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Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan

6 4.1
A country in Central Asia east of the Caspian Sea, north of Iran, once part of the Soviet Union
  • proper noun
  • /tɜrkmɛnɪˈstɑn/
translation icon : Turkmenistán
  • The capital city of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, is known for its unique architecture.
  • gas from Turkmenistan
  • Turkmenistan President
  • Turkmenistan's pipeline

Examples

  • Uzbekistan, with 23 million inhabitants, has the largest population, while Turkmenistan has the smallest, at 4.5 million.

    Academic text (1998)
  • Of the three dozen airports in Turkmenistan, only five have sufficient runways for a 747.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • Recent behavior suggests that Turkmenistan is beginning to achieve success and is fast becoming an autonomous economic actor.

    Academic text (1994)
  • Much like Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan, it was a state before it was a nation.

    Academic text (2000)
  • Similar to Uzbekistan, popular legitimacy in Turkmenistan is seen as something less than critical for the maintenance of power.

    Academic text (1994)
  • Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, the United States, and India are other important actors.

    Academic text (1997)
  • ARS researchers, along with cooperators in China, France, Israel, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, began plant studies and identified potential natural enemies.

    Academic text (2000)
  • So peace will not bring pipelines to Armenia or prosperity to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

    Academic text (2000)
  • Central routes use Iran, Turkmenistan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Pakistan, Turkey, the Black Sea, and Ukraine.

    Academic text (2007)
  • N50 Saparmurat Niyazov, former president of Turkmenistan, quickly renegotiated prices to $100.

    Academic text (2010)

Synonyms

Turkmenia
vsTurkmenistan
  • Archaic
9.9

The former name of Turkmenistan when it was a Soviet republic

is the modern official name replacing that older form
Turkmen
vsTurkmenistan
  • Literature
6.9

A former Soviet republic in Central Asia now called Turkmenistan

is the current official name used after renaming

Surface Forms

Morphology

Turkmenistan = Turkmen (transparent) = Turkmen + istan

Formed from the ethnonym 'Turkmen' plus the widely used place-name suffix '-istan' meaning 'land of', so the country name is directly derivable.

Etymology

Turkmenistan comes from the name of the Turkmen people plus the Persian ending -stan, which means 'land' or 'place'. The same -stan appears in Pakistan and Afghanistan, so Turkmenistan means 'land of the Turkmen', and that is why it is the country's name.