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Basic Facts |
Country name |
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Turkmenistan local long form: none local short form: Turkmenistan former: Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic |
Gevernment type | republic; authoritarian presidential rule, with little power outside the executive branch |
Capital |
name: Ashgabat (Ashkhabad)
geographic coordinates: 37 57 N, 58 23 E time difference: UTC+5 (10 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
Flag description | green field with a vertical red stripe near the hoist side, containing five tribal guls (designs used in producing carpets) stacked above two crossed olive branches similar to the olive branches on the UN flag; a white crescent moon representing Islam with five white stars representing the regions or velayats of Turkmenistan appear in the upper corner of the field just to the fly side of the red stripe |
Currency | Turkmen manat (TMM) |
Internet country code | .tm |
Ports and terminals | Turkmenbasy |
Agriculture products | cotton, grain; livestock |
Industries | natural gas, oil, petroleum products, textiles, food processing |
Geography |
Location | Central Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Kazakhstan |
Coordinates | 40 00 N, 60 00 E |
Continent | Asia |
Area |
total: 488,100 sq km
land: 488,100 sq km water: NEGL |
Boundaries |
total: 3,736 km
border countries: Afghanistan 744 km, Iran 992 km, Kazakhstan 379 km, Uzbekistan 1,621 km |
Coastline | 0 km; note - Turkmenistan borders the Caspian Sea (1,768 km) |
Climate | subtropical desert |
Terrain | flat-to-rolling sandy desert with dunes rising to mountains in the south; low mountains along border with Iran; borders Caspian Sea in west |
Natural resources | petroleum, natural gas, sulfur, salt |
Natural hazards | NA |
People |
Population | 5,042,920 (July 2006 est.) |
Ethnic groups | Turkmen 85%, Uzbek 5%, Russian 4%, other 6% (2003) |
Religions | Muslim 89%, Eastern Orthodox 9%, unknown 2% |
Languages | Turkmen 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7% |