Реферат: A Little information about Turkmenistan \english\
Реферат: A Little information about Turkmenistan \english\
A
Little information about Turkmenistan
An Essay By
Mekan Melyayev
English
Composition 121
January
30, 2002
What is the
first thought that comes to your mind when you hear the word Turkmenistan? Is
it "Gee, I don't even know where it is"? Or if you know the location
do you have questions? "Does your country harbor terrorists? Does you
country have roads? Are all women covered in your country? Does your country
chop off peoples' hands for robbery?"
The history of Turkmenistan indicates
that the Turkmens were nomadic people who lived on their own, never trying to
conquer any land. In the 8th century Turkmens were forced to accept Islam by
the Arabs. The Muslim influence lasted till the late 18th century. In the
early 19th century Russians invaded the Turkmen lands, and Turkmens were forced
to join the Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics. Then in 1925 Turkmens formed
the Republic of Turkmenistan.
It is bordered
on the south by Afghanistan and Iran, on the north by Kazakhstan, on the
northeast by Uzbekistan, and on the West by the Caspian Sea. At present it is
an independent and neutral country. It has a population of less than 5 million,
and a land size slightly large than California. It is oil rich country with
about 100 trillion cubic meters of oil reserves, and it's a 10th largest cotton
producer in the world.
During my stay
in Colorado, I've noticed that very few people know about my country. I've
witnessed quite often that about people I talk to have misconceptions about
Turkmenistan. Probably about 80% of the people I've talked to have some kind
of misconception. The most common misconception they have is viewing
Turkmenistan as a Muslim state. Whenever I tell them about the location of
Turkmenistan, they start thinking of a Muslim ruled state; a state that doesn't
allow women to dress openly, that chops off peoples' hands for robbery. There
are many questions they might want to ask of a person representing an
uncivilized Muslim state.
But Turkmenistan is completely different
from what most people think. Even though Turkmens were forced to receive Islam
as their primary religion, they didn't fight for Islam. The respected elders
of the Turkmen community tried to inspire people to defend their country,
rather than defend their religion. In their poems they talked about Heaven as
something that no one has seen, or been inside, and that they would rather stay
on earth instead of going to Heaven.
Another example
of this could be a Turkmen mythical story, almost like of venerable Bede's
"Beowulf". But unlike Bede's writing in which he describes monster
Grendel as something God has sent, the Turkmen story called "Gorogly (son
of the grave)" has no mention of a God who is in charge of everything that
is happening on earth. It does have some creatures like dragons and monsters
with one eye. The main point of the story is not to inspire people to believe
in God, but to awaken their patriotic feelings.
On the other
hand I would be wrong to say Turkmenistan doesn't interact with its neighbors.
We have 125 diplomatic missions abroad including 2 consulates in Afghanistan.
We import gas and electricity to Iran and Afghanistan. All these relationships
are based on mutual economic benefits only. Turkmenistan receives some help in
training of its military personnel from Pakistan. The United Nations allows
this type of basic training for a neutral country. The training is meant only
for defense of a country, not an attack or spying on any country.
Another
misconception, mainly held by people with a higher level of awareness about
current events in the area, is that Turkmenistan doesn't allow the U.S.
military to use its air space or territory for retaliation against Afghanistan,
even though Turkmenistan would be the second best place to carry out U.S.
attacks, after Pakistan. The rules set by United Nations on neutrality status
don't allow Turkmenistan's territory to be used for military actions. It can
only be used for humanitarian aid. Turkmenistan is allowing humanitarian aid
to pass through its territory, it is allowing airplanes of humanitarian aid to
land and take off from its airport.
Another misconception that I have a hard
time explaining is that Turkmenistan is not Russia, even though it used to be
part of the Soviet Union for 70 years. When I tell people that Turkmenistan was
part of the Soviet Union, they still think of Turkmenistan as Russia, and
therefore I am usually asked a questions that they would ask a native Russian.
"Does your country have nuclear bombs? Why were you guys making nuclear
weapons against the United States? Were your parents Communists?"
I have to
explain that Turkmenistan doesn't have any nuclear weapons because Russia
reclaimed all of its nuclear weapons after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In answer to the question of whether my parents were communists or not, I just
say that the all people in the Soviet Union were communist, and citizens of
that country had no other choice but to be one. People were prosecuted for
having different ideas or beliefs about the government during the Soviet era.
Of course the Soviet Union made nuclear weapons against United States, because
the United States built the same weapons against the Soviet Union. Was the
United States the biggest enemy of the Soviet Union, or was it the other way
around? Or was it both ways at once?
In the Cold War,
the KGB of the Soviet Union and the CIA of the United States both spied on each
other, and unfortunately the practice is still continuing. But this time the
practice is just between Russia and the United States. As a neutral country
Turkmenistan is not involved in it. The United Nations knows all the military
power Turkmenistan has. It would be naive to believe that neither the United
States nor Russia have spies in Turkmenistan, but it seems to me very unlikely
that Turkmenistan has spies in the United States. Of course that is only my
own opinion, based largely on the fact that I'm not a spy myself. (Only a few
people have asked me whether I am, but sometimes I think more people wonder
about it.)
Turkmenistan is
a country with an annual growth of 9% in the Gross Domestic Product over the
past 10 years. Economically Turkmenistan still relies heavily on Russia because
of the industry of gas exportation. The only gas pipelines that were built
during the Soviet era passed through Russia, and Turkmenistan has to rely only
on those pipelines now. But if the war finishes in Afghanistan, a new pipeline
will be built through Afghanistan to Europe. This pipeline would be the most
beneficial for Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistan is
still not fully awakened from the Soviet Laws and regulations. The country
doesn't have a complete democracy, but Turkmenistan has just starting growing,
and democracy comes with time.
With the ongoing
war in that region now, I hope this piece of information helps to better
understand the stance of Turkmenistan. As for explaining what it is like to be
a member of the tiny subculture of Turkmen students in the United States, the
best explanation I can give is that it would be handy for me to carry a copy of
this essay with me daily.
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