View source for Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic

{{Short description|Constituent republic of the Soviet Union (1925–1991)}}
{{Infobox former country
| conventional_long_name = Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic
| native_name            = {{ubl|{{native name|tk|Түркменистан Совет Социалистик<br/>Республикасы(Türkmenistan Sowet Sotsialistik Respublikasy)| italics=no}}|{{native name|ru|Туркменская Советская Социалистическая Республика(Turkmenskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika)|italics=no}}}}
| common_name            = Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic
| life_span              = 1925–1991
| status                 = [[Republics of the Soviet Union|{{nobr|Soviet socialist republic}}]]
| p1                     = Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic{{!}}Turkestan ASSR
| flag_p1                = Flag of Russian SFSR (1918-1937).svg
| p3                     = Khorezm PSR
| flag_p3                = Flag of Khiva 1920-1923.svg
| p4                     = Bukharan People's Soviet Republic{{!}}Bukharan PSR
| flag_p4                = Flag of the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic.svg
| s1                     = Turkmenistan
| flag_s1                = Flag of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (1973–1991); Flag of Turkmenistan (1991–1992).svg
| image_flag             = Flag of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (1973–1991); Flag of Turkmenistan (1991–1992).svg
| flag_type              = [[Flag of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic|Flag]] (1973–1991)
| image_coat             = Emblem of the Turkmen SSR.svg
| symbol_type            = [[Emblem of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic|State emblem]]<br>(1978–1991)
| image_map              = Soviet Union - Turkmen SSR.svg
| image_map_size         = 
| image_map_caption      = Location of Turkmenia (red) within the [[Soviet Union]]
| national_motto         = Әхли юртларың пролетарлары, бирлешиң! {{smaller|([[Turkmen language|Turkmen]])}}<br/>[[Workers of the world, unite!|Ähli ýurtlaryň proletarlary, birleşiň!]] {{smaller|([[transliteration]])}}<br/>{{smaller|"Proletarians of all nations, unite!"}}
| national_anthem        = [[Anthem of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic|Түркменистан Совет Социалистик Республикасы Дөвлет Гимни]]<br/>''Türkmenistan Sowet Sosialistik<br/>Respublikasy Döwlet Gimni''<br/>{{smaller|"State Anthem of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic"}}<br/>{{center|[[File:Anthem-ssr-turkmen-instr-1968.ogg]]}}
| capital                = [[Ashgabat|Ashkhabad]]
| common_languages       = [[Turkmen language|Turkmen]]{{·}}[[Russian language|Russian]]
| religion               = [[State atheism]]
| government_type        = {{nobr|[[Unitary state|Unitary]] [[Marxism-Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]]}} [[one-party state|one-party]] {{nobr|[[Soviet republic (system of government)|Soviet]] [[socialist state|socialist republic]]}} (1925–1990)<br/>[[Unitary state|Unitary]] [[Presidential system|presidential]] [[republic]] (1990–1991)
| title_leader           = [[List of leaders of Turkmenistan|First Secretary]]
| legislature            = [[Supreme Soviet of the Turkmen SSR|Supreme Soviet]]
| leader1                = [[Ivan Mezhlauk]]
| year_leader1           = 1924&ndash;1926 {{smaller|(first)}}
| leader2                = [[Saparmurat Niyazov]]
| year_leader2           = 1985&ndash;1991 {{smaller|(last)}}
| title_representative   = [[President of Turkmenistan#History|Head of state]]|
| representative1        = [[Shah Muhammed Faisal Reza]]
| year_representative1   = 1938-1942(first)
| representative2        = [[Roza Atamuradovna Bazarova]]
| year_representative2   = 1988–1990(last)
| title_deputy           = [[Prime Minister of Turkmenistan|Head of Government]]
| deputy1                = [[Kaikhaziz Atabayev]]
| deputy2                = [[Khan Akhmedov]]
| year_deputy1           = 1925&ndash;1937 {{smaller|(first)}}
| year_deputy2           = 1989&ndash;1991 {{smaller|(last)}}
| event_pre              = Turkmen Oblast {{nobr|of the [[Turkestan ASSR]]}}
| date_pre               = 7 August 1921
| year_start             = 1925
| event_start            = Republic proclaimed
| date_start             = 13 May
| event1                 = Sovereignty declared
| date_event1            = 22 August 1990
| event2                 = Independence declared
| date_event2            = 27 October 1991
| event_end              = {{nobr|Independence recognized}}
| date_end               = 26 December
| year_end               = 1991
| calling_code           = {{nobr|[[Telephone numbers in the Soviet Union|+7]]  360/363/370/378/432}}
| currency               = [[Soviet rouble]] (Rbl) (SUR)
| today                  = [[Turkmenistan]]
| demonym                = 
| area_km2               = 
| area_rank              = 
|stat_pop1 = 3,533,925
|stat_year1=1989 census
| GDP_PPP                = $26.554 billion<ref name="WB.PPP">{{cite web |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.PP.KD?end=1991&locations=TM&start=1990 |title=GDP (PPP) index (World Bank estimate) – Turkmenistan |publisher=World Bank}}</ref>
| GDP_PPP_year           = 1990
| HDI                    = 
| HDI_year               = 
}}
{{History of Turkmenistan}}
The '''Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic'''{{Efn|{{langx|tk|Түркменистан Совет Социалистик Республикасы|Türkmenistan Sowet Sotsialistik Respublikasy}}; {{langx|ru|Туркменская Советская Социалистическая Республика|Turkmenskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika}}}}, also known as '''Soviet Turkmenistan''', the '''Turkmen SSR''', '''TuSSR''', '''Turkmenistan''', or '''Turkmenia''', was one of the [[Republics of the Soviet Union|constituent republics]] of the [[Soviet Union]], located in [[Soviet Central Asia|Central Asia]], that existed as a republic from 1925 to 1991. Initially, on 7 August 1921, it was established as the Turkmen Oblast of the [[Turkestan ASSR]] before being made, on 13 May 1925, a separate republic of the USSR as the Turkmen SSR.

