THE GRAPHIC DESIGNS MADE BY TAGI ZADE RUFAT 20090841

NEW CITY OLD TRADITIONS

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While the ancient history of Turkmenistan is largely shrouded in mystery, its past since the arrival of Indo-Euro-pean Iranian tribes around 2000 BC is often the starting point of the area’s discernible history. Early tribes were nomadic or semi-nomadic due to the arid conditions of the region as the steppe culture in Central Asia was an extension of a larger Eurasian series of horse cul-tures which spanned the entire spectrum of language families including the Indo-Europeans and Turko-Mongol groups. Some of the known early Irani-an tribes included the Massaga-tae, Scythians/Sakas, and early Soghdians (most likely precur-sors of the Khwarezmians). Turkmenistan was a passing point for numerous migrations and invasions by tribes which gravitated towards the settled regions of the south including ancient Mesopotamia, Elam, and the Indus Valley Civiliza-tion.

The region’s written history be-gins with the region’s conquest by the Achaemenid Empire of

ancient Iran, as the region was divided between the satrapys of Margiana, Chorasmia and Par-thia. Later conquerors included Alexander the Great, the Parni, Ephthalites, Huns, Göktürks, Sarmatians, and Sassanid Ira-nians. During this early phase of history, the majority of Turk-menistan’s inhabitants were either adherents of Zoroas-trianism or Buddhism and the region was largely dominated by Iranian peoples. However, these incursions and epochs, though pivotal, did not shape the region’s history as the in-vasions of two later invading groups: Muslim Arabs and the Oghuz Turks. The vast majority of inhabitants were converted to Hanifism, while the Oghuz brought the beginnings of the Turkic Turkmen language that came to dominate the area. The Turkic period was a time of cultural fusion as Islamic traditions brought by the Ar-abs merged with local Iranian cultures and then were fur-ther altered by Turkic invaders and rulers such as the Seljuks. Genghis Khan and Mongol in-vasions devastated the region during the late Middle Ages, but their hold upon the area was transitional as later Timur Leng and Uzbeks contested the land.

Modern Turkmenistan was radically transformed by the invasion of the Russian Empire, which conquered the region in the late 19th century. Later, the Russian Revolution of 1917 would ultimately transform Turkmenistan from an Islamic tribal society to a totalitarian Leninist one during the Soviet era. Independence came in 1991, as Saparmurat Niyazov, a former local communist party boss, declared himself abso-lute ruler for life as Turkmen-bashi or Leader of the Turkmen and transitioned the newly in-dependent Turkmenistan into an authoritarian state under his absolute control and has thus far resisted the democratiza-tion that has influenced many of the other former Soviet Re-publics. Niyazov ruled until his death on December 21, 2006.

History of Turkmenistan

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The history of Turkmenistan from the 16th until the 19th century is mostly known by the relations with the states of Iran, Khiva, Bukhara, and Af-ghanistan (after declaring in-dependence from Iran in 1747).[4] However, wars of the period took place mostly in the lands of Turkmenistan. The invasion of the Khan of Khiva, Abul Gazi Bahadur Khan, from 1645 to 1663, caused some difficulties to the Turkmens, coupled with the impact of the drought that occurred at about the same period, most of the Turkmens within the khanate moved to ar-eas around Akhal, Atrek, Mur-gap and Tedjen. In this period, many of the Turkmens tribes living around the Lake Aral left also migrated because of pres-sures from both the Khanate of Khiva and the Kalmyks and migrated to around Astrakhan and Stavropol in northern Cau-casus.

