Wikipedia: History of Turkmenistan

Difference (from prior major revision) (minor diff, author diff)

Changed: 1,4c1,14

Disputes - international:
complex maritime, air, and territorial disputes with Greece in Aegean Sea; Cyprus question with Greece; dispute with downstream riparian states (Syria and Iraq) over water development plans for the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; traditional demands regarding former Armenian lands in Turkey have subsided

Illicit drugs:
key transit route for Southwest Asian heroin to Western Europe and - to a far lesser extent the US - via air, land, and sea routes; major Turkish, Iranian, and other international trafficking organizations operate out of Istanbul; laboratories to convert imported morphine base into heroin are in remote regions of Turkey as well as near Istanbul; government maintains strict controls over areas of legal opium poppy cultivation and output of poppy straw concentrate

Background:
Annexed by Russia between 1865 and 1885, Turkmenistan became a Soviet republic in 1925. It achieved its independence upon the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. President Niyazov retains absolute control over the country and opposition is not tolerated. Extensive hydrocarbon/natural gas reserves could prove a boon to this underdeveloped country if extraction and delivery projects can be worked out.

From the CIA World Factbook 2000 and the U.S. Department of State website. Not Wikified.

* History?
* Geography?
* People?
* Government?
* Economy?
* Communications?
* Transportation?
* Military?
* [Transnational issues]?

	Revision 3 . . (edit) September 8, 2001 3:50 am by KoyaanisQatsi
	Revision 2 . . May 30, 2001 10:16 am by KoyaanisQatsi
	Revision 1 . . May 30, 2001 10:16 am by KoyaanisQatsi