Since its creation, the borders of Soviet Turkmenia remained unchanged. On 22 August 1990, the republic declared its sovereignty over Soviet laws. On 27 October 1991, it became [[Turkmenistan|independent as Turkmenistan]].

Geographically, Soviet Turkmenistan was bordered by [[Iran]] and [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]] to the south, the [[Caspian Sea]] to the west, the [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakh SSR]] to the north, and the [[Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic|Uzbek SSR]] to the east.

== History ==
{{see also|History of Turkmenistan}}

===Annexation to Russia===
[[Russian Empire|Russian]] attempts to encroach upon Turkmen territory began in earnest in the latter part of the nineteenth century.<ref name=":0">Clark, Larry, Michael Thurman, and David Tyson. "Turkmenistan: Incorporation into Russia". In {{Harvnb|Curtis|1997|p=305|ps=.}}</ref> In 1869, the [[Russian Empire]] established a foothold in present-day Turkmenistan with the foundation of the [[Caspian Sea]] port of Krasnovodsk (now [[Türkmenbaşy, Turkmenistan|Türkmenbaşy]]).<ref name=":0"/> From there and other points, they marched on and subdued the [[Khiva Khanate]] in 1873.<ref name=":0"/> Because Turkmen tribes, most notably the [[Yomut]], were in the military service of the [[Khanate of Khiva]], Russian forces undertook punitive raids against [[Khwarazm]], in the process slaughtering hundreds of Turkmen and destroying their settlements.<ref name=":0"/> In 1881, the Russians under General [[Mikhail Skobelev]] besieged and captured [[Geok Tepe]], one of the last Turkmen strongholds, northwest of [[Ashgabat]].<ref name=":0"/> With the Turkmen defeat (which is now marked by the Turkmen as a [[Public holidays in Turkmenistan|national day of mourning]] and a symbol of national pride), the annexation of what is present-day Turkmenistan took the Russian Empire repeated attempts after failing the first time. Later the same year, the Russians signed the [[Treaty of Akhal]] with [[Qajar Iran]] and established what essentially remains the current border between Turkmenistan and Iran.<ref name=":0"/> In 1897, a similar agreement was signed between the Russians and Afghans.<ref name=":0"/>