Popular epics such as Koro-glu, and other oral traditions, took shape during this period which could be taken as a be-ginning of Turkmen nation. The poets and thinkers of the time such as Devlet Mehmed Azadi and Makhtumkuli became a voice for an emerging nation, calling for unity, brotherhood and peace among Turkmen tribes. Makhtumkuli is vener-

ated in Turkmenistan as the fa-ther of the national literature. Most of present Turkmenistan was divided between Khan-ates of Khiva and Bukhara ex-cept southernmost parts were handed to Persia. Nader, was shah of Persia conquered it in 1740 but after him assasination in 1747, Turkmen lands were recaptured by Uzbek khanates of Khiva and Bukhara. During 1830s, the Tekke Turkomans, then living on the Tejen River, were forced by the Persians to migrate northward. Khiva con-tested the advance of the Tek-kes, but ultimately, about 1856, the latter became the sovereign power of southern and south-eastern parts of present Turk-menistan. He promoted the idea of keeping the Turkmen way sa-cred, as well as maintaining the unity and integrity of the Turk-men nation. During his lifetime, his efforts had minimal suc-cess overcoming the existing tribal loyalties and rivalries.The Turkmen tribes of the 18th century were torn by interne-cine strife and the aggressions of powerful neighbors. Much of Magtymguly’s poetry depicts the suffering of the common people as caused by the selfish predations of those in power.Magtymguly also criticized rul-ers and many religious figures for their exploitation of the poor and their mockery of jus-

Portrait of Magtymguly Pyragy.

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In the 18th century Turkoman tribes came into contact with Tsa-rist Empire. The Russian Empire began to move into the area in 1869 with the establishment of the Caspian Sea port of Krasnovodsk, current-day Turkmenbashy.[4] After the suppression of Bukhara and Khiva emirate, Russians de-cided to move into Transcaspian region, allegedly to subdue Turk-men slave trade and banditry. The service of some Turkmen tribes, especially the Yomud, for the Khivan Khan also encouraged the Russia to punish them by raids into Khorazm, which killed hundreds.[4] These wars culminated in the campaigns of General Mikhail Skobelev, and in 1881 fighting cli-maxed with the massacre of 7,000 Turkmen at the desert fortress of Geok Depe, near modern Ash-gabat; another 8,000 were killed

trying to flee across the desert. By 1894 imperial Russia had taken control of almost all of Turkmeni-stan except around part of Konye-Urgench was in Khiva and around part of Charju was in Emirate of Bukhara The Transcaspian Rail-way was started from the shores of the Caspian in 1879 in order to secure Russian control over the region and provide a rapid mili-tary route to the Afghan border. In 1885 a crisis was precipitated by the Russian annexation of the Pandjeh oasis, to the south of Merv, on a territory of modern Af-ghanistan, which nearly led to war with Britain.[5] as it was thought that the Russians were planning to march on to Herat in Afghani-stan. Until 1898 Transcaspia was part of the Governor-Generalship of the Caucasus and administered from Tiflis, but in that year it was

made an Oblast of Russian Turke-stan and governed from Tashkent. Nevertheless Turkestan remained an isolated colonial outpost, with an administration that preserved many distinctive features from the previous Islamic regimes, includ-ing Qadis’ courts and a ‘native’ ad-ministration that devolved much power to local ‘Aksakals’ (Elders). In 1897 the Transcaspian Railway reached Tashkent, and finally in 1906 a direct rail link with Euro-pean Russia was opened across the steppe from Orenburg to Tashkent. This led to much larger numbers of Slavic settlers flowing into Turkestan than had hitherto been the case, and their settle-ment was overseen by a specially created Migration Department in St. Petersburg This caused considerable discon-tent amongst the local Turkmen population, as mainly Russian-populated cities such as Ashgabat appeared.The best-known Military Gover-nor to have ruled the region from Ashkhabad was probably General Kuropatkin, whose authoritar-ian methods and personal style of governance made the province very difficult for his successors to control and led to a revolt in 1916. Consequently the administration of Transcaspia became a byword for corruption and brutality within Russian Turkestan, as Russian administrators turned their dis-tricts into petty fiefdoms and ex-torted money from the local popu-lation. In 1908 Count Konstantin Konstantinovich Pahlen led a re-forming commission to Turkestan which produced a monumental report detailing these abuses of power, administrative corrup-tion and inefficiency. This caused considerable discontent amongst the local Turkmen population, as mainly Russian-populated cities such as Ashgabat appeared.The best-known Military Gover-nor to have ruled the region from Ashkhabad was probably General

