Afghanistan and Turkic States

Turkmenistan formerly also known as  Turkmenia  (Russian: ), is one of the  Turkic states  in  Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the  Soviet Union, theTurkmen Soviet Socialist Republic  (Turkmen SSR). Turkmenistan is one of the six independent  Turkic states. It is bordered byAfghanistan  to the southeast,  Iran  to the south and southwest,  Uzbekistan  to the east and northeast,  Kazakhstan  to the north and northwest and the  Caspian Sea  to the west. Turkmenistan's GDP growth rate of 11% in 2010  ranks 4th in the world, but these figures are subject to wide margins of error. 5]It possesses the world's fourth largest reserves of natural gas resources. Although it is wealthy in natural resources in certain areas, most of the country is covered by the  Karakum (Black Sand) Desert. The Turkmen government operates as a  single-party system. [6]  Turkmenistan was ruled by  President for Life  Saparmurat Niyazov  (c alled â€Å"Turkmenbasy† — â€Å"leader of the Turkmens†) until his sudden death on 21 December 2006. Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov  was elected the new president on 11 February 2007.The territory of Turkmenistan has a long history, as armies from one empire after another decamped there on their way to more prosperous territories. The region's written history begins with its conquest by the  Achaemenid Empire  of ancient Persia, as the region was divided between the  satrapies  of  Margiana,  Khorezm  and  Parthia. [citation needed] Alexander the Great  conquered the territory in the 4th century  BC  on his way to  Central Asia, around the time that the  Silk Roadwas established as a major trading route between  Asia  and the  Mediterranean Region. citation needed] Approximately 80 years later, Persia's  Parthian Kingdom  established its capital in  Nisa, now in the suburbs of the capital,Ashgabat. After replacement of the P arthian empire by Persian Sassanids, another native Iranian dynasty, the region remained territory of the Persian empire for several centuries. [7] In the 7th century AD,  Arabs  conquered this region, introducing  Islam. The Turkmenistan region soon came to be known as the capital of  Greater Khorasan, when the caliph  Al-Ma'mun  moved his capital to  Merv. citation needed] In the middle of the 11th century, the  Turkoman-ruled  Seljuk Empire  concentrated its strength in the territory of modern Turkmenistan in an attempt to expand into  Khorasan  (modernAfghanistan). The empire broke down in the second half of the 12th century, and the Turkmen lost their independence when  Genghis Khan  took control of the eastern  Caspian Sea  region on his march west. For the next seven centuries, the Turkmen people lived under various empires and fought constant inter-tribal wars. Little is documented of Turkmen history prior to  Russian  engagement.