Following annexation to Russia, the area was administered as the [[Transcaspian Region]] by corrupt and malfeasant military officers and officials appointed by the [[Russian Turkestan|Turkestan]] Governor-Generalship in [[Tashkent]].<ref name=":0"/> In the 1880s, a railroad was built from Krasnovodsk to [[Ashgabat]] and later extended to Tashkent.<ref name=":0"/> Urban areas began to develop along the railway.<ref name=":0"/> Although the Transcaspian Region essentially was a colony of Russia, it remained a backwater, except for Russian concerns with British colonialist intentions in the region and with possible uprisings by the Turkmen.<ref name=":0"/>

===Creation of an SSR===
[[File:Cover of the 1926 Constitution of the Turkmen SSR, 1926.jpg|thumb|right|Cover of the 1926 Constitution of the Turkmen SSR]]

Due to the Turkmens being generally indifferent to the [[October Revolution|advent of Soviet rule in 1917]], relatively little revolutionary activity occurred in the region in the years that followed the October Revolution.<ref name="soviet"/> However, the years immediately preceding the revolution had been marked by sporadic Turkmen uprisings against Russian rule, most prominently the [[Central Asian revolt of 1916]] that that erupted as a result of large-scale forced conscriptions of local ([[Turkish people|ethnic Turkish]]) inhabitants to the [[Imperial Russian Army]] (which, after the outbreak of [[World War I]], required large number of conscripts from all over the [[Russian Empire]]) and swept through the whole of [[Turkestan]].<ref name="soviet"/> Turkmens' armed resistance to Soviet rule was part of the larger [[Basmachi movement]], a [[Pan-Turkism|pan-Turkish]] and [[Islamism|Islamist]] uprising against the Russian and Soviet dictatorship that swept throughout the majority of [[Central Asia]] from the 1920s into the early 1930s.<ref name="soviet"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=pepperthephoenix |date=2021-06-23 |title=Episode 28-The Basmachi |url=https://samswarroom.com/2021/06/23/episode-28-the-basmachi/ |access-date=2025-10-19 |website=samswarroom.com |language=en-US}}</ref> Battles between Soviet troops and local resistance fighters were fierce; however, in the end, the Soviet [[Red Army]], supported by [[Amanullah loyalism|Afghan auxiliaries]], violently suppressed the rebellion, resulting in a large number of ethnic [[Turkmens]] losing their lives in the battles.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Basmachi Rebellion 1916-1931 |url=https://onwar.com/data/basmachi1916.html |access-date=2025-10-19 |website=onwar.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Russian Civil War in Central Asia |url=https://realtimehistory.net/blogs/news/russian-civil-war-in-central-asia |access-date=2025-10-19 |website=RTH - Real Time History GmbH |language=en}}</ref> Individuals who played significant roles in the revolt were Paul Morrismovich and his accomplices, Admirals Maxim Whitnapov and Matviy Mamenovik.<ref name=soviet>Clark, Larry, Michael Thurman, and David Tyson. "Turkmenistan: Soviet Turkmenistan". In {{Harvnb|Curtis|1997|pp=305–306|ps=.}}</ref> Soviet sources describe this struggle as a minor chapter in the republic's history.<ref name="soviet"/>

