(Redirected from Turkmens):''This article is about the 'Turkmen people' of
Turkmenistan. For the distinct group of Turk peoples of
Iraq see
Iraqi Turkmen. For the group of people in
Turkey, see
Turkish people. See also disambiguation page
Turkmen for other uses of the term.''
The 'Turkmen' ('''Türkmen''' or '''Түркмен''', plural '''Türkmenler''' or '''Түркменлер''') are a
Turkic people found primarily in the
Central Asian states of
Turkmenistan and
Afghanistan and in northeastern
Iran. They speak the
Turkmen language which is classified as part of the Western
Oghuz branch of
Turkic languages family together with
Turkish,
Azerbaijani, and
Turkoman spoken in
Iraq.
[1]
Origins
The origin of the word "Turkmen" remains unclear. According to popular etymologies as old as the eleventh century, the word derives from ''Turk'' plus the Iranian language element ''manand'', and means "resembling a Turk." Muslim chroniclers such as
Ibn Kathir attribute the etymology from the mass conversion of 200,000 households in 349 AH (
971 AD), causing them to be named ''Turk Iman'', which is a combination of "Turk" and "Iman" إيمان (faith, belief), meaning "believing Turks", and the term later dropping the hard to pronounce ''hamza''
[2]. Modern scholars, on the other hand, have proposed that the element ''-man/-men'' acts as an intensifier and have translated the word as "pure Turk" or "most Turk-like of the Turks."
[3]
Historically, all of the Western or
Oghuz Turks have been called ''Türkmen'' or ''Turkoman'', however today the terms are usually restricted to two Turk groups: the Turkmen people of
Turkmenistan and adjacent parts of
Central Asia, and the
Turkomans of Iraq and Syria, which are similar but not identical ethnic groups.
During the Ottoman period these nomads were known by the names of Türkmen and
Yörük or Yürük. These names were generally used to describe their way of life, rather than their ethnic origin. However, these terms were often used interchangeably. At the same time, various other words were used for these nomads, such as 'Konar-göçer', 'Göçebe', 'Göçer-yörük', ''Göçerler'', and 'Göçer-evliler'. The most common one among these was 'Konar-göçer' - nomadic Turcoman Turks. All of these words are found in Ottoman archival documents and carry only the meaning of 'nomad'.
The modern Turkmen people descend, at least in part, from the
Oghuz Turks of
Transoxiana, the western portion of
Turkestan, a region that largely corresponds to much of Central Asia as far east as
Xinjiang. Oghuz tribes had moved westward from the
Altay mountains in 7th century CE through the
Siberian steppes and settled in this region, and also penetrated as far west as southern
Russia and the
Volga basin. These early Turkmens are believe to have mixed with native Iranian peoples and lived as pastoral nomads until the Russian conquest.
[4]
History
Main articles: History of Turkmenistan
Signs of advanced settlements have been found throughout Turkmenistan including the ''Djeitun'' settlement where
neolithic buildings have been excavated and dated to the 7th millennium BCE.
[5] By 2000 BCE, various
Ancient Iranian peoples began to settle throughout the region as indicated by the finds at the
Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex. Notable early tribes included the nomadic
Massagatae and
Scythians. The
Achaemenid Empire annexed the area by the 4th century BCE and then lost control of the region following the invasion of
Alexander the Great, whose Hellenistic influence had an impact upon the area and some remnants have survived in the form of a planned city which was discovered following excavations at Antiocheia (
Merv). The
Parni invaded the region as the
Parthian Empire was established until it too fractured as a result of tribal invasions stemming from the north.
Ephthalites,
Huns, and
Göktürks came in a long parade of invasions. Finally, the
Sassanid Empire based in
Persia ruled the area prior to the coming of the
Muslim Arabs during the
Umayyad Caliphate by 716 CE. The majority of the inhabitants were converted to
Islam as the region grew in prominence. Next came the
Oghuz Turks, who imparted their language and culture upon the local population. A tribe of the Oghuz, the
Seljuks, established a
Turko-Iranian culture that culminated in the
Khwarezmid Empire by the 12th century.
