"The City Of Love" a Ashgabat Travel Page by traveloturc

The prehistory of Ashkhabad begins from the end of I century B.C. The name of city is translated as "love", "abad" in Farsi language means "city", "town".As far as we understand we are only allowed to love the President Saparmurat Niyazov in other words "turkmenbasi"(leader of Turkmens).Ashkhabad is the capital city of Turkmenistan and it is located in the south of Karakum(black sand) Desert that is in the east of the Caspian Sea( Xazar) and in the northern skirts of Kopetdag ( dag means mountain) range that extend between Turkmenistan and Iran.Turkmenistan is divided into five provinces: Ahal, Balkan, Das Oguz, Levap, Mari.Which every star in the flag refers to this provinces.

Turkmenistan has been visited by many empires
Alexander the Great conquered the territory in the 4th century B.C. on his way to India. 150 years later Persia's Parthian Kingdom established its capital in Nisa, an area very near to Ashgabat. In the 7th century A.D. Arabs conquered this region. It was around this time that the famous Silk Road was established as a major trading route between Asia and Europe. then the caliph Al-Ma'mun moved his capital to Merv. In the middle of the 11th century, Turks of the Seljuk Empire are in the scene On the 12th century, Cengiz Khan took control of the region . By 1894 Russia had taken control of Turkmenistan. Later on the soviets in 1917 subsequent political unrest led to the declaration of the Turkmen Republic as one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union in 1924. At this time the modern borders of Turkmenistan were formed.In 1991, with the breakup of the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan became independent. The former Soviet leader, Saparmurat Niyazov took the power and he is the leader of turkmens.He died recently on 21 december 2006 and now Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow is the new president

as a Turkish traditions of nomads Turkmens are producing the best carpets of the world.Some of the carpets are accepted as the asset of the country and its not allowed to take out of the country.Carpets motifs are even included in their flag.
Music is another important area in Turkmenistan
I want to give a link for a turkmen song sang by Abadan Halmedova

A Turkmen song

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