a spiritual, as well as political, leader. In 1999, he was made president for life. ‘Türkmenbashy' had evolved a cult of personality to rival any in the world - it reportedly extended to renaming calendar months in honour of him and assorted relatives. Opposition was quickly and brutally suppressed, especially in the wake of a reported assassination attempt against Niyazov in late 2002. Following his death, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov was chosen as his successor in 2007 in an election condemned by international human rights groups as rigged. (No opposition candidates were allowed to stand.) Berdymukhamedov has pledged to continue in the ways of Niyazov, but has also promised some reforms.
Language
Turkmen is the official state language, and is closer to Turkish, Azeri and Crimean Tartar than those of its neighbours Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The Turkmen script was changed from Latin to Cyrillic in 1940, but the process of changing back to the Turkish version of the Latin script is underway.
Religion
Predominantly Sunni Muslim with a small Russian Orthodox minority. Turkmenistan shares the Central Asian Sufi tradition.
Electricity
220 volts AC, 50Hz. Round two-pin continental plugs are standard.
Social Conventions
Lipioshka (bread) should never be laid upside down, and it is normal to remove shoes, but not socks, when entering someone's house. Shorts are rarely seen in Turkmenistan and, if worn by females, are likely to provoke unwelcome attention from the local male population.