Mongol hordes led by
Genghis Khan conquered the area between 1219 to 1221 and devastated many of the cities which led to a rapid decline of the remaining Iranian urban population. The Turkmen largely survived the Mongol period due to their semi-nomadic life-style and became traders along the
Caspian, which led to contacts with
Eastern Europe. Following the decline of the Mongols,
Tamerlane conquered the area and his
Timurid Empire would rule, until it too fractured, as the
Safavids,
Uzbeks, and
Khanate of Khiva all contested the area. The expanding
Russian Empire took notice of
Turkmenistan's extensive cotton industry, during the reign of
Peter the Great, and invaded the area. Following the decisive ''
Battle of Geok-Tepe'' in January 1881, Turkmenistan became a part of the Russian Empire. After the
Russian Revolution,
Soviet control was established by 1921 as Turkmenistan was transformed from a medieval Islamic region to a largely secularized republic within a
totalitarian state. By 1991, with the
fall of the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan achieved independence as well, but remained dominated by a one-party system of government led by the
authoritarian regime of President
Saparmurat Niyazov until his death in December 2006.
Genetic evidence
Genetic studies on
Mitochondrial DNA (
mtDNA) restriction polymorphism confirmed that Turkmen were characterized by the strong presence of Euroasian Y and mtDNA lineages, similar to the Euroasian populations, but eastern
Asian genetic component observed in Turkmens and Iranian populations with the frequencies of about 20%.
[6]. Phenotype diversity can be discerned amongst the Turkmen, who exhibit full continuum between Euroasian and
Mediterranean physical types. This most likely indicates an ancestral combination of
Iranian peoples groups and
Turkish peoples that the modern Turkmen have inherited and which appears to correspond to the historical record which indicates that various Iranian tribes existed in the region prior to the migration of Turk tribes who are believed to have merged with the local population and imparted their language and created something of a hybrid
Turco-Persian culture.
Language
Main articles: Turkmen language
Turkmen (Latin: Türkmen, Cyrillic: 'Түркмен') is the name of the language of the titular nation of
Turkmenistan. It is spoken by over 3,600,000 people in
Turkmenistan, and by roughly 3,000,000 people in other countries, including
Iran,
Afghanistan, and Russia.
[7] Up to 50% of native speakers in Turkmenistan also claim a good knowledge of
Russian, a legacy of the
Russian Empire and
Soviet Union.
Turkmen is not a literary language in Iran and Afghanistan, where many Turkmen tend towards bilingualism, usually conversant in the local dialects of
Persian. Variations of the
Perso-Arabic script are, however, used in Iran.
Culture and society
Turkmen Girl
Nomadic heritage
The Turkmen were mainly a nomadic people for most of their history and they were not settled in cities and towns until the advent of the Soviet system of government, which severely restricted freedom of movement and collectivized nomadic herdsmen by the 1930s. Many pre-Soviet cultural traits have survived in Turkmen society however and have recently undergone a kind of revival.
Turkmen lifestyle was heavily invested in horsemanship and as a prominent horse culture, Turkmen horse-breeding was an ages old tradition. In spite of changes prompted by the Soviet period, a tribe in southern Turkmenistan has remained very well known for their horses, the
Akhal-Teke ''desert horse'' - and the horse breeding tradition has returned to its previous prominence in recent years.
[8]
Many tribal customs still survive among modern Turkmen. Unique to Turkmen culture is ''kalim'' which is a
groom's "
dowry", that can be quite expensive and often results in the widely practiced tradition of ''bridal kidnapping''.
[9] In something of a modern parallel, President Saparmurat Niyazov introduced a state enforced "''kalim''", wherein all foreigners are required to pay a sum of no less than $50,000 to marry a
Turkmen woman.
Other customs include the consultation of tribal elders, whose advice is often eagerly sought and respected. Many Turkmen still live in extended families where various generations can be found under the same roof, especially in rural areas.
[10]
The music of the nomadic and rural Turkmen people reflects rich oral traditions, where epics such as
Koroglu are usually sung by itinerant bards. These itinerant singers are called ''
bakshy''; they also act as healers and magicians and sing either a cappella or with instruments such as the two-stringed
lute called
dutar.
Society today
Since Turkmenistan's independence in 1991, a cultural revival has taken place with the return of a moderate form of
Islam and celebration of
Novruz (an
Iranian/
Turkic tradition) or New Year's Day.
Turkmen can be divided into various social classes including the urban intelligentsia and workers whose role in society is different from that of the rural peasantry. Secularism and
atheism remain prominent for many Turkmen intellectuals who favor moderate social changes and often view extreme religiousity and cultural revival with some measure of distrust.
