| Turkmen People |
Article Index for Turkmen |
Shopping Turkmen |
Website Links For Turkmen |
Information AboutTurkmen People |
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 . UCLA Language Materials Project: Turkmen 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'' Ibn Kathir al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya . 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." US Library of Congress Country Studies: Turkmenistan Historically, all of the Western or 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. Central Asians Under Russian Rule: A Study in Culture Change by Elizabeth E. Bacon HISTORY See Also: History of Turkmenistan Signs of advanced settlements have been found throughout Turkmenistan including the ''Djeitun'' settlement where 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 Arab s 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 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 See Also: Turkmen language Turkmen (Latin: Türkmen, Cyrillic: Түркмен) is the name of the language of the titular nation of , 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 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. Embassy of Turkmenistan-History & Culture, The Akhalteke Horse of Turkmenistan Many tribal customs still survive among modern Turkmen. Unique to Turkmen culture is ''kalim'' which is a 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. Turkmen Society 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 Iran ian/ 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. US Library of Congress Country Studies-Turkmenistan: Social Structure 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 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. US Library of Congress Country Studies-Iran: Other Groups US Library of Congress Country Studies-Afghanistan: Turkmen DEMOGRAPHICS AND POPULATION DISTRIBUTION The Turkmen people of Central Asia live in:
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 REFERENCES
SEE ALSO |
|
|