What is Turkmenistan?
Open
a geography book or an atlas, and your answer will be: It is a country in
Central Asia, with Iran and Afghanistan bordering in the South, the Caspian
Sea to the West, and Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to the North and East.
Open
an issue of The Economist and your answer
will be: it is a landlocked and poverty-stricken leftover of the former Soviet
Union, recently ruled by a President-for-life who called himself "Turkmenbashy," or "Father
of all Turkmen" and
who renamed the months of the year after himself, leaving behing a legacy of
white marble palaces and golden statues on every corner.
Open
a book of poetry by the Turkmen poet Magtumguly, and your answer will be:
it is a beautiful and severe land with a people who are close to nature.
It is a land of spiritual richness and stark colors.
Open
the Ruhnama, former President Saparmurat "Turkmenbashy" Niyazov's book,
and your answer will be: it is the historical center of political and economic
gravity of the world, now embarking on a journey to a "Golden Era" which has
a natural leader, Turkmenbashy, and it is home to more than a 1/3 of all global
oil and natural gas.
Open the pages of historical tomes like The Great Game and Tournament of Shadows, and your answer will be: it is one slice of a huge region-stretching between Astrakhan to the North and Tibet to East, ancient Persia to the West and Wazirstan to the South-fought over by imperial powers who sought to crush or co-opt the Khans, Beys, and Emirs who rules from city-states such as Bokhara, Khiva, and Kokand. Modern-day Turkmenistan formed the edges of authority for many of these city-states, roamed as it was by free and nomadic Turkmen of the Oguz tribe.
Open a book about carpets and rugs, and your answer will be: it is home to
some of the best-made carpets in the world, mistakenly named "Bokhara." Carpets
are a major part of the Turkmen culture, the centerpiece of a dowry and a homestead.
The reds of the classic Tekke and Esari patterns and the deep beiges and browns
of the Yomut patterns are known worldwide.
Open the policy papers and paperbacks from Washington, D.C. thinktanks, and
your answer will be: it is a strategic ally to the United States in their war
on terror and the war on drugs and smuggling from Afghanistan, but it is also
an area of "future concern."
Turkmenistan
is all of those things, and more, just as America is all and more of the kaleidoscope
of cultures, histories, perspectives, peoples and landmarks one reads about.
Today, the people of Turkmenistan are not all Turkmens-although the majority
is-but they are also Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Armenians, Azeris, Tajiks, Russians,
and more. The majority of them are Muslims, but they practice their faith in
a way unique from the Islam of Arabia and even Southeast Asia.
Above
all, we have discovered that Turkmenistan is also a place that welcomes the
West. In Turkmen culture, there is a saying, mhyman atadan uly, which means,
essentially, that the guest is given the highest honor. (The literal translation
is "the guest is of a higher position than the grandfather."). So many of the
people of Turkmenistan, in their own search for a path out of post-Soviet poverty
and into the global community, would like the opportunity to know more about
the West and its people, cultures, and ways. The youth of Turkmenistan are
handicapped by only nine years of basic schooling, the bulk of which is increasingly
the rote memorization of the President's book. But many of them realize that
there is
more than what they are told, and, worse, that they are not equipped to join
in and excel in the global community.
What
Turkmenistan is, in the end, depends on the author. For the present-day peoples
of Turkmenistan, it is home. For the Turkmenistan Youth & Civic Values
Foundation, it is our center of attention, the place where we hope to bring
a vision of development that is both culturally respectful and effective. We
believe that one day, one will open the pages of a book or newspaper and find
that the people of Turkmenistan themselves believe their country to be one
of great hope, growing prosperity, and strong, close friendship with the peoples
of America and the West.
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