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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Turkmenistan
Index
Russian attempts to encroach upon Turkmen territory began in earnest in
the latter part of the nineteenth century. Of all the Central Asian
peoples, the Turkmen put up the stiffest resistance against Russian
expansion. In 1869 the Russian Empire established a foothold in
present-day Turkmenistan with the foundation of the Caspian Sea port of
Krasnovodsk (now Turkmenbashy). From there and other points, they marched
on and subdued the Khiva Khanate in 1873. Because Turkmen tribes, most
notably the Yomud, were in the military service of the Khivan khan,
Russian forces undertook punitive raids against the Turkmen of Khorazm, in
the process slaughtering hundreds and destroying their settlements. In
1881 the Russians under General Mikhail Skobelev besieged and captured
Gokdepe, one of the last Turkmen strongholds, northwest of Ashgabat. With
the Turkmen defeat (which is now marked by the Turkmen as a national day
of mourning and a symbol of national pride), the annexation of what is
present-day Turkmenistan met with only weak resistance. Later the same
year, the Russians signed an agreement with the Persians and established
what essentially remains the current border between Turkmenistan and Iran.
In 1897 a similar agreement was signed between the Russians and Afghans.
Following annexation to Russia, the area was administered as the
Trans-Caspian District by corrupt and malfeasant military officers and
officials appointed by the Guberniya (Governorate General) of Turkestan
(see fig. 3). In the 1880s, a railroad line was built from Krasnovodsk to
Ashgabat and later extended to Tashkent. Urban areas began to develop
along the railway. Although the Trans-Caspian region essentially was a
colony of Russia, it remained a backwater, except for Russian concerns
with British colonialist intentions in the region and with possible
uprisings by the Turkmen.
Data as of March 1996
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