[11]
Self-proclaimed ''President for Life''
Saparmurat Niyazov was largely responsible for many of the changes that have taken place in modern Turkmen society. Mimicking the Turkish reformist policies of
Atatürk in
Turkey, Niyazov made nationalism an important element in Turkmenistan, while contacts with Turkmen in neighboring Iran and Afghanistan have increased. Significant changes to the names of the cities as well as calendar reform were introduced by President Niyazov as well. The
calendar reform resulted in renaming months and days of the week from
Persian or
European-derived words into purely Turkmen ones, some of them eponymously related to the president or his
family.
The five traditional carpet designs that form motifs in the country's
state emblem and
flag repesent the five major
tribes or houses. These Turkmen tribes in traditional order are
Teke (
Tekke),
Yomut (
Yomud),
Arsary (
Ersary),
Chowdur (
Choudur), and
Saryk (
Saryq). The
Salyr (
Salor), a tribe that declined as a result of military defeat before the modern period, are not represented, nor are several smaller tribes or subtribes.
Turkmen in Iran and Afghanistan
| Major Ethnic Groups of Iran |
|---|
|
Turkmen in Iran and Afghanistan remain very conservative in comparison to their brethren in Turkmenistan. Islam plays a much more prominent role in Iran and Afghanistan where Turkmen follow many traditional Islamic practices that many Turkmen in Turkmenistan have abandoned as a result of decades of Soviet rule. In addition, many Turkmen in Iran and Afghanistan have remained at least semi-nomadic and traditionally work in agriculture/animal husbandry and the production of carpets.
[12] [13]
Demographics and population distribution
A Turkmen girl and baby from Afghanistan
The Turkmen people of Central Asia live in:
★ '
Turkmenistan', where some 85% of the population of 5,042,920 people (July 2006 est.), are ethnic Turkmen. In addition, an estimated 1,200 Turkmen refugees from northern Afghanistan currently reside in Turkmenistan due to the ravages of the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and factional fighting in Afghanistan which saw the rise and fall of the
Taliban.
[14]
★ '
Iran', where over 2 million Turkmen are primarily concentrated in the
provinces of
GolestÄn and
North Khorasan.
★ '
Afghanistan', where as of
2006 over 900,000 are ethnic Turkmen and are largely concentrated primarily along the Turkmen-Afghan border in the provinces of
Faryab,
Jowzjan, and
Baghlan.
As of 2005, there remain approximately 60,000 Turkmen refugees in Pakistan, largely in the
North West Frontier Province and
Balochistan.
There are also scattered communities of Turkmens in Russian province of
Stavropol and elsewhere in the
Caucasus, descending from the tribes who emigrated from
Turkmenistan in 18th century and call themselves "''
Trukhmen''".
Age structure: 0-14 years: 35.7% (male 909,113; female 860,128),15-64 years: 60.2% (male 1,462,198; female 1,516,836),65 years and over: 4.1% (male 78,119; female 125,687) (2005 est.)
Population growth rate is 1.82% (2005 est.)
Notes
1. UCLA Language Materials Project: Turkmen
2. Ibn Kathir al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya
3. US Library of Congress Country Studies: Turkmenistan
4. Central Asians Under Russian Rule: A Study in Culture Change by Elizabeth E. Bacon
5. Prehistoric Central Asia
6. 1 Russian Journal of Genetics, Mitochondrial DNA Polymorphism in Populations of the Caspian Region and Southeastern Europe
7. Ethnologue report for Turkmen
8. Embassy of Turkmenistan-History & Culture, The Akhalteke Horse of Turkmenistan
9. Turkmen Society
10. Turkmen Society
11. US Library of Congress Country Studies-Turkmenistan: Social Structure
12. US Library of Congress Country Studies-Iran: Other Groups
13. US Library of Congress Country Studies-Afghanistan: Turkmen
14. UNHCR Begins Compiling Database of Refugees in Turkmenistan
References
★ Bacon, Elizabeth E. ''Central Asians Under Russian Rule: A Study in Culture Change'', Cornell University Press (1980). ISBN 0-8014-9211-4.
★
Turkmenistan Pages by Ekahau
★
See also
★
Turkmen language
★
OÄŸuz Turks
★
Demographics of Iran
★
Ethnic minorities in Iran
★
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