In October 1924, when the [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] divided [[Soviet Central Asia|USSR's Central Asian territories]] into distinct ethno-national political entities, the [[Transcaspian Oblast]] of the [[Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic]] (Turkestan ASSR) along with the [[Türkmenabat|Charjew]], [[Kerki]] and a part of the Shirabad provinces of the [[Bukharan People's Soviet Republic|Bukharan People's Republic]] and the Turkmen ([[Daşoguz]]) province of [[Khorezm People's Soviet Republic|Khorezm People's Republic]] were unified to create the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkmen SSR), a full-fledged constituent republic of the Soviet Union where ethnic Turkmens made up approximately 80% of the republic's population.<ref name="soviet"/><ref>{{Harvnb|Edgar|2006|page=68|ps=.}}</ref> During the forced [[Collectivization in the Soviet Union|collectivization]] and settlement of nomadic and semi-nomadic groups along with other socioeconomic changes of the first decades of Soviet rule, pastoral nomadism ceased to be an economic alternative in Turkmenistan. Consequently, by the late 1930s, the lifestyle of the majority of Turkmens had changed, becoming sedentary.<ref name="soviet"/> Efforts by the Soviet state to undermine the traditional Turkmen way of life resulted in significant changes in familial and political relationships, religious and cultural observances, and intellectual developments.<ref name="soviet"/> Significant numbers of Russians and other Europeans, as well as groups from various nationalities, mainly from the [[Caucasus]], migrated to urban areas.<ref name="soviet"/> Modest industrial capabilities were developed, and limited exploitation of Turkmenistan's natural resources was initiated.<ref name="soviet"/>

Under Soviet rule, all religious beliefs were attacked by the communist authorities as superstition and "vestiges of the past."<ref name="religion"/> Most religious schooling and religious observance were banned, and the vast majority of mosques were closed.<ref name="religion"/> An official [[Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakhstan|Muslim Board of Central Asia]] with a headquarters in Tashkent was established during [[World War II]] to supervise the Islamic faith in Central Asia.<ref name="religion"/> For the most part, the Muslim Board functioned as an instrument of propaganda whose activities did little to enhance the Muslim cause.<ref name="religion"/> Atheist indoctrination stifled religious development and contributed to the isolation of the Turkmen from the international Muslim community.<ref name="religion"/> Some religious customs, such as Muslim burial and male [[circumcision]], continued to be practiced throughout the Soviet period, but most religious beliefs, knowledge, and customs were preserved only in rural areas in "folk form" as a kind of unofficial Islam not sanctioned by the state-run Spiritual Directorate.<ref name=religion>Clark, Larry, Michael Thurman, and David Tyson. "Turkmenistan: History and Structure". In {{Harvnb|Curtis|1997|p=320|ps=.}}</ref>

===Pre-independence===
[[File:RIAN archive 644463 First stage in the Soviet troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.jpg|thumb|left|Soviet soldiers returning from [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]]. 20 October 1986, [[Serhetabat|Kushka]], Turkmen SSR.]]
The Soviet regime's policy of indigenization ([[Korenizatsiya|korenizatsiia]]) involved the promotion of national culture and language and the creation of a native administration for each ethnic group in its own territory.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Martin|first=Terry|title=The affirmative action empire : nations and nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1923-1939|date=2001|isbn=1-5017-1332-9|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=Ithaca|oclc=606578236}}</ref> During the 1920s, as happened throughout the Soviet Union, there was forthright support and funding for the creation of native language theatres, publishing houses, newspapers as well as universal public schooling, and this was the case for the Turkmen minorities during Soviet administration of Turkmen/Transcaspian province of the Turkestan ASSR and the [[Bukharan People's Soviet Republic|Bukharan People's Republic]] and the [[Khorezm People's Soviet Republic|Khorezm (Kivan) People's Republic]] and continued after the creation of the majority-Turkmen national republic.

In the 1920s the Turkmen SSR standardised the Turkmen language (as prior to this, the vast majority of the population was not literate and those that were tended to use the [[Chagatai language|Chaghtai]] or Persian languages for writing, though in the late 19th and early 20th century there was growing interest in the use of Ottoman Turkish register for writing as it is an Oghuz language and closer linguistically). Rigorous debate in the national press and in various literary and educational journals over Teke, Yomut, and other regional and tribal dialects was followed by centralised decision-making around the creation of a particular national standard, the simplification of the Arabo-Persian alphabet, and the eventual transition to the Cyrillic alphabet.<ref>{{Harvnb|Edgar|2006|pages=129-150|ps=.}}</ref>

