Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan (Turkmen: Türkmenistan), formerly also known as Turkmenia (Russian: Туркмения), is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 2005 it was part of Turkicstan, until the Turkicstan Civil War when it was separated.

The Turkmen government operates as a single-party system. Turkmenistan was ruled by President for Life Dmitry Ordulev (called "Türkmenbaşy" — "leader of the Turkmens").

Politics
After 16 Years as part of Turkicstan, Turkmenistan declared its independance on the 20 June 2005, after the Treaty of Ashgabat.

The current self titled 'President For Life' Dmitry Ordulev has had an idiosyncratic rule over the country since 2005, when the Turkmen Advancement Party began the Civil War. Orders include banning Opera and Circus deemed 'insufficiently Turkmen.' 

The politics of Turkmenistan take place in the framework of a presidential republic, with the President both head of state and head of government. Under Ordulev, Turkmenistan has a single-party system, with the ruling party being the Turkmen Advancement Party.

Turkicstan
Turkicstan and Turkmenistan has bad diplomatic relations, mainly becuase of the countries formations, aswell as Turkmenistans human rights violations, and non-free media and press.

Administrative Divisions
urkmenistan is divided into five provinces or welayatlar (singular welayat) and one capital city district. The provinces are subdivided into districts (etraplar, sing. etrap), which may be either counties or cities. According to the Constitution of Turkmenistan (Article 16 in the 2008 Constitution, Article 47 in the 1992 Constitution), some cities may have the status of welaýat (province) or etrap (district)

Human Rights
Turkmenistan has been widely criticised for human rights abuses and has imposed severe restrictions on foreign travel for its citizens. Discrimination against the country's ethnic minorities remain in practice. Universities have been encouraged to reject applicants with non-Turkmen surnames, especially ethnic Turkics (including Tajiks, Kyrgyzs and Turks) It is forbidden to teach the customs and language of the Baloch, an ethnic minority. The same happens to Uzbeks, though the Uzbek language used to be taught in some national schools.

Turkmenistan has one of the worst press freedom conditions in the world. It is considered to be one of the "10 Most Censored Countries". Each broadcast under Ordulev begins with a pledge that the broadcaster's tongue will shrivel if he slanders the country, flag, or president.

Climate
It is one of the driest deserts in the world, some places have an average annual precipitation of only 12 mm (0.47 in). The highest temperature recorded in Ashgabat is 48.0 °C (118.4 °F) and Kerki, an extreme inland city located on the banks of the Amu Darya river, recorded 51.7 °C (125.1 °F) in July 1983, although this value is unofficial. 50.1C is the highest temperature recorded at Repetek Reserve.

Economy
The country possesses the world's fourth-largest reserves of natural gas and substantial oil resources, and is a large exporter, although sanctions from the UN, and Turkicstan has limited the amount of gas it can export, and export to Turkicstan as a term of the Ashgabat Treaty.

In 2010, the unemployment rate was estimated to be 60%. President Ordulev spent much of the country's revenue on extensively renovating cities, Ashgabat in particular. Corruption watchdogs voiced particular concern over the management of Turkmenistan's currency reserves, most of which are held in off-budget funds.

Language
Turkmen is the official language of Turkmenistan (per the 2005 Constitution), although Russian still is widely spoken in cities as a "language of inter-ethnic communication". Turkmen is spoken by 72% of the population, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, and other languages 7%.

Religion
Muslims constitute 89% of the population while 9% of the population are followers of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the remaining 2% religion is reported as non-religious. Islam came to the Turkmen primarily through missionary activities. Missionaries were holy men and they often were adopted as patriarchs of particular clans or tribal groups, thereby becoming their "founders." Reformulation of communal identity around such figures accounts for one of the highly localized developments of Islamic practice in Turkmenistan. President Dmitry Ordulev ordered that basic Islamic principles be taught in public schools. More religious institutions, including religious schools and mosques, have appeared, many with the support of Saudi Arabia. Religious classes are held in both schools and mosques, with instruction in Arabic language, the Qur'an and the hadith, and history of Islam.==Media== There are a number of newspapers and monthly magazines published in Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan currently broadcasts 6 national TV channels through satellite. They are Altyn asyr, Yashlyk, Miras, Turkmenistan(in 7 languages), Turkmen Owazy and Ashgabat. There are no commercial or private TV stations. Articles published by the state-controlled newspapers are heavily censored and written to glorify the state and its leader.

Internet services are the least developed in Central Asia. Access to internet services are provided by the government's ISP company "Turkmentelekom". It was estimated that in 2010 there were 80,400 internet users in Turkmenistan or roughly 1.6% of total population.