Turkmenistan

SITUATED TO THE NORTH of Iran and Afghanistan and adjacent to the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, Turkmenistan has a population of about five million and a landmass the size of Wyoming and Utah combined. Prior to independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, people enjoyed the benefits of socialism, including free and relatively good education and healthcare. Soon after independence, Turkmenistan attempted to increase its national income by focusing on maximizing its oil and gas exports and finding new clients besides Russia and Ukraine.

In an effort to become economically self-sufficient, the government also increased cotton production and revamped the agricultural sector, according to G. Gleason. Aiming to become rich and a “second Kuwait,” the population of Turkmenistan is nevertheless struggling with serious socioeconomic problems and faces high unemployment and limited business opportunities.

The pervasiveness of poverty and its associated social ills is all the more ironic given that Turkmenistan's exports of oil and gas earned the government $2.1 billion in 2003. Furthermore, the country's massive irrigation system has allowed for the production of large amounts of wheat—2.5 million tons in 2004 by Economic Intelligence Unit statistics. Similar to Uzbekistan, but more so to Belarus, Turkmenistan has kept much of its Soviet-era command system of production intact, with 80–90 percent of the economy being in the hands of the state, according to United Nations statistics.

At the same time, the government has the policy of providing oil and gas for local consumption substantially [Page 1080]below international prices. Despite the fact that Turkmenistan's economy in 2005 had nearly caught up—sizewise—with that of its pre-independence era from massive investments in the oil and gas industries, anecdotal evidence points to an increasingly widening gap between the nouveau rich minority and the overwhelming poor majority.

Women have especially been vulnerable in the new economy. In spite of women's high representation in the parliament, a throwback to the quota policy of Soviet times, their share in industrial and managerial positions has been substantially reduced. The status of women remains important in the family as mothers and transmitters of traditions, but the man is considered the “head of the family.” Poverty has also induced a widening sexual health crisis with high rates of maternal and infant mortality. Prostitution has risen among mostly young and poor females. There is also the associated drug abuse and a high degree of ignorance about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDS.

Some blame the existing poverty on Turk-menistan's political system. The president, Saparmurat Niyazov, has been in power since 1985, also acting as the prime minister and the commander-in-chief. In 1999, Niyazov became president for life. The pro-government Democratic Party (former Communist Party) is the only major party on the Turkmen political scene. The president's book, Ruhnama, contains a nationalistic platform, and his views on religion, culture, and history are compulsory reading. Quotes from Ruhnama are inscribed side by side with verses from Koran in the largest mosque in central Asia, built in the president's native village of Kipcsak.

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