Beginning in the 1930s, Moscow kept the republic under firm control.<ref name="sov"/> The nationalities policy of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] (CPSU) fostered the development of a Turkmen political elite and promoted [[Russification]].<ref name="sov"/> The previous nationality policies of the 1920s and early 1930s involved promoting the use of the Turkmen language for administration in all areas of the state, party, and economy (along with the longer-lasting system of preferential quotas and advancement for ethnic Turkmen in government, party, and industrial jobs with the aim of achieving a majority Turkmen bureaucracy) and attempts at requiring non-Turkmen to learn the Turkmen language.<ref name=":1"/> From the 1930s onward, the nationality policy favoured use of the Turkmen language in areas of government "closest to the people": education, health, etc., paired with an acceptance that knowledge of the Russian language would be required for most government work as well as advancement in many careers: the government would no longer work to make knowledge of Russian superfluous to advancement and would cease active efforts to have Turkmen be the language of administration, and from 1938 onwards non-Russian students throughout the Soviet Union would be required to become fluent in Russian in order to advance through secondary and tertiary education.

Non-Turkmen cadre both in Moscow and Turkmenia closely supervised the national cadre of government officials and bureaucrats; generally, the Turkmen leadership staunchly supported Soviet policies.<ref name="sov"/> Moscow initiated nearly all political activity in the republic, and, except for a corruption scandal in the mid-1980s that ousted longtime First Secretary [[Muhammetnazar Gapurow]], Turkmenistan remained a quiet Soviet republic.<ref name="sov"/> [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]'s policies of [[glasnost]] and [[perestroika]] did not have a significant impact on Turkmenistan, as many people there were self-dependent, and settlers of the territory and the Soviet Union's ministers rarely intertwined.<ref name="sov"/> The republic found itself rather unprepared for the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the independence that followed in 1991.<ref name="sov">Clark, Larry, Michael Thurman, and David Tyson. "Turkmenistan: Sovereignty and Independence". In {{Harvnb|Curtis|1997|pp=306–307|ps=.}}</ref>

When other constituent republics of the Soviet Union advanced claims to sovereignty in 1988 and 1989, Turkmenia's leadership also began to criticize Moscow's economic and political policies as exploitative and detrimental to the well-being and pride of the Turkmen.<ref name="sov"/> By a unanimous vote of its Supreme Soviet, Turkmenistan declared its sovereignty in August 1990.<ref name="sov"/> In March 1991, Turkmenistan participated in the internationally observed [[1991 Soviet Union referendum|referendum on the future of the Soviet Union]], where 98% percent of participants voted in support of the preservation of the Soviet Union. After the [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|August 1991 coup]] in Moscow, Turkmenia's communist leader [[Saparmurat Niyazov]] called for a popular referendum on independence.<ref name="sov"/> The official result of the referendum was 94 percent in favor of independence.<ref name="sov"/> The republic's Supreme Soviet then declared Turkmenistan's independence from the Soviet Union and the establishment of the [[Republic of Turkmenistan]] on 27 October 1991.<ref name="sov"/> Turkmenistan gained independence from the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}}

==Politics==
{{unreferenced section|date=June 2021}}
{{Main|Politics of the Soviet Union}}
{{see also|Politics of Turkmenistan}}

As with the other Soviet republics, Turkmenistan had followed the [[Marxism-Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] ideology governed by the republic's sole party, the [[Communist Party of Turkmenistan]], a republican branch of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]].

The politics of Turkmenistan took place within the framework of a [[One-party state|one-party]] [[socialist state|socialist]] [[republic]]. The [[List of Chairmen of the Supreme Soviet of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic|Supreme Soviet]] was a [[unicameral]] [[legislature]] of the republic headed by a chairman, with its superiority to both the executive and judicial branches, and its members held regular meetings in [[Ashgabat|Ashkhabad]].

=== Political leadership ===

==== First Secretaries of the Communist Party of Turkmenistan ====
*[[Ivan Mezhlauk]] (19 November 1924 – 1926) {{small|(acting until 20 February 1925)}}
*[[Shaymardan Ibragimov]] (June 1926 – 1927)
*[[Nikolay Paskutsky]] (1927 – 1928)
*[[Grigory Aronshtam]] (11 May 1928 – August 1930)
*[[Yakov Popok]] (August 1930 – 15 April 1937)
*[[Anna Mukhamedov]] (April – October 1937)
*[[Yakov Chubin]] (October 1937 – November 1939)
*[[Mikhail Fonin]] (November 1939 – March 1947)
*[[Shadzha Batyrov]] (March 1947 – July 1951)
*[[Sukhan Babayev]] (July 1951 – 14 December 1958)
*[[Dzhuma Durdy Karayev]] (14 December 1958 – 4 May 1960)
*[[Balysh Ovezov]] (13 June 1960 – 24 December 1969)
*[[Muhammetnazar Gapurow]] (24 December 1969 – 21 December 1985)
*[[Saparmurat Niyazov]] (21 December 1985 – 16 December 1991)

==== Chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars ====
*[[Gaygysyz Atabayev]] (20 February 1925 – 8 July 1937)
*[[Aýtbaý Hudaýbergenov]] (October 1937 – 17 October 1945)
*[[Sukhan Babayev]] (17 October 1945 – 15 March 1946)

==== Chairmen of the Council of Ministers ====
*[[Sukhan Babayev]] (15 March 1946 – 14 July 1951)
*[[Balysh Ovezov]] (14 July 1951 – 14 January 1958) (1st time)
*[[Dzhuma Durdy Karayev]] (14 January 1958 – 20 January 1959)
*[[Balysh Ovezov]] (20 January 1959 – 13 June 1960) (2nd time)
*{{Interlanguage link|Abdy Annaliyev|ru|Анналиев, Абды Анналиевич}} (13 June 1960 – 26 March 1963)
*[[Muhammetnazar Gapurow]] (26 March 1963 – 25 December 1969)
*{{Interlanguage link|Oraz Orazmuhammedow|ru|Оразмухамедов, Ораз Назарович}} (25 December 1969 – 17 December 1975)
*{{Interlanguage link|Bally Yazkuliyev|ru|Язкулиев, Баллы}} (17 December 1975 – 15 December 1978)
*{{Interlanguage link|Çary Garryýew|ru|Каррыев, Чары Союнович}} (15 December 1978 – 26 March 1985)
*[[Saparmurat Niyazov]] (26 March 1985 – 4 January 1986)
*{{Interlanguage link|Annamurat Hojamyradow|ru|Ходжамурадов, Аннамурад}} (4 January 1986 – 17 November 1989)
*[[Han Ahmedow]] (5 December 1989 – 27 October 1991)

== Economy ==
During its existence, the Turkmen SSR's industrial production grew rapidly. By the early 1980s, leading industries in the Turkmen SSR included [[agriculture]], [[Natural gas|gas]] and [[petroleum]], [[Chemical industry|chemicals]], [[construction]], and [[mining]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Kurbanov |first=Seitnazar |date=1982 |title=Information and Bibliographical Activities of the Leading Libraries of the Turkmen SSR |url=https://www.degruyterbrill.com:443/document/doi/10.1515/libr.1982.32.1.81/html |journal=[[Libri (journal)|Libri]] |language=en |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=81–90 |doi=10.1515/libr.1982.32.1.81 |issn=1865-8423|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{Rp|page=81}} Official government statistics from this time claimed that industrial production grew 75 times from pre-[[Soviet Union|Soviet]] times, and petroleum production grew 114 times from pre-Soviet times.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=81}}

Major agricultural products within the Turkmen SSR included the production of [[cotton]], [[Grape|grapes]], and [[maize]].<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=81}} The [[Karakum Canal]] was constructed to aid in agricultural production within the Turkmen SSR.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=81}} Animal husbandry was also an important area of the economy of the Turkmen SSR, including the raising of [[cattle]], [[sheep]], and [[Horse|horses]].<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=81}} The [[Akhal-Teke]] and [[Iomud]] horse breeds were prominent within the Turkmen SSR.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=81}}

=== Space ===
There were two active [[spaceport|space facilities]] in Turkmenistan, in the cities of [[Türkmenabat|Turkmenabat]] and [[Seýdi|Seydi]], both equipped for launch.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}} The [[Soviet space program]] had manufactured [[Proton (satellite program)|Proton]], [[Mir]] and [[Soyuz (spacecraft)|Soyuz]] rