1. For example Ak-Mukhammed Velsapar, a writer and a leading member of Agzybirlik, wrote a damning article on the high infant mortality rate in Turkmenistan and demanded immediate measures to improve general health conditions in the republic, “Tarn, gde ne vyrastet posokh …” [The place where nothing grows], Moskovskie Novosti , 8 April 1990.Google Scholar

2. In an underground publication, Agzybirlik committed itself to the Muslim traditions of Turkmenistan in its program (III. Civic Responsibilities, article 5), “Agzybirlik” Khalq Khereketi (Programma ve buzgunnama) [“Agzybirlik” Popular Movement—program and aims] (Ashgabat, 1991).Google Scholar

3. Konstitutsiya Turkmenistana , (Ashgabat: RIPO, 1992).Google Scholar

4. Database compiled for the project Leadership Politics in the Post-Communist Transition , ARC-funded project, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia, 1993–1996.Google Scholar

5. Turkmenskaya Iskra , 23 June 1992, p. 1.Google Scholar

6. Turkmenskaya Iskra , 4 January 1994, p. 2.Google Scholar

7. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Daily Digest , 17 January 1994.Google Scholar

8. “Okonchatel'noe reshenie primet s'ezd” [Final decision will be taken by the congress], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 20 November 1991, p. 1.Google Scholar

9. Turkmenskaya Iskra , 16 December 1991, p. 1.Google Scholar

10. Interview with Ugulkurban Azimova, secretary of the DPT, Ashgabat on 8 August 1995; Onjuk Musaev (first secretary of the DPT) believes that “45 deputies to the Mejlis (95%) are DPT members.” See “Nash serdar—znamya Turkmenistana” [Our leader is the banner of Turkmenistan], Turkmenskaya Iskra, 15 February 1995, p. 2.Google Scholar

11. “Territoriya Geok-Tepinskoi kreposti-zapovednaya zona” [The territory of Gok-tepe fortress is a protected zone], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 15 January 1992, p. 1.Google Scholar

12. Turkmenskaya Iskra , 24 January 1994, p. 2.Google Scholar

13. Turkmenskaya Iskra , 21 February 1994, p. 2.Google Scholar

14. “Aktual'nyi dialog: Saparmurat Turkmenbashi—chitateli ’Turkmenskoi iskry”‘ [Current dialogue: Saparmurat Turkmenbashi is a reader of Turkmenskaya Iskra], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 22 December 1994, p. 1.Google Scholar

15. “Zasedanie kabineta Ministrov Turkmenistana” [Meeting of the cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 28 February 1995, p. 1; “Zerno i produkty iz Rossii” [Grain and goods from Russia], Turkmenskaya Iskra, 5 May 1995, p. 1.Google Scholar

16. Turkmenskaya Iskra , 26 May 1992, p. 1; see presidential decree: Ukaz ob ustanovlenii ezhegodnogo prazdnika “Den” vozrozhdeniya i edinstva' [Decree on the establishment of the annual holiday “Day” of revival and unity].Google Scholar

17. Turkmenskaya Iskra , 5 March 1994, p. 1.Google Scholar

18. “Slovo Prezidenta- zakon” [President's word is the law], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 25 July 1994, p. 1.Google Scholar

19. Interview with Sultan-Murat Ataev, head of organization and political work of the Politsoviet of the DPT, Ashgabat, 9 August 1995.Google Scholar

20. “Vsenarodnyi prazdnik v Turkmenistane” [All-peoples' holiday in Turkmenistan], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 19 February 1994, p. 2.Google Scholar

21. “Zakon ob okhrane pamyatnikov istorii i kul'tury Turkmenistana” [Law on the protection of the historical and cultural monuments of Turkmenistan], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 6 March 1992, p. 1.Google Scholar

22. Konstitutsiya Turkmenistana , (Ashgabat: RIPO, 1992).Google Scholar

23. Interview with Onjuk Musaev, first secretary of the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, 26 October 1992.Google Scholar

24. N. Dovgoryat, “Glavnoe-stabil'nost' i mir” [The main issue is stability and peace], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 7 July 1992, p. 1.Google Scholar

25. “Ukaz Prezidenta Turkmenistana o sozyve khalk maslakhaty” [Decree of President of Turkmenistan on the convention of khalq maslehaty], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 23 June 1992, p. 1.Google Scholar

26. Interview with Vladimir Kadyrov, chairman of the Mejlis Committee on Legislation, Ashgabat, 8 August 1995.Google Scholar

27. Interview with Sultan-Murat Ataev, member of the Polit-soviet of the DPT, Ashgabat, 9 August 1995.Google Scholar

28. “Obrashchenie stareishin Turkmenistana—uchastnikov 5-go Maslakhata stareishin k narodu Turkmenistana” [Appeal of elders of Turkmenistan, participanting in the 5th assembly of elders, to the people of Turkmenistan], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 13 September 1994, p. 1.Google Scholar

29. Turkmenskaya Iskra , 17 January 1994, p. 1.Google Scholar

30. “Sostav natsional'nogo soveta Dvizheniya natsional'nogo vozrozhdeniya” [Composition of the national council of the Movement for national revival], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 19 January 1994, p. 1.Google Scholar

31. “Postanovlenie o sozdanii natsional'nogo upravleniya po okhrane, izuchaniyu i restavratsii pamyatnikov istorii i kul'tury respublika Turkmenistana” [Resolution about the formation of national management for the protection, study and preservation of historical and cultural monuments in the republic of Turkmenistan], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 30 July 1994, p. 1.Google Scholar

32. “Na zemle ottsov” [On the land of our fathers], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 26 October 1991, p. 1.Google Scholar

33. Kh. Ataev, Turkmeny zarubezhnogo vostoka [Turkmens of foreign east] (Ashgabat: “Turkmenistan”, 1993); Marat Durdyev and Shokhrat Kadyrov, Turkmeny mira [Turkmens of the world] (Ashgabat: Kharp, 1991); Marat Durdyev, Turkmeny kitaya [Turkmens of China] (Ashgabat: Turkmenskaya Akhaltekinskaya Assotsiatsiya, 1992); Turkmeny Tsenral'noi Azii [Turkmens of Central Asia] (Ashgabat: Yurt, 1993).Google Scholar

34. Interview with Mukhammet Aidogdyev, deputy head of the World Turkmen Humanitarian Association, Ashgabat, 9 August 1995.Google Scholar

35. Turkmenskaya Iskra , 11 June 1992, p. 1.Google Scholar

36. Database compiled for the project Leadership Politics in the Post-Communist Transition , (ARC funded project, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia, 1993–1996.Google Scholar

37. “Saparmurat Turkmenbashi: ’Kazhdyi na svoem rabochem meste dolzhen trudit'sya prilezhno, chestno”‘ [Saparmurat Turkmenbashi: “Everyone at one's workplace must toil diligently, honestly”], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 13 December 1994, p. 1.Google Scholar

38. K. Ballyev and K. Kakabaev, “Bol'shoi gosudarstvennyi sovet” [The great government council], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 1 August 1994, p. 1.Google Scholar

39. “S velikoi gordost'yu za lyubimuyu Rodinu” [With great pride for our beloved motherland], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 11 November 1994, p. 1.Google Scholar

40. “Informatsionnoe soobshchenie o zasedanii Medzhlisa Turkmenistana” [Information communication about the meeting of the Mejlis of Turkmenistan], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 24 September 1994, p. 1.Google Scholar

41. “Obrashchenie stareishin Turkmenistana—uchastnikov 5-go Maslakhata stareishin k narodu Turkmenistana” [Appeal of elders of Turkmenistan—participants in the 5th assembly of elders to the people of Turkmenistan], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 13 September 1994, p. 1.Google Scholar

42. See for example a production by the Turkmen Academy of Sciences, A. Karryev et al., Istoriya Turkmenistana [History of Turkmenistan] (Ashkhabad: Izdatel'stvo Turkmenistan, 1966).Google Scholar

43. The Parthian empire (second century BC to third century AD) extended from the Amudarya River in the north to the Persian Gulf in the south and incorporated most of present-day Afghanistan and eastern Anatolia. This empire was established by Aryan nomads in the province of Parthia. They spoke Argan, an Indo-European language. The ethnological roots of the Turkic population of the present-day Turkmenistan are not certain. But most scholars assume a link between the Turkic tribes of Mongolia, collectively known as Oghuz, in the fifth century and the Oghuz tribes that began to move down to the steppeland of present-day Turkmenistan in the sixth century and onwards. However, the Oghuz of Turkmenistan may not be linear descendants of the Mongolian Oghuz. For detailed studies see Denis Sinor, The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990); Edgar Knobloch, Beyond the Oxus: Archaeology, Arts and Architecture (London: Ernest Benn, 1972); William McGovern, Early Empires of Central Asia (Chapel Hill: North Carolina University Press, 1939).Google Scholar

44. See Turkmenskaya Iskra, 1 , 8, 12 and 13 July 1994; Kh. Yusupov, “Nekropol' Khorezmshakhov” [Necropolis of Khorezmshahids], Turkmenskaya Iskra, 5 September 1994, p. 2.Google Scholar

45. Burkhanov, Albert, “Nisa. Vstrecha tsvilizatsii” [Nisa. The meeting place of civilizations], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 11 July 1994, p. 2.Google Scholar

46. Durdyev, Marat, “Parfyanskaya Nisa” [Parthian Nisa], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 16, 30 January, 6, 13 March, 24 April and 15 May 1995, p. 2.Google Scholar

47. Durdyev, Marat, Turkmeny (Ashkhabad: Kharp, 1991).Google Scholar

48. Interview with Marat Durdyev, Ashgabat, 10 August 1995.Google Scholar

49. Marat Durdyev rejects the Oghuz origin of Turkmens and traces Turkmens to the Iranian people of Parthia, diluted through the years by waves of nomadic migration from the east; Ibid. For a critique of his views see David Christian, “Marat Durdyiev and Turkmen Nationalism”, in Aleksandar Pavkovic et al., eds, Nationalism and Postcommunism (Sydney: Dartmouth, 1995).Google Scholar

50. Turkmenbashi, Saparmurat, Address to the Peoples of Turkmenistan, 1994 , p. 37.Google Scholar

51. Interview with Uraz-Fulat Akaev, History Institute of the Turkmen Academy of Sciences, Ashgabat, 7 August 1995.Google Scholar

52. Interview with historians Annadurdi Orazov and Ya. Orazklychev at the Institute of History, Turkmen Academy of Sciences, Ashgabat, 3 August 1995.Google Scholar

53. Gapurov, Muhammadnazar, first secretary of the CPT, 1969–1985, wrote about the close relationship between Russians and Turkmens, paying homage to Russians who brought industry and “progressive thought” to Turkmens. He mentioned nothing about the battle of Gok-tepe. Polveka v sem'e edinoi [Half a century in a united family] (Ashkhabad: Izdatel'stvo Turkmenistan, 1974), p. 38.Google Scholar

54. Interview with Ya. Orazklychev, head of the Department of Independence and History, Ashgabat, 3 August 1995.Google Scholar

55. N. Aleksanyants, “Istoriya Turkmenistana: novyi vzglyad” [History of Turkmenistan: new perspective], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 3 December 1994, p. 2.Google Scholar

56. Interview with Seyitniyaz Atayev, Chairman of Council for Veterans of War and Labour in Turkmenistan and member of Yaqshular Maslehaty , Ashgabat, 10 August 1995.Google Scholar

57. Shokhrat Kadyrov argues that administrative boundaries often correspond with tribal “territory,” hence: the Akhal-Teke tribe in the Ashgabat velayat; the Mary-Teke in the Mary velayat; the western Yumot in the Krasnovodsk velayat; the northern Yumot in the Tashauz velayat; and the Ersari in the Charjou velayat. See his Turkmenistan v XX veke (probely i problemy) [Turkmenistan in the 20th century—deficiencies and problems] (Bergen, Norway, 1996), p. 111.Google Scholar

58. Interview with Shokhrat Kadyrov, independent ethnographer and author, Ashgabat, 27 October 1992.Google Scholar

59. Turkmenbashi, Saparmurat, Address to the Peoples of Turkmenistan, 1994 , p. 6.Google Scholar

60. Interview with Seyitniyaz Atayev, 10 August 1995.Google Scholar

61. Turkmenskaya Iskra , 4 April 1994, p. 2.Google Scholar

62. Gapurov, M., “Ideologicheskuyu rabotu-na uroven' sovremennykh trebovanii partii” [Ideological work is on the level of contemporary demands of the party], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 3 April 1973, pp. 1–2.Google Scholar

63. President Niyazov described his attitude to Islam and secularism. Thus: “Islam defines social life in Turkmenistan. Yes, the great majority of Turkmens are Muslims. But Islam is not raised to the level of state politics. Church and state are separate in Turkmenistan.” “Na ‘Mersedese’ cherez barkhany ne proidesh”' [A Mercedes cannot drive over sand-hills], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 5 November 1992, p. 2.Google Scholar

64. The following month the Russian-language republican daily carried a full-page summary on the importance of haj in Islam. “Na svyashchennoi zemle mekki i mediny” [On the holy land of Mecca and Medina], Turkmenskaya Iskra, 29 May 1992, p. 4.Google Scholar

65. Turkmenskaya Iskra , 26 May 1992, p. 1.Google Scholar

66. “Kurban bairam-prazdnik narodnyi” [Kurban bairam is the people's holiday], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 14 June 1992, p. 1.Google Scholar

67. Kurbanova, A., “Ot vorot mira- k domu soglasiya” [From the gates of peace to the house of consensus], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 22 June 1992, p. 2.Google Scholar

68. Interview with Allamurat Muradov, manager of Gengesh for Religious Affairs attached to the Office of the President, Ashgabat, 7 August 1995.Google Scholar

69. “Prezident Turkmenistana prinyal uchastie v otkrytii novoi mecheti” [President of Turkmenistan took part in the opening of a new mosque], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 25 October 1994, p. 1.Google Scholar

70. “Soveshchanie kaziata Turkmenistana” [Meeting of the kaziyat of Turkmenistan], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 3 February 1994, p. 1.Google Scholar

71. Interview with Allamurat Muradov, Ashgabat, 7 August 1995.Google Scholar

72. Oveznepesov, S. “Svobodny v vybore religii” [Freedom in the choice of religion], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 3 June 1995, p. 2.Google Scholar

73. “Zaregistrirovan Kaziat” [Kaziyat registered], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 3 June 1992, p. 1.Google Scholar

74. Turkmenskaya Iskra , 3 June 1992, p. 1.Google Scholar

75. “Turkmenistan ne budet ni kommunisticheskim, ni islamskim” [Turkmenistan will not be Communist, nor Islamic], Turkmenskaya Iskra , 24 February 1992, p. 1.Google Scholar

76. Turkmenskaya Iskra , 21 April 1994, p. 1.Google Scholar

77. Turkmenskaya Iskra , 22 June 1995, p. 1.Google Scholar

78. For Ernest Gellner's account of the predisposition of republican leaders to nationalism in the wake of the Soviet collapse, see “Nationalism in the Vacuum”, in Alexander J. Motyl, ed., Thinking Theoritically about Soviet Nationalities (New York: Columbia, 1995).Google Scholar