Azerbaijan currently has diplomatic relations with 160 countries: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, the People's Republic of China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Libya, Luxembourg, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Republic of India, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Togo, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

No seabed boundary with Turkmenistan in the Caspian Sea has been agreed upon and the usage of Caspian Sea water is a matter that remains unsettled by international agreement.

* Turkmenistan has an embassy in Astana.

As in the Soviet era, Kyrgyzstan has the right to 25 % of the water that originates in its territory, but the new agreement allows Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan unlimited use of the water that flows into them from Kyrgyzstan, with no compensation for the nation at the source.

Independence came in 1991, as Saparmurat Niyazov, a former local communist party boss, declared himself absolute ruler for life as Turkmenbashi or Leader of the Turkmen and transitioned the newly independent Turkmenistan into an authoritarian state under his absolute control and has thus far resisted the democratization that has influenced many of the other former Soviet Republics.

The territory of Turkmenistan has been populated since ancient times, especially the areas near oasis of Merv, where traces of human settlements have been found.

Turkmenistan has a cold desert climate that is severely continental.

Like other CIS republics, Turkmenistan has established an Environmental Fund based on revenues collected from environmental fines, but the fines generally are too low to accumulate significant revenue.

According to estimates, as a result of desertification processes and pollution, biological productivity of the ecological systems in Turkmenistan has declined by 30 % to 50 % in recent decades.

The type of desertification caused by year-round pasturing of cattle has been termed the most devastating in Central Asia, with the gravest situations in Turkmenistan and the Kazakh steppe along the eastern and northern coasts of the Caspian Sea.

Turkmenistan has announced plans to clean up some of the Aral Sea fallout with financial support from the World Bank.

Turkmenistan has a single-party system, but has, according to the government, begun a transition towards a multi-party system.

His book, Ruhnama ( or Rukhnama ), which is revered in Turkmenistan almost like a holy text, has been translated into 32 languages and distributed for free among major international libraries.

In the post-Soviet era, Turkmenistan ’ s industrial sector has been dominated increasingly by the fuel and cotton processing industries to the detriment of light industry.

Turkmenistan has a state-controlled press and monitored communication systems.

The Tejen – Serakhs – Mashhad railroad, built in 1996 by Turkmenistan and Iran, has become a vital link of Central Asian, Russian, and European railroad systems with South Asia and the Persian Gulf.

Although the Government of Turkmenistan claims to favour trade with and export to the United States and Turkey, it has significant commercial relationships with Russia and Iran and a growing cross-border trade with Afghanistan.

Turkmenistan has no common land or Caspian Sea border with Russia.

Turkmenistan is a partner country of the EU INOGATE energy programme, which has four key topics: enhancing energy security,

Turkmenistan has the fourth largest gas reserves and has been actively on the lookout to build transportation routes to large markets and the route through Afghanistan has been the most feasible and economical.

The most limited definition was the official one of the Soviet Union, which defined Middle Asia as consisting solely of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Later, the Russian Revolution of 1917 would ultimately transform Turkmenistan from an Islamic tribal society to a totalitarian Leninist one during the Soviet era.

The Democratic Party of Turkmenistan is the only one legally permitted.

Prior to one month of the beginning of the financial year the President of Turkmenistan submits to the Medjlis of Turkmenistan ( Parliament ) the State budget draft for consideration and adoption

In 2006 Turkmenistan had eight merchant marine vessels of more than 1, 000 tons displacement, of which four were cargo ships, two were oil tankers, one was for refrigerated cargo, and one was a combination ore and oil ship.

In 2006 Turkmenistan had an estimated 29 airports, of which 22 had paved runways and one ( at Ashgabat ) had a runway longer than 3, 000 meters.

* Pakistan was one of the first countries to recognise the independence of Turkmenistan in December 1991.

Bordering Turkmenistan to the southwest, Kazakstan to the north, and Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to the south and east, Uzbekistan is not only one of the larger Central Asian states but also the only Central Asian state to border all of the other four.

On June 4, 2001 Turkmenistan President Saparmurat Niyazov ( also known as Turkmenbashi ) authorized a decree that required foreigners to pay a $ 50, 000 fee to marry a Turkmen citizen ( regardless of how they met ), and to live in the country and own property for one year.

This was a quite different rhetoric, a more pragmatic one likely reflecting the reality that the ex-Soviet republics of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan had substantial Islamic political movements-similar to those in Turkey and Pakistan, relatively modern in tone and willing to participate in the US War on Terrorism to some degree, although not as direct combatants.

In places like Turkmenistan and the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea one still encounters this name, such as the Balkan Peninsula and the Balkan Province in Turkmenistan.

At the end of and first year after World War II the Academy consisted of eight divisions ( Physico-Mathematical Science, Chemical Sciences, Geological-Geographical Sciences, Biological Science, Technical Science, History and Philosophy, Economics and Law, Literature and Languages ); three committees ( one for coordinating the scientific work of the Academies of the Republics, one for scientific and technical propaganda, and one for editorial and publications ), two commissions ( for publishing popular scientific literature, and for museums and archives ), a laboratory for scientific photography and cinematography and Academy of Science Press departments external to the divisions ; 7 filials ( Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Tadzhikistan, Turkmenistan, Urals, and West Siberian ), and 8 independent of central Academies in Ukraine, Belorussia, Armenia, Georgia, Lithuania, Uzbekistan, Latvia, and Estonia.

From 1920 to 1922, he was in Turkmenistan, where he was one of the leaders of the Bolshevik struggle against local Muslim rebels ( basmachi ) and also commanded the succeeding punitive expeditions against local opposition.

Ahal Province ( from the Persian آخال Akhāl ) is one of the welayat ( provinces ) of Turkmenistan.

Balkan Province (, from the Persian بلخان Balkhān ) is one of the Welayat ( provinces ) of Turkmenistan.

Off its Caspian shores the Balkan Province includes the island of Ogurja Ada, the most important island in Turkmenistan and one of the largest in the Caspian Sea.

Daşoguz Province () ( formerly Daşhowuz / Дашховуз ) is one of the welayat ( provinces ) of Turkmenistan.

Lebap Province ( from the Persian لباب Lobāb ) is one of the provinces ( welayat ) of Turkmenistan.

Mary Province (, Мары велаяты ) is one of the welayatlar ( provinces ) of Turkmenistan.

* lowest point: Akjagaýa Depression ( Sarygamysh Lake ) in north-western Turkmenistan, – 81 m ( the actual water level in Sarygamysh Lake fluctuate widely from – 110 m at its shallowest to – 60 m ).

Its population density of 3. 3 persons per square kilometer is the lowest in Turkmenistan.