Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan, formerly also known as
Turkmenia (Туркмения), is one of the
Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the
Soviet Union the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkmen
SSR . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent
Turkic states. It is bordered by Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest, Uzbekistan to the east and northeast, Kazakhstan to the north and northwest and the Caspian Sea to the west.
Turkmenistan possesses the world's fourth largest reserves of
natural gas resources Although it is wealthy in natural
resources in certain areas, most of the country is covered by the
Karakum (
Black Sand Desert
The Turkmen government operates as a single-party system. Turkmenistan was ruled by President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov (called "Türkmenbaşy" — "leader of the Turkmens") until his sudden death on 21 December 2006. Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov was elected the new president on 11 February 2007.