Annexed by Russia between 1865 and 1885, Turkmenistan became a Soviet republic in 1924. It achieved its independence upon the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. President NIYAZOV retains absolute control over the country and opposition is not tolerated. Extensive hydrocarbon/natural gas reserves could prove a boon to this underdeveloped country if extraction and delivery projects were to be expanded. The Turkmenistan Government is actively seeking to develop alternative petroleum transportation routes in order to break Russia's pipeline monopoly.

Central Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Kazakhstan

40 00 N, 60 00 E

Asia

total: 488,100 sq km
water: negl.
land: 488,100 sq km

slightly larger than California

total: 3,736 km
border countries: Afghanistan 744 km, Iran 992 km, Kazakhstan 379 km, Uzbekistan 1,621 km

0 km; note - Turkmenistan borders the Caspian Sea (1,768 km)

subtropical desert

flat-to-rolling sandy desert with dunes rising to mountains in the south; low mountains along border with Iran; borders Caspian Sea in west

lowest point: Vpadina Akchanaya -81 m; note - Sarygamysh Koli is a lake in northern Turkmenistan with a water level that fluctuates above and below the elevation of Vpadina Akchanaya (the lake has dropped as low as -110 m)
highest point: Gora Ayribaba 3,139 m

petroleum, natural gas, sulfur, salt

arable land: 4.51%
permanent crops: 0.14%
other: 95.35% (2005)

18,000 sq km (2003)

NA

contamination of soil and groundwater with agricultural chemicals, pesticides; salination, water-logging of soil due to poor irrigation methods; Caspian Sea pollution; diversion of a large share of the flow of the Amu Darya into irrigation contributes to that river's inability to replenish the Aral Sea; desertification

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

landlocked; the western and central low-lying, desolate portions of the country make up the great Garagum (Kara-Kum) desert, which occupies over 80% of the country; eastern part is plateau

5,042,920 (July 2006 est.)

0-14 years: 36.2% (male 904,627; female 857,601)
15-64 years: 59.7% (male 1,423,836; female 1,477,224)
65 years and over: 4.1% (male 76,670; female 123,211) (2004 est.)

0-14 years: 35.2% (male 913,988/female 863,503)
15-64 years: 60.7% (male 1,501,486/female 1,557,155)
65 years and over: 4.1% (male 79,227/female 127,561) (2006 est.)

1.83% (2006 est.)

27.61 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

8.6 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

-0.75 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.62 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

total: 72.56 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 76.9 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 68 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

total population: 61.83 years
male: 58.43 years
female: 65.41 years (2006 est.)

3.37 children born/woman (2006 est.)

less than 0.1% (2004 est.)

less than 200 (2003 est.)

less than 100 (2004 est.)

noun: Turkmen(s)
adjective: Turkmen

Turkmen 85%, Uzbek 5%, Russian 4%, other 6% (2003)

Muslim 89%, Eastern Orthodox 9%, unknown 2%

Turkmen 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7%

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98%
male: 99%
female: 97% (1989 est.)

conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Turkmenistan
local long form: none
former: Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic
local short form: Turkmenistan

republic; authoritarian presidential rule, with little power outside the executive branch

name: Ashgabat (Ashkhabad)
geographic coordinates: 37 57 N, 58 23 E
time difference: GMT+5

5 provinces (welayatlar, singular - welayat): Ahal Welayaty (Ashgabat), Balkan Welayaty (Balkanabat), Dashoguz Welayaty, Lebap Welayaty (Turkmenabat), Mary Welayaty
note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses)

27 October 1991 (from the Soviet Union)

Independence Day, 27 October (1991)

adopted 18 May 1992

based on civil law system

18 years of age; universal

chief of state: President (Acting) and Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Gurbanguly BERDIMUHAMMEDOV; note - President Saparmurat NIYAZOV died in office 21 December 2006 and Gurbanguly BERDIMUHAMMEDOV was named his temporary replacement; the president is both the chief of state and head of government
head of government: President (Acting) and Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Gurbanguly BERDIMUHAMMEDOV
cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president
elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 21 June 1992; note - President NIYAZOV was unanimously approved as president for life by the People's Council on 28 December 1999; deputy chairmen of the Cabinet of Ministers are appointed by the president
election results: Saparmurat NIYAZOV elected president without opposition; percent of vote - Saparmurat NIYAZOV 99.5%

under the 1992 constitution, there are two parliamentary bodies, a unicameral People's Council or Halk Maslahaty (supreme legislative body of up to 2,500 delegates, some of whom are elected by popular vote and some of whom are appointed; meets at least yearly) and a unicameral Parliament or Mejlis (50 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms); membership is scheduled to be increased to 65 seats
elections: People's Council - last held in April 2003 (next to be held December 2008); Mejlis - last held 19 December 2004 (next to be held December 2008)
election results: Mejlis - DPT 100%; seats by party - DPT 50; note - all 50 elected officials are members of the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan and are preapproved by President NIYAZOV
note: in late 2003, a new law was adopted, reducing the powers of the Mejlis and making the Halk Maslahaty the supreme legislative organ; the Halk Maslahaty can now legally dissolve the Mejlis, and the president is now able to participate in the Mejlis as its supreme leader; the Mejlis can no longer adopt or amend the constitution, or announce referendums or its elections; since the president is both the "Chairman for Life" of the Halk Maslahaty and the supreme leader of the Mejlis, the 2003 law has the effect of making him the sole authority of both the executive and legislative branches of government

Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president)

Democratic Party of Turkmenistan or DPT [Saparmurat NIYAZOV]
note: formal opposition parties are outlawed; unofficial, small opposition movements exist underground or in foreign countries; the two most prominent opposition groups-in-exile have been National Democratic Movement of Turkmenistan (NDMT) and the United Democratic Party of Turkmenistan (UDPT); NDMT was led by former Foreign Minister Boris SHIKHMURADOV until his arrest and imprisonment in the wake of the 25 November 2002 assassination attempt on President NIYAZOV; UDPT is led by former Foreign Minister Abdy KULIEV and is based out of Moscow

NA

AsDB, CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECO, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDB, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO (correspondent), ITU, MIGA, NAM, OIC, OPCW, OSCE, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO

green field with a vertical red stripe near the hoist side, containing five carpet guls (designs used in producing rugs) stacked above two crossed olive branches similar to the olive branches on the UN flag; a white crescent moon and five white stars appear in the upper corner of the field just to the fly side of the red stripe

Turkmenistan is a largely desert country with intensive agriculture in irrigated oases and large gas and oil resources. One-half of its irrigated land is planted in cotton; formerly it was the world's tenth-largest producer. Poor harvests in recent years have led to an almost 50% decline in cotton exports. With an authoritarian ex-Communist regime in power and a tribally based social structure, Turkmenistan has taken a cautious approach to economic reform, hoping to use gas and cotton sales to sustain its inefficient economy. Privatization goals remain limited. In 1998-2005, Turkmenistan suffered from the continued lack of adequate export routes for natural gas and from obligations on extensive short-term external debt. At the same time, however, total exports rose by an average of 15% per year in 2003-06, largely because of higher international oil and gas prices. In 2006, Ashgabat raised its natural gas export prices to its main customer, Russia, from $66 per thousand cubic meters (tcm) to $100 per tcm. Overall prospects in the near future are discouraging because of widespread internal poverty, a poor educational system, government misuse of oil and gas revenues, and Ashgabat's unwillingness to adopt market-oriented reforms. Turkmenistan's economic statistics are state secrets, and GDP and other figures are subject to wide margins of error. In particular, the rate of GDP growth is uncertain.

purchasing power parity - $45.11 billion (2006 est.)

IMF estimate: 13%
note: official government statistics show 21.4% growth, but these estimates are widely regarded as unreliable (2006 est.)

purchasing power parity - $8,900 (2006 est.)

agriculture: 24.4%
industry: 33.9%
services: 41.7% (2006 est.)

28.8% of GDP (2006 est.)

58% (2003 est.)

lowest 10%: 2.6%
highest 10%: 31.7% (1998)

40.8 (1998)

11% (2006 est.)

2.32 million (2003 est.)

agriculture: 48.2%
industry: 13.8%
services: 37% (2003 est.)

60% (2004 est.)

revenues: $1.803 billion
expenditures: $2.063 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.)

cotton, grain; livestock

natural gas, oil, petroleum products, textiles, food processing

22% (2003 est.)

10.79 billion kWh (2004 est.)

9.03 billion kWh (2004)

1 billion kWh (2004)

0 kWh (2004)

213,700 bbl/day (2004 est.)

95,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

NA (2001)

NA (2001)

273 million bbl (1 January 2002)

58.57 billion cu m (2004 est.)

16.57 billion cu m (2004 est.)

42 billion cu m (2004 est.)

0 cu m (2001 est.)

2.01 trillion cu m (1 January 2005 est.)

$321.2 million (2006 est.)

$5.421 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

gas, crude oil, petrochemicals, cotton fiber, textiles

Ukraine 42.8%, Iran 14.8%, Hungary 5.3% (2005)

$3.936 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs

UAE 12.7%, Azerbaijan 11.1%, US 9.6%, Russia 9.1%, Ukraine 7.6%, Turkey 7.3%, Iran 6.2%, Germany 5.4% (2005)

$3.518 billion (2006 est.)

$2.4 billion to $5 billion (2001 est.)

$16 million from the US (2001)

Turkmen manat (TMM)

TMM

11,100 (2006), in recent years the unofficial rate has hovered around 24,000 to 25,000 Turkmen manats to the dollar; the official rate has consistently been 5,200 manat to the dollar

calendar year

495,000 (2006)

52,000 (2004)

general assessment: poorly developed
domestic: Turkmenistan's telecommunications network remains woefully underdeveloped; Turkmentelekom, in cooperation with foreign investors, is planning to upgrade the country's telephone exchanges and install a new digital switching system
international: country code - 993; linked by cable and microwave radio relay to other CIS republics and to other countries by leased connections to the Moscow international gateway switch; a new telephone link from Ashgabat to Iran has been established; a new exchange in Ashgabat switches international traffic through Turkey via Intelsat; satellite earth stations - 1 Orbita and 1 Intelsat

AM 16, FM 8, shortwave 2 (1998)

1.225 million (1997)

4 (government owned and programmed) (2004)

820,000 (1997)

.tm

585 (2006)

1

36,000 (2005)

total: 2,440 km
broad gauge: 2,440 km 1.520-m gauge (2005)

total: 24,000 km
paved: 19,488 km
unpaved: 4,512 km (1999 est.)

1,300 km (Amu Darya and Kara Kum canal important inland waterways) (2006)

gas 6,441 km; oil 1,361 km (2006)

Turkmenbasy

total: 8 ships (1000 GRT or over) 22,870 GRT/25,801 DWT
by type: cargo 4, combination ore/oil 1, petroleum tanker 2, refrigerated cargo 1 (2006)

29 (2006)

total: 22
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 11
1,524 to 2,437 m: 8
914 to 1,523 m: 2 (2006)

total: 7
1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 1
under 914 m: 4 (2006)

1 (2006 est.)

Ground Forces, Artillery and Rocket Forces, Navy, Air and Air Defense Forces (2006)

18 years of age for compulsory military service; conscript service obligation - 2 years (2004)

males age 18-49: 1,132,833
females age 18-49: 1,162,569 (2005 est.)

males age 18-49: 759,978
females age 18-49: 940,179 (2005 est.)

males age 18-49: 56,532
females age 18-49: 55,413 (2005 est.)

$90 million (FY99)

3.4% (FY99)

cotton monoculture in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan creates water-sharing difficulties for Amu Darya river states; field demarcation of the boundaries with Kazakhstan commenced in 2005 but Caspian seabed delimitation remains stalled with Azerbaijan, Iran and Kazakhstan due to Turkmenistan's indecision over how to allocate the sea's waters and seabed

transit country for Afghan narcotics bound for Russian and Western European markets; transit point for heroin precursor chemicals bound for Afghanistan