The Republic of Turkmenistan is a Central Asian country with the surface area of 488.100 km2 (195.000 mile2). Its length from the west to the east is 1.100 km., and from the north to the south is 650 km. Total length of the borders are 5.522 km.. It is surrounded with Kazakhstan (Mangğistau, Red Army Districts) (379 km.) and Uzbekistan in the north (Karakalpakistan Republic, and the Provinces of Harezm, Nevaiy, Bokhara, Samarkand, Kaşkaderya, Surhanderya) (1.621 km.), the Caspian Sea in the west and Iran in the south (the Provinces of Mazenderan, Semnan, Khorasan) (992 km.), and Afghanistan in the southeast (the Provinces of Herat, Badgis, Faryab, Gausjan, Belh, Gur) (744 km.).
Turkmenistan is located over a hollow area in respect of topography. 84% of the lands of the country are composed of deserts (375.000 km2) and 2/3 of the lands of the country is composed of the entire Karaum desert. The highest peak of the Kopet Mountains that constitute border with Iran reaches to the altitude of 2942 m. Apart from these mountains, the surface area is generally plain and the altitude above the sea level is between 150-300 m. Most of the lands of Turkmenistan are located within a subsidence area (cave in) that is in the north of Kopet Mountains. The lands of the country are the alluvial soil that were deposited of the alluvion carried by especially the River Oxus (Ceyhun) and some other small rivers that filled in this subsidence area. The most important water resources of Turkmenistan are the River Oxus (Ceyhun) (997,5 km., 620 miles in Turkmenistan), and the Rivers of Mugan (353,9 km., 220 miles), Tecen (299,9 km., 186,4 miles), Etrek (139,9 km., 87 miles) and Kara-Kum Channel that was alimented by the waters of the River Oxus (approximately 1.200 km.).
The subtropical desert climate is dominant in Turkmenistan. There is a high temperature difference between the day and night. The winter months are short and cold and the summer months are long and warm. There is not any rainfall since the middle of the spring in the country. The general characteristics of the climate in Turkmenistan are determined by its distance from the oceans and its position of surrounding with the high mountains. As a result, it has been observed that the meteorological movements showed great differences and changes both on a daily and annual basis and the climate showed the characteristics of a typical continental climate.
The capital city of Turkmenistan is Ashkhabad. Turkmenistan is divided into five provinces: Ahal, Balkan, Daş Oğuz, Levap, Mari. Most important cities are Ashkhabad, Merv, Türkmenbaşı, Daş hovuz Çardcov, Köhne, Ürgenç and Keski. Its population is 4.483.000 (1995) and the population of women is greater than the population of men in Turkmenistan. Of the total population, 2.020.300 people live in the cities while 2.463.000 people live in the rural regions. The rate of the population increase is 1.97%. The population is composed of Turkmen people with the rate of 77%, Uzbek Turks with the rate of 9.2%, Azerbaijani Turks with the rate of 0.9%, Armenians with the rate of 0.9%, Germans with the rate of 0.1% and the other people with the rate of 2.1%.
The literacy rate is 98% in Turkmenistan and the official language is the Turkmenistan Turkish. The education for a period of 10 years is compulsory in Turkmenistan and there are 765 primary-secondary schools, 36 technical schools, 84 art schools, 1 university and 11 faculties connected to this university in the country. Furthermore, there are also 10 research institutes, 11 research stations and an academy of agricultural sciences that is composed og 11 units of Soviet farms.
The leading agricultural products are cotton, fruit, vegetables and cereals. More than half of its population is composed of villagers and 42.77% of the working population works in the field of agriculture. This situation gives a vision of an agricultural country for Turkmenistan. However, since most of the lands of the country is fertile for agriculture, the agricultural cultivations are made along the River Oxus. 17% of BDT cotton production has been covered by Turkmenistan.
In respect of stockbreeding, sheep breeding has an important place in waste lands and steppe lands and cattle breeding are of high importance in respect of the livestock breeding. The breeding of pigs and poultry are highly widespread in the country.
Turkmenistan is a rich country in respect of natural resources. Particularly petroleum and natural gases are the significant underground resources. There are wide petroleum areas that are not commissioned yet. The important natural resources are sulphide, chromium, lead, bromine, coal and potassium. Turkmenistan is a rich country in respect of energy generation and the annual generation is about 15 billion kW and 40% of this total generation is exported. Turkmenistan is the leading country among the other Central Asian Turkish states in respect of natural gas reserves and production.
The fundamental industrial branches in Turkmenistan are petrochemicals, textile, fertiliser, window glasses, and food industry. The amount of the working population is 1.600.000 people. Of this total working population, 42% of people work in the field of agriculture and 10.8% of people work in the industrial branches and the rest of them work in the sector of services. The unemployment rate is 20-25% by the year of 1990.
The exportation of Turkmenistan excised as 2.008 million dollars by the year of 1995 and the export products are natural gas, cotton, petroleum products, electricity, textile, and hand-woven carpets. Its importation figure was 1.472 million dollars and importation is particularly made from Turkey, Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Iran and European Union.