REPUBLIC OF TURKMENISTAN Official name: Türkmenistan Jumhuriyati (Republic of Turkmenistan) Location: Central Asia International organisations: The Commonwealth of Independent States, The Non-Aligned Movement, The Organisation of Islamic Conference, The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, The United Nations

Borders: Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan
Coastline: None (Turkmenistan has a coastline on the Caspian Sea but this does not give access to the sea.)
Land area: 488,100 Km2
Population: 4,600,000
Ethnicity: Turkmen 77%, Uzbek 9.2%, Russian 6.7%, Kazakh 2%
Languages: Turkmen is the official language and is spoken by about 75% of the population. Russian is the first language of 12% and is widely used in business and communications. Uzbek (9%) is the largest minority language.
Religion: Sunni Moslem 89%, Orthodox Christian 9%. Religious practice is discouraged by the government.
Form of government: Dictatorship. Turkmenistan is divided into five provinces.
Capital: Ashgabat
Constitution: The Constitution of Turkmenistan came into effect on 18 May 1992.
Head of state: The President, who holds office for life.
Head of government: The President, who appoints all ministers.
Legislature: Turkmenistan has a unicameral legislature. The Assembly (Mejlis) has 50 members, in theory elected for five-year terms from single seat constituencies. The last such elections took place in December 2004. In practice, the legislature consists entirely of members of the President's party and its functions are purely decorative.
Electoral authority: None
Freedom House rating: Political Rights 7, Civil Liberties 7
(Freedom House lists Turkmenistan as one of the world's worst nine regimes for both political rights and civil liberties.)

Political history

The Turkmen-speaking lands were under the sovereignty of the Khanate of Khiva until the late 19th century, when the Russians penetrated the area. Turkmen resistance ended in 1881 with the battle of Dengil-Tepe. In 1899 Turkmenistan became part of the governate-general of Russian Turkistan. A period of disorder following the collapse of the Russian Empire ended with communist occupation in 1919. In 1924 the area became the Turkistan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, and in 1936 the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic.

The was little pressure for independence in Turkmenistan until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, when a declaration of independence was passed. The Turkmen Communist boss Saparmurad Niyazov became president and soon established a Soviet-style dictatorship. He was re-elected unopposed in 1992 and in 1999 the legislature declared him President for Life with the title Turkmenbashi (Father of the Turkmens). The Democratic Party (the renamed Communist Party) is the only legal party, and all opposition has been suppressed.

Human Rights Watch's 2002 Report on Turkmenistan described Niyazov's regime: "Turkmen authorities continued [in 2002] to violate basic rights, crush all dissent, and further isolate the country from the rest of the world. President-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov did not relent in his total control over politics and society." Human Rights Watch estimated that there were 18,500 political prisoners in Turkmenistan.

In April 2003 the United Nations Human Rights Commission passed a Resolution on Turkmenistan, which expressed "grave concern" about serious abuses of human rights in Turkmenistan, and pressed the Turkmen government to undertake systemic reforms to fully comply with its international human rights obligations. It deplored due process violations and other serious abuses, and called on the Turkmen government to urgently grant independent bodies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, access to those detained. It also called on the Turkmen government to lift restrictions on the operation of civil society groups and to cooperate with and implement recommendations from various international rights officials.