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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