After mixing with the settled peoples in Turkmenistan, the Oguz living north of the Kopet-Dag Mountains gradually became known as the Turkmen people.
Tribes of horse-breeding Iranian Scythians drifted into the territory of Turkmenistan at about 2000 B.C.E., possibly from the Russian steppes and moved along the outskirts of the Karakum desert into Persia, Syria, and Anatolia.
Border security was increased in 1994, when Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia formed the Caspian Border Patrol Force.
Turkmenistan declared independence on October 27, 1991, one of the last republics to secede.
The Amu Darya flows across northeastern Turkmenistan, thence eastward to form the southern borders of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
The name Turkmenistan is derived from Persian, meaning "land of the Turkmen people."
established its capital in Nisa, now in the suburbs of the Turkmenistan capital, Ashgabat.
Any act of homosexuality in Turkmenistan is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Horse riding and falconry are traditional sports in Turkmenistan.
Arbitrary arrests and mistreatment of detained persons are common in Turkmenistan, as is torture to obtain confessions.
All 50 elected officials are members of the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan and were pre-approved by the president.
At 188,457 square miles (488,100 square kilometers), Turkmenistan is the world's 52nd-largest country.
Only one political party, the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan, is legally allowed to hold power.
Turkmenistan’s army had 21,000 personnel in 2003, and its air force had 4300 personnel.
The territory of Turkmenistan has been populated since ancient times, especially the areas near oasis of Merv.
Turkmenistan's economic statistics are state secrets, and GDP and other figures are subject to wide margins of error.
Turkmenistan has many political prisoners, the most well-known of whom are Batyr Berdiev, Yazgeldy Gundogdiyev, Boris Shikhmuradov, and Mukhametkuli Aimuradov.
Turkmenistan's average elevation is 100 to 220 meters above sea level.
The Turkmen government's decision to cancel a dual-citizenship agreement with Russia in 2003 prompted thousands of ethnic Russians to leave Turkmenistan as they lost their property.
The politics of Turkmenistan take place in the framework of a presidential republic, with the president both head of state and head of government.
Magtymguly is venerated in Turkmenistan as the father of the national literature.
Between 1998 and 2005, Turkmenistan suffered from the lack of adequate export routes for natural gas, and from extensive short-term external debt.
Turkmenistan is dominated by a pervasive cult of personality extolling the late president as “Tьrkmenba?y” ("Leader of all Turkmen"), a title he assumed in 1993.
Until the end of 1993, Turkmenistan had experienced less economic disruption than other former Soviet states because of higher prices for oil and gas.
The area now known as Turkmenistan claims a history of conquest by other peoples and nations, the most recent being the Soviet Union in the twentieth century.
The Central Asian classical music tradition mugam is present in Turkmenistan where it is called mukamlar.
According to Reporters Without Borders' 2006 World Press Freedom Index, Turkmenistan had the second worst press freedom conditions in the world, behind North Korea.
In 1997 (well after independence), the anthem was changed to Independent, Neutral, Turkmenistan State Anthem, the music and lyrics of which were written by President-for-Life Saparmurat Niyazov.
Persian shahs, Khivan khans, the emirs of Bukhara and the rulers of Afghanistan fought for control of Turkmenistan between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.
In 1992, the government established Turkmenistan’s own highest religious authority, known as the Kazyяat, separate from the Central Asian Mьftiяat, to promote Islam as an aspect of national culture.
Turkmenistan is largely a desert country with nomadic cattle raising, intensive agriculture in irrigated oases, and huge natural gas and petroleum resources.
Turkmenistan (also known as Turkmenia) is a country in Central Asia that until 1991, was part of the Soviet Union as the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic.