Другое : A little information about Turkmenistan
A little information about Turkmenistan
A
Little information about Turkmenistan
An
Essay By
Mekan
Melyayev
English
Composition 121
January
30, 2002
What is
the first thought that comes to your mind when you hear the word Turkmenistan?
Is it "Gee, I don't even know where it is"? Or if you know the
location do you have questions? "Does your country harbor terrorists?
Does you country have roads? Are all women covered in your country? Does your
country chop off peoples' hands for robbery?"
The history of
Turkmenistan indicates that the Turkmens were nomadic people who lived on their
own, never trying to conquer any land. In the 8th century Turkmens were forced
to accept Islam by the Arabs. The Muslim influence lasted till the late 18th
century. In the early 19th century Russians invaded the Turkmen lands, and
Turkmens were forced to join the Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics. Then in
1925 Turkmens formed the Republic of Turkmenistan.
It is
bordered on the south by Afghanistan and Iran, on the north by Kazakhstan, on
the northeast by Uzbekistan, and on the West by the Caspian Sea. At present it
is an independent and neutral country. It has a population of less than 5
million, and a land size slightly large than California. It is oil rich country
with about 100 trillion cubic meters of oil reserves, and it's a 10th largest
cotton producer in the world.
During my stay in
Colorado, I've noticed that very few people know about my country. I've
witnessed quite often that about people I talk to have misconceptions about
Turkmenistan. Probably about 80% of the people I've talked to have some kind
of misconception. The most common misconception they have is viewing
Turkmenistan as a Muslim state. Whenever I tell them about the location of
Turkmenistan, they start thinking of a Muslim ruled state; a state that doesn't
allow women to dress openly, that chops off peoples' hands for robbery. There
are many questions they might want to ask of a person representing an
uncivilized Muslim state.
But Turkmenistan is
completely different from what most people think. Even though Turkmens were
forced to receive Islam as their primary religion, they didn't fight for
Islam. The respected elders of the Turkmen community tried to inspire people
to defend their country, rather than defend their religion. In their poems
they talked about Heaven as something that no one has seen, or been inside, and
that they would rather stay on earth instead of going to Heaven.
Another
example of this could be a Turkmen mythical story, almost like of venerable
Bede's "Beowulf". But unlike Bede's writing in which he describes
monster Grendel as something God has sent, the Turkmen story called
"Gorogly (son of the grave)" has no mention of a God who is in charge
of everything that is happening on earth. It does have some creatures like
dragons and monsters with one eye. The main point of the story is not to
inspire people to believe in God, but to awaken their patriotic feelings.
On the
other hand I would be wrong to say Turkmenistan doesn't interact with its neighbors.
We have 125 diplomatic missions abroad including 2 consulates in Afghanistan.
We import gas and electricity to Iran and Afghanistan. All these relationships
are based on mutual economic benefits only. Turkmenistan receives some help in
training of its military personnel from Pakistan. The United Nations allows
this type of basic training for a neutral country. The training is meant only
for defense of a country, not an attack or spying on any country.
Another
misconception, mainly held by people with a higher level of awareness about
current events in the area, is that Turkmenistan doesn't allow the U.S.
military to use its air space or territory for retaliation against Afghanistan,
even though Turkmenistan would be the second best place to carry out U.S.
attacks, after Pakistan. The rules set by United Nations on neutrality status
don't allow Turkmenistan's territory to be used for military actions. It can
only be used for humanitarian aid. Turkmenistan is allowing humanitarian aid
to pass through its territory, it is allowing airplanes of humanitarian aid to
land and take off from its airport.
Another
misconception that I have a hard time explaining is that Turkmenistan is not
Russia, even though it used to be part of the Soviet Union for 70 years. When I
tell people that Turkmenistan was part of the Soviet Union, they still think of
Turkmenistan as Russia, and therefore I am usually asked a questions that they
would ask a native Russian. "Does your country have nuclear bombs? Why
were you guys making nuclear weapons against the United States? Were your
parents Communists?"
I have
to explain that Turkmenistan doesn't have any nuclear weapons because Russia
reclaimed all of its nuclear weapons after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In answer to the question of whether my parents were communists or not, I just
say that the all people in the Soviet Union were communist, and citizens of
that country had no other choice but to be one. People were prosecuted for
having different ideas or beliefs about the government during the Soviet era.
Of course the Soviet Union made nuclear weapons against United States, because
the United States built the same weapons against the Soviet Union. Was the
United States the biggest enemy of the Soviet Union, or was it the other way
around? Or was it both ways at once?
In the
Cold War, the KGB of the Soviet Union and the CIA of the United States both
spied on each other, and unfortunately the practice is still continuing. But
this time the practice is just between Russia and the United States. As a
neutral country Turkmenistan is not involved in it. The United Nations knows
all the military power Turkmenistan has. It would be naive to believe that
neither the United States nor Russia have spies in Turkmenistan, but it seems
to me very unlikely that Turkmenistan has spies in the United States. Of
course that is only my own opinion, based largely on the fact that I'm not a
spy myself. (Only a few people have asked me whether I am, but sometimes I
think more people wonder about it.)
Turkmenistan is a
country with an annual growth of 9% in the Gross Domestic Product over the past
10 years. Economically Turkmenistan still relies heavily on Russia because of
the industry of gas exportation. The only gas pipelines that were built during
the Soviet era passed through Russia, and Turkmenistan has to rely only on
those pipelines now. But if the war finishes in Afghanistan, a new pipeline
will be built through Afghanistan to Europe. This pipeline would be the most
beneficial for Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistan
is still not fully awakened from the Soviet Laws and regulations. The country
doesn't have a complete democracy, but Turkmenistan has just starting growing,
and democracy comes with time.
With
the ongoing war in that region now, I hope this piece of information helps to
better understand the stance of Turkmenistan. As for explaining what it is
like to be a member of the tiny subculture of Turkmen students in the United
States, the best explanation I can give is that it would be handy for me to
carry a copy of this essay with me daily.
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