RUSSIAN COLONIZATION AND GREAT GAME

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Turkmenistan became inde-pendent on October 27, 1991, amidst the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The former head of Turkmenistan’s Communist Party at the time of indepen-dence, Saparmurad Niyazov, was elected president of the newly independent nation in an uncontested election. The authoritarian Niyazov, who has assumed the title of “Turk-menbashi”, or “Leader of all Turkmen”, was accused of developing a totalitarian cult of personality. His opus, the Ruhnama, was made a man-datory reading in Turkmeni-stan’s schools and months of the calendar were renamed af-ter members of his family. Op-position parties are banned in Turkmenistan and the govern-ment controls all sources of in-formation. In December 1999, Turkmenistan’s constitution was amended to allow Niyazov to serve as president for life.Niyazov was the main propo-nent of Turkmenistan’s consti-tutional neutrality. Under this policy, Turkmenistan does not participate in any military alli-ance and does not contribute to United Nations monitoring forces. This in fact means an internal isolation of Turkmeni-stan from world politics.In late 2004, Niyazov met with former Canadian Prime Min-ister Jean Chrétien to discuss an oil contract in Turkmenistan for a Canadian corporation. In March 2005, news of this meet-ing caused an uproar amongst

INDEPENDENCE AND TURKMENBASHY

opposition circles in Canada, who claimed the affair could damage Chrétien’s legacy. In 2005, Niyazov announced that his country would downgrade its links with the Common-wealth of Independent States, a loose alliance of post-Soviet states; he furthermore prom-ised free and fair elections by 2010 in a move that surprised many Western observers.Niyazov acknowledged hav-ing heart disease in November 2006. On December 21, 2006, Niyazov died unexpectedly, leaving no heir-apparent and an unclear line of succession. A former deputy prime minister rumored to be the illegitimate son of Niyazov,[1] Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, became acting president, although un-der the constitution the Chair-man of the People’s Council, Öwezgeldi Ataýew, should have succeeded to the post. How-ever, Ataýew was accused of crimes and removed from of-fice.In the eighth century A.D., Turkic-speaking Oghuz tribes moved from Mongolia into present-day Central Asia. Part of a powerful confederation of tribes, these Oghuz formed the ethnic basis of the modern Turkmen population.[8] In the tenth century, the name “Turk-men” was first applied to Oghuz groups that accepted Islam and began to occupy present-day Turkmenistan.[8] There they were under the dominion of the Seljuk Empire, which was com-

posed of Oghuz groups living in present-day Iran and Turk-menistan.[8] Turkmen soldiers in the service of the empire played an important role in the spreading of Turkic culture when they migrated westward into present-day Azerbaijan and eastern Turkey.[8]In the twelfth century, Turk-men and other tribes over-threw the Seljuk Empire.[8] In the next century, the Mongols took over the more northern lands where the Turkmens had settled, scattering the Turk-mens southward and contrib-uting to the formation of new tribal groups.[8] The sixteenth and eighteenth centuries saw a series of splits and confed-erations among the nomadic Turkmen tribes, who remained staunchly independent and in-spired fear in their neighbors.[8] By the sixteenth century, most of those tribes were un-der the nominal control of two sedentary Uzbek khanates, Khiva and Bukhoro.[8] Turk-men soldiers were an impor-tant element of the Uzbek mili-taries of this period.[8] In the nineteenth century, raids and rebellions by the Yomud Turk-men group resulted in that group’s dispersal by the Uzbek rulers.[8] According to Paul R. Spickard, “Prior to the Russian conquest, the Turkmen were known and feared for their in-volvement in the Central Asian slave trade.

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SAPARMURAT TURKMENBASHY THE GREAT (1940-2006)

SAPARMURAT TURKMENBASHY THE GREAT (1940-2006)

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Saparmurat Niyazov was born on February 19, 1940, into a worker’s family in Ashgabat. His father died in battle in World War II and the remaining members of his family perished in Ashgabat’s massive earth-quake of 1948. He was raised first in an orphanage and later in the home of his distant rela-tives.Mr. Niyazov graduated from the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute in 1966 with a degree in power engineering and began work at the Bezmeinskaya Power Sta-tion near Ashgabat. In 1962 Mr. Niyazov became a member of the Communist Party. In 1985 he was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Turkmenistan and was subse-

quently elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkmeni-stan, the highest state and par-ty post. On January 13, 1990, Mr. Niyazov became Chairman of the Supreme Soviet, the su-preme legislative body in the republic. On October 27, 1990, Mr. Niyazov was elected the first president of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic. Under his leadership, on October 27, 1991, Turkmenistan proclaimed its sovereignty from the Soviet Union. In a second presidential election held on June 21, 1991, which was necessitated by the adoption of the new constitu-tion, Mr. Niyazov was elected President of Turkmenistan. Mr. Niyazov is also Chairman of the

Cabinet of Ministers and Chair-man of the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan. Mr. Niyazov’s success as President of Turk-menistan has been attributed to his extensive and produc-tive work in stabilizing the eco-nomic situation of the country. He has established Turkmeni-stan’s international prestige and has displayed concern for the people’s well-being. Fol-lowing his election, one of the first resolutions to be adopted was a decree on the free use of water, gas and electricity by the people of Turkmenistan.

As founder and president of the Association of Turkmens of the World, Mr. Niyazov holds the official title of Turkmenbashi, Leader of all Ethnic Turkmens.

Mr. Niyazov was awarded the Magtymguly International Prize for achieving the aim of Mag-tymguly, the great Turkmen poet and philosopher: the es-tablishment of an independent state of Turkmenistan.

Mr. Niyazov is married and has two children. He is interested in poetry,philosophy, history and music.

SAPARMURAT NIYAZOV’S BIOGRAPHY

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Ruhnama (The Book of the Soul), is a book written by Saparmurat Niyazov, late President for Life of Turkmenistan, combining spiritu-al/moral guidance, autobiography and revisionist history; much of it is of dubious or disputed factual-ity and accuracy. The text includes many stories and poems, includ-ing those by Sufi poet Magtymguly Pyragy.[citation needed] It was intended as the “spiritual guid-ance of the nation” and the basis of the nation’s arts and literature, by creating a positive image of the Turkmen people, a heroic in-terpretation of its history, the re-view of Turkmen customs and the definition of “moral, family, social and religious norms for modern Turkmens” The Ruhnama was in-troduced to Turkmen culture in a gradual but eventually pervasive way. Niyazov first placed copies in the nation’s schools and libraries but eventually went as far as to make an exam on its teachings an element of the driving test. It was mandatory to read Ruhnama in schools, universities and govern-mental organizations. New gov-ernmental employees were test-ed on the book at job interviews. n March 2006, Niyazov was record-ed as saying that he had inter-ceded with God to ensure that any student who read the book three times would automatically get into heaven.[1] After the death of Niya-zov, its popularity remained high.[2] In December 2009, Gurbanguly

SAPARMURAT TURKMENBASHI HIS BOOK RUHNAMA

Berdymukhammedov still strong-ly recommended the government to use Ruhnama as an instrument of youth education. Knowledge of the Ruhnama is compulsory, im-posed on religious communities and society generally. The work is the main component of educa-tion from primary school to uni-versity. Knowledge of the text (up to the ability to recite passages from it exactly) is required for passing education exams, hold-ing any state employment and to qualify for a driving license. Of-ficial ceremonies have featured hundreds of singing Turkmens holding and performing choreog-raphy with the book.Public criti-cism of or even insufficient rever-ence to the text was seen as the equivalent to showing disrespect to the former President himself, and harshly punished by dispos-session, imprisonment or torture of the offender or the offender’s whole family if the violation were grave enough. Since the passing of Niyazov, punishment for disre-spect of the book is in a question-able status. There is an enormous mechanical statue of the book in Ashgabat, the country’s capi-tal. Each evening at 8:00 pm, the cover opens and a recording of a passage from the book is played with accompanying video. Months after President for Life Niyazov’s death (in December 2006), the Ruhnama’s grip on the Turkmen public seemed unweakened, the

AP’s Benjamin Harvey reported in May 2007.[2] Television stations featured solemn readings from the book. “The Ruhnama is a holy book” was carved into one side of the entrance arches at Central Asia’s largest mosque in Niyazov’s hometown — and “The Qur’an is Allah’s book” was carved into the other, wrote Harvey, adding: ‘Posters of the Ruhnama flank the roads of the capital city, Ashgabat, alongside likenesses of Niyazov. Quotations from it are inscribed on the desert city’s fantastic array of fountains, monuments and of-ficial buildings.’ Michael Denison, of the United Kingdom’s Univer-sity of Leeds, told the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humani-tarian Affairs’ IRIN News: “I don’t think [the Ruhnama] will be dis-avowed [...] It might just [become] rather perfunctory.” Others hope for restoration of full secondary and tertiary education and chang-es to the curriculum, which were cut back and reformed under Ni-yazov to be based primarily on the Ruhnama.[10] Questions remain about whether Niyazov actually wrote the Ruhnama himself; an anonymous scholar quoted in New Yorker Magazine claimed that Ni-yazov is “somewhat illiterate”.[9] It has been translated into 41 lan-guages.[

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Turkmenistan NatureTurkmenistan Nature - Caves

Turkmenistan is famous for its caves. The most known of them are the Karlyuk caves. They are located on the slope of Ku-gitangtau Ridge and are con-sidered unique natural sanc-tuaries, the are equal to none in entire Eurasia; they are by right included in the List of the World Legacy of UNESCO.

The Karlyuk caves are typical representation of various karst forms. There have been found around 60 caves with total length of 50 km, with galleries, passages, halls, labyrinths.The caves are rich in wander-ing formations of plaster, cal-cite, aragonite in the form of stalactites, stalagmites, stone curtains etc. A lot of caves have not been explored yet.Kov-Ata Cave is unique due to

its hydrosulphuric lake. The cave is well-known as an in-habitation of the largest colony of bats.

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Lake Sarakamysh is the largest lake of Turk-menistan. Its area exceeds 2, 200 km. Sarakamysh natural reserve was made for protection of wa-ter fowl - pelicans, cormorants and coots. The well-known Bakharden Cave hosts an un-dergroundLake Kou-Ata. Its area is 1, 050 square meters, average depth - 6 m, and temperature of water +33...+37°C. The water there is distinguished by surprising pu-rity and transparency.Lake Mollagara is a not dry-ing saline. The water there is so salty that the human body is pushed onto the surface. The depth of the lake varies from 60 m up to 1.5 km depending on the season. There are located the world’s famous therapeu-tic mud-baths.Lake Yuazkhan is a closed freshwater lake in the Kara

Kum Desert. There valuable breeds of fishes and water fowl found their home. Lakes Archman, Berzengi, Bakharden are thermal springs of mineral hydrosulphuric groundwater. The latter are considered unique world fa-mous natural landmarks. 60 m below Kov-Ata cave entrance there is a warm hydrosulphu-ric lake of 72 m length and 30 m width, with the area of 108 square meters. The average depth is 10 m. The water tem-perature is +37 ° С. The lake is very attractive due to its tur-quoise water and therapeutic properties.

Crater Lake Rozoviy (Pink) Porsyghel is of mud-volcanic origin. It is known mainly due to the fact that its pink col-ored waters cover the conduit of the ancient mud volcano. Not far from it on the west-ern slopes of Chokrak pla-

teau there is Crater Lake Za-padniy (Western) Porsyghel with salty and hot water of dirty-grey color. Truly amaz-ing are such thermal sources as Archman,Parkhai,Ovezbaba, Khodzhakainar and sub ther-mal spring Edzheri.One of the most beautiful wa-terfalls of the country is the Bolshoi (Big) Nokhur waterfall. The water is falling from 30 m height. Equally beautiful are the Koshtemir, Umbadere and Kyrkghyz waterfalls. There are other waterfalls in the north part of the country, for exam-ple, the Kyrkdeshk Rapids with a canyon to the north of Lake Sarykamysh.Mount Bayuadag hosts about 40 hot, warm and cold springs with various water formulas. Kara Bogaz Gol is a huge sea basin stretching to the north and the west. In one of gorges of Sumbar Valley is located a picturesque Gochdemir wa-terfall with crystal-like waters falling like shimmering open-work curtain.

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The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara Gum (Turkmen: Garagum, Russian: Kazakh: is a desert in Central Asia. Its name means Black Sand in Turkic languag-es. It occupies about 70 per-cent, or 350,000 km², of the area of Turkmenistan.

The population is sparse, with an average of one person per 6.5 km² (one person per 2.5 square miles). Rainfall is equally sparse, ranging from 70 to 150 mm.

LocationCovering much of present day Turkmenistan, the Karakum

Desert lies east of the Caspian Sea, with the Aral Sea to the north and the Amu Darya river and the Kyzyl Kum desert to the northeast. In modern times, with the shrinking of the Aral Sea, the extended “Aral Kara-kum” has appeared on the for-mer seabed, with an estimated area of 15,440 sq mi/40,000 km². Although the level of the Aral Sea has fluctuated over its existence, the most recent level drop was caused by the former Soviet Union building massive irrigation projects in the region. Although the North Aral Sea is currently rising, the South Aral Sea is still dropping,

KARAKUM DESERT

thus expanding the size of the desert.[2]The sands of the Aral Karakum are made up of a salt-marsh consisting of finely-dispersed evaporites and remnants of alkaline mineral deposits, washed into the basin from ir-rigated fields. The dusts blown on a powerful east-west air-stream carry pesticide resi-dues that have been found in the blood of penguins in Ant-arctica. Aral dust has also been found in the glaciers of Green-land, the forests of Norway, and the fields of Russia.

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HydrographyTo the south the Murghab and Tejen rivers flow out of the Hin-du Kush Mountains, flow west, and empty into the vangeli. The desert is crossed by the sec-ond largest irrigation canal in the world, the Kara Kum Canal. The canal was started in 1954, is 1,375 km in length, and car-ries 13-20 km³ of water annu-ally. Leakages from the canal have created lakes and ponds along the canal and the rise in groundwater has caused wide-spread soil salination.

At first glance, it could be a dramatic scene from a science-fiction movie. But this giant hole of fire in the heart of the Karakum Desert is not the aftermath of an attack on Earth, launched from outer space. It is a crater made by geologists more than 40 years ago, and the flames within have been burning ever since. Welcome to Derweze in Turkmenistan - or, as the locals have called it, ‘The Door to Hell’.

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CULTURE OFTURKMENISTAN The Turkmen people have tra-ditionally been nomads and horsemen, and even today after the fall of the USSR attempts to urbanize the Turkmens have not been very successful. They never really formed a coherent nation or ethnic group until they were forged into one by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s. Rather they are divided into clans, and each clan has its own dialect and style of dress. Turkmens are famous for making Turkmen rugs, often mistakenly called Bukhara rugs in the West. These are elaborate and color-ful rugs, and these too help in-dicate the distinction between the various Turkmen clans.The Turkmens are Sunni Mus-lims but they, like most of the region’s nomads, adhere to Is-lam rather loosely and combine Islam with pre-Islamic animist

spirituality. The Turkmens do indeed tend to be spiritual but are by no means militantly reli-gious. A Turkmen can be iden-tified anywhere by the tradi-tional “telpek” hats, which are large black sheepskin hats that resemble afros. The national dress: men wear high, shaggy sheepskin hats and red robes over white shirts. Women wear long sack-dresses over nar-row trousers (the pants are trimmed with a band of em-broidery at the ankle). Female headdresses usually consist of silver jewellery. Bracelets and brooches are set with semi-precious stones...Language: Outside the capi-tal, the national language of Turkmen is the most widely encountered. In Ashgabat, it would be hard to find a per-son who did not speak Russian,

however with recent efforts to revive the ancient culture of Turkmenistan, Turkmen is quickly regaining its place as the chief language of the state. Two significant figures in Turk-men literature are the poets Magtymguly Pyragy and Mäm-metweli Kemine.Turkmen music is very similar to Khorasani music.

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HISTORY OF TURKMENS

CARPETSA Turkmen rug (or Turkmen carpet) is a type of handmade floor-covering textile tradi-tionally originating in Central Asia (especially in Turkmeni-stan and Afghanistan). It is useful to distinguish between the original Turkmen tribal rugs and the rugs produced in large numbers for export mainly in Pakistan and Iran to-day. The original Turkmen rugs were produced by the Turk-men tribes from Afghanistan, for various purposes, includ-ing tent rugs, door hangings and bags of various sizes. They were made entirely from wool, with geometrical designs that varied from tribe to tribe. Most famous are the Yomut, Ersari, Saryk, Salor, and Tekke. Until the 1910s in these rugs veg-etable dyes and other natural dyes were used to produce the rich colors. Since then, synthetic dyes have also been used.[1] The rugs produced in large numbers for export in Pakistan and Iran and sold un-der the name of Turkmen rugs

are mostly made of synthet-ic colors, with cotton warps and wefts and wool pile. They have little in common with the original Turkmen tribal rugs. In these export rugs, various patterns and colors are used, but the most typical is that of the Bukhara design, which derives from the Tekke main carpet, often with a red or tan background (picture). Another favorite is derived from the Er-sari main carpet, with the oc-tagonal elephant’s foot design. The Turkmen Carpet Museum, which preserves examples of the original Turkmen tribal rugs, is located in Ashgabat.

HISTORY OF TURKMENS

CARPETS

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NEW ASHGABAT THE CITY OF LOVE

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Ashgabat is Aşgabat in Turkmen,(Ashkhabad) in Rus-sian, and (UniPers: Ešq-âbâd) in Persian. From 1919 until 1927, the city was renamed Poltoratsk after a local revo-lutionary. Before 1991, the city was usually spelled Ashkabad in English, a transliteration of the Russian form, which was itself from the original Persian form. It has also been variously spelled Ashkhabat and Ash-gabad.Root of the name of the city goes back to Arshacid Em-pire era, and derived from the name of the founder of the Par-thian Empire, Arsaces I of Par-thia. So it seems the original form of the name was Ashk-Abad(which means the city built by Ashk), and because of Turkish pronunciation of the name it became like it is todayAshgabat is a relatively young city, growing out of a village of the same name established by Russian officers in 1881 af-ter the Battle of Geok Tepe. It is not far from the site of Nisa, the ancient capital of the Par-thian Empire, and it grew on the ruins of the Silk Road city of Konjikala, which was first men-tioned as a wine-producing vil-lage in 2nd century BC and was leveled by an earthquake in 1st

century BC (a precursor of the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake). Konjikala was rebuilt because of its advantageous location on the Silk Road and it flourished until its destruction by Mongols in the 13th century. After that it survived as a small village until Russians took over in the 19th century.In 1869[citation needed], Rus-sian soldiers built a fortress on a hill near the village, and this added security soon attracted merchants and craftsmen to the area. Ashgabat remained a part of Persia until 1881, fol-lowing the Battle of Geok Tepe, when it was ceded to Tsarist Russia under the terms of the Akhal Treaty. Russia chose to develop Ashgabat as a region-al center due to its proximity to the border of British-influ-enced Persia. It was regarded as a pleasant town with Euro-pean style buildings, shops and hotels. In 1908, the first Bahá’í House of Worship was built in Ashgabat. It was badly dam-aged in the 1948 earthquake and finally demolished in 1963.[4] The community of the Bahá’í Faith in Turkmenistan was largely based in Ashgabat.Soviet rule was established in Ashgabat in December 1917. However in July 1918 a co-

alition of Mensheviks, Social Revolutionaries and Tsarist former officers of the Imperial Russian Army revolted against the Bolshevik rule emanat-ing from Tashkent and estab-lished the Ashkhabad Execu-tive Committee. After receiving some support (but even more promises) from General Mall-eson, the British withdrew in April 1919, and the Tashkent Soviet resumed control of the city and in July 1919, when the city was renamed Poltoratsk (after a local revolutionary.[5] The name Ashgabat was restored in 1927 after the es-tablishment of Turkmen SSR as a Soviet republic, though it was usually known by the Rus-sian form Ashkhabad (Russian: From this period onward, the city experienced rapid growth and industrialisation, although this was severely disrupted by a major earthquake on Octo-ber 6, 1948. An estimated 7.3 on the Richter scale, the earth-quake killed 110-176,000[6][7][8] (2/3 of the population of the city), although the official num-ber announced by Soviet news was only 40,000.

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