Turkmenistan

Although Turkmens have lived in the area of present-day Turkmenistan for centuries, a Turkmen political entity was formed for the first time in the 1920s. Over the course of its history the area was invaded by various conquerors, including Persians, Macedonians, and Arabs, who converted the local population to Islam in the 7th and 8th centuries AD. Its oases of Tejen and Mary were prominent agricultural and trade centers during ancient times. The predecessors of the Turkmens, the Oghuz, invaded and settled the area in the 10th century. The Turkmens themselves became a distinct ethnic group by the 15th century. The region was included in the Mongol empires of Genghis Khan in the 13th century and Tamerlane in the 14th century. The last Central Asian territory to come under Russian control, the Turkmen stronghold of Gökdepe fell in 1881 with the loss of some 150,000 Turkmen lives. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Turkmens briefly achieved independence from Moscow. They resisted the Bolshevik armies until 1918, when they were incorporated into the Turkistan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR). With the help of British forces, Turkmen nationalists overthrew the Bolsheviks and established a brief, independent state. The area was soon reconquered and reincorporated into the Turkistan ASSR. In 1924 it was converted into a constituent republic of the USSR, which it remained until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. It joined the United Nations (UN) as the independent republic of Turkmenistan in 1992. Elections to the new Majlis, held in December 1994 seated 50 deputies, 49 were unopposed in the election. In January 1996 Turkmenistan eased tense relations with neighboring Uzbekistan by signing a package of agreements on border disputes and the sharing of the waters of the Amu Darya. In March Turkmenistan and Afghanistan held talks on building a pipeline through Afghanistan to Pakistan to facilitate the export of Turkmenistan's gas and oil. Since independence Turkmenistan has strengthened its ties with neighboring Iran; a rail line between the two countries opened in May 1996. Turkey has also increased in importance as a trade partner. Turkmenistan agreed to sell about 15 billion cu m (about 530 billion cu ft) of natural gas to Turkey, beginning in 1998.