On the other hand, according to the classification from International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) before April 2004, all the countries of Eastern Europe ( including Central European countries which still belongs to " Eastern Europe Group " in the UN institutions ) as well as the former Soviet Union ( USSR ) countries in Central Asia ( Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan ) and Mongolia, were not included under either developed or developing regions, but rather were referred to as " countries in transition "; however they are now widely regarded ( in the international reports ) as " developing countries ".

Other claim, its parts was used to build the mast of Raszyn radio transmitter in Poland, however there is no proof for this, while others say, it was rebuilt in Turkmenistan or not rebuilt at all.

Iran and Turkmenistan refused however to recognize the validity of these bilateral agreements ; Iran is rejecting any bilateral agreement to divide the Caspian.

In Ashgabat, it would be hard to find a person who did not speak Russian, however with recent efforts to revive the ancient culture of Turkmenistan, Turkmen is quickly regaining its place as the chief language of the state.

From 1902 to 1904, in addition to the building of the Shrine of the Báb that ` Abdu ' l-Bahá was directing, he started to put into execution two different projects ; the restoration of the House of the Báb in Shiraz, Iran and the construction of the first Bahá ' í House of Worship in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

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.

* In Turkmenistan, the local party apparatus led by Saparmurat Niyazov was renamed the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan and abandoned communist ideology.

The last living person to be officially proclaimed president for life was Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan.

Turkmenistan was a passing point for numerous migrations and invasions by tribes which gravitated towards the settled regions of the south including ancient Mesopotamia, Elam, and the Indus Valley Civilization.

Modern Turkmenistan was radically transformed by the invasion of the Russian Empire, which conquered the region in the late 19th century.

On 28 December 1999, Niyazov was declared President for Life of Turkmenistan by the Mejlis ( parliament ), which itself had taken office only a week earlier in elections that included only candidates hand-picked by President Niyazov ; no opposition candidates were allowed.

Turkmenistan was until recently a single-party state wherein only the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan ( Türkmenistanyň Demokratik partiýasynyň ) was legally allowed to contest elections.

Since all opposition was banned within Turkmenistan, it was forced to form and operate from abroad.

During the Soviet era gas was exported mainly to other Soviet republics, as Turkmenistan steadily increased delivery from about 9. 2 million m³ in 1940 to about 234 million m³ in 1960 and about 51 billion m³ in 1975.

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.

Iran was the first nation to recognize Turkmenistan as an independent nation.

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

In the early 1970s, the first section of a major irrigation project was completed to divert water from the Amu Darya River in Turkmenistan eastward into Uzbekistan in order to irrigate the land surrounding Qarshi.

Bactria was the Greek name for Old Persian Bāxtriš ( from native * Bāxçiš ) ( named for its capital Bactra, modern Balkh ), in what is now northern Afghanistan, and Margiana was the Greek name for the Persian satrapy of Margu, the capital of which was Merv, in today's Turkmenistan.

Buddhism was spread among the Turkic people during the 2nd and 3rd centuries BCE into modern-day Pakistan, Kashmir, Afghanistan, eastern and coastal Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.

The countries receiving a score of 7, indicating those where religious freedom was least respected, were Turkmenistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Myanmar and North Korea.

In West Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean early copper zinc alloys are now known in small numbers from a number of third Millennium BC sites in the Aegean, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kalmykia, Turkmenistan and Georgia and from 2nd Millennium BC sites in West India, Uzbekistan, Iran, Syria, Iraq and Israel.

A daf is a large-sized tambourine used to accompany both popular and classical music in Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey ( where it is called tef ), Uzbekistan ( where it's called childirma ), India ( where it is known as the Dafli ) and Turkmenistan.

The Kopet Dag Range is a region characterized by foothills, dry and sandy slopes, mountain plateaus, and steep ravines ; Mount Şahşah ( 2, 912 m ), also known as Mount Rizeh, southwest of Ashgabat, is the highest elevation of the Kopet Dag Range in Turkmenistan.

In Turkmenistan it is known as the Tejen or Tedzhen river and passes close to the city of Tedzhen.

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.

" Ey Iran " ( Iran, unofficial ) uses the Phrygian mode ( known in Middle Eastern music as a variety of maqam kurd ) and Garaşsyz, Bitarap Türkmenistanyň Döwlet Gimni ( Turkmenistan ) uses the Mixolydian mode.

The lyrics were written by the first president of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov ( also known as Turkmenbashi, ).

* The name of several cities in Turkmenistan renamed by Niyazov, the largest of which is Türkmenbaşy, Balkan Province, formerly known by the Russian name Krasnovodsk.

The Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline ( also known as Turkmenistan – Afghanistan – Pakistan – India Pipeline, TAP or TAPI ) is a proposed natural gas pipeline being developed by the Asian Development Bank.

Türkmenbaşy ( also spelled Turkmenbashi ), formerly known as Krasnovodsk () and, more properly, Kyzyl-Su, is a city in Balkan Province in Turkmenistan, on the Krasnovodsk Gulf of the Caspian Sea.

The discovery of a single tiny stone seal ( known as the " Anau seal ") with geometric markings from the BMAC site at Anau in Turkmenistan in 2000 led some to claim that the Bactria-Margiana complex had also developed writing, and thus may indeed be considered a literate civilization.

The State Anthem of the Turkmen SSR was the national anthem of Turkmenistan when it was a republic of the Soviet Union and known as the Turkmen SSR.

* Darvaza ( also known as " Gates of Hell "), a location in Turkmenistan with a burning natural gas deposit

The Hari River passes near Tejen, and is therefore known in Turkmenistan as the Tejen River.

The city should not be confused with the like-named city of Konya-Urgench ( also known as " Old Urgench " or " Gurgench ") in Turkmenistan.

Konye-Urgench ( Köneürgenç, Russian: Куня Ургенч, from Persian Kuhna Gurgānj کهنه گرگانج ) also known as Konya-Urgench, Old Urgench or Urganj, is a municipality of about 30, 000 inhabitants in north-eastern Turkmenistan, just south from its border with Uzbekistan.

The Kopet Dag, Kopet Dagh, or Koppeh Dagh (, ), also known as the Turkmen-Khorasan Mountain Range is a mountain range on the frontier between Turkmenistan and Iran, extending about 650 km ( 404 mi ) along the border, east of the Caspian Sea.

Fossil-based sulfur deposits from salt domes have until recently been the basis for commercial production in the United States, Poland, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine.

This improved Tajikistan's position among other Central Asian countries ( namely Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan ), which have degraded economically ever since.

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.

Formally, according to the Constitution, citizens of Turkmenistan have the right to set up political parties and other public associations, acting within the framework of the Constitution and laws, and public associations and groups of citizens have the right to nominate their candidates in accordance with the election law.

These institutions have the same basic division of responsibility as in the Soviet era, overseen by the Central Bank of Turkmenistan.

However, in recent years state policy makers have increased the range of crops with the aim of making Turkmenistan self-sufficient in food.

Turkmenistan ’ s irrigation infrastructure and water-use policies have not responded efficiently to this need.

Air travel within Turkmenistan on the national carrier, Turkmenistan Airlines, is often claimed to be unreliable, but there have been no reported accidents.

Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have a dispute over water-sharing.

Iran and Turkmenistan have had relations since Turkmenistan's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Recently, Russian-Turkmenistan relations have revolved around Russia's efforts to secure natural gas export deals from Turkmenistan.

Landlocked Afghanistan has no seaports but the Amu Darya river, which forms part of the nation's border with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, does have barge traffic.

Note: Broad-gauge track is employed at the borders with Azerbaijan Republic and Turkmenistan which have broad gauge rail systems ; 41 km of the standard gauge, electrified track is in suburban service at Tehran ( 2007 ).

" While at RAND, Khalilzad also had a brief stint consulting for Cambridge Energy Research Associates, which at the time was conducting a risk analysis for Unocal, now part of Chevron, for a proposed 1, 400 km ( 890 mile ), $ 2-billion, 622 m³ / s ( 22, 000 ft³ / s ) Trans-Afghanistan gas pipeline project which would have extended from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan and further proceeding to Pakistan.

Mikhail S. Gorbachev's policies of glasnost and perestroika did not have a significant impact on Turkmenistan.

Countries that have experienced a fertility decline of over 40 % from their pre-transition levels include: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Jamaica, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Surinam, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, South Africa, India, Saudi Arabia, and many Pacific islands.

From 1992 to 2000, a joint team of archaeologists from Turkmenistan and the UK have made remarkable discoveries.

Evidences of the production of crucible steel have been found in Merv, Turkmenistan, a major city on the ' Silk Road '.

The Elections in Turkmenistan have been widely criticized for being completely fraudulent and attempting to give an appearance of legitimacy to what is in reality a dictatorship.

Since July 1999, there have been several notable seizures of acetic anhydride in Turkey ( amounting to nearly seventeen metric tons ) and Turkmenistan ( totaling seventy-three metric tons ).

" U. S. Senator Sam Brownback noted, " Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have clearly received more credit than the facts would warrant.

At the present day, evaporite deposits can be seen accumulating in basins that merely have restricted access but do not completely dry out ; they provide an analogue to some deposits recognised in the geological record, such as the Garabogazköl basin in Turkmenistan.