Turkmenistan

Tiurkmenostan Respublikasy

Political Status: Declared independence as Republic of Turkmenistan on October 27, 1991; new constitution adopted May 18, 1992; present constitution adopted September 26, 2008. First emerged as a political entity when the Turkmenian districts of the former Bukhara and Khorezm republics were added to the autonomous Turkistan Soviet Socialist Republic within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic on October 27, 1924; became a constituent republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on May 12, 1925.

Area: 188,456 sq. mi. (488,100 sq. km).

Population: 5,851,000 (2018E—World Bank); 5,411,012 (2018E—U.S. Census).

Major Urban Center (2015E—UN): ASHGABAT (Ashkhabad, 746,000.)

Official Language: Turkmen.

Monetary Unit: Manat (market rate October 19, 2018: 3.41 new manats = $1US).

President and Prime Minister: Gurbanguly BERDIMUHAMMEDOV (Democratic Party of Turkmenistan); elevated from deputy prime ...