Turkmen
The Turkmen are a Sunni Muslim people whose language, Turkmen, belongs to the southwestern, or Oghuz, branch of the Turkic linguistic group. In 1997, about 3.6 million Turkmen lived in the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan, with smaller numbers residing in neighboring countries. About two-thirds of the Turkmen population reside in rural settlements. With the development of Turkmenistan's economy during the post–World War II Soviet period, many non-Turkmen skilled workers and managers immigrated to the republic. The population is distributed unevenly, with few people in the Kara-Kum desert and mountain regions, but large numbers in the oases.
Muslim Turkmen in traditional dress and hats praying in a mosque in 1991. (DAVID & PETER TURNLEY/CORBIS)Further Reading
Capisani, Giampaolo R. (2000) The Handbook of Central Asia:
A Comprehensive Survey of the New Republics. London: I.
B. Tauris.
Esenov, Rakhim. (1982) Turkmenia. Trans. by Tamara Mats.
Moscow: Novosti Press Agency Publishing House. Müller, Helga, et al. (1994) Turkmenistan. Washington, DC:
World Bank.
Smith, Dianne L. (1998) Opening Pandora's Box: Ethnicity and
Central Asian Militaries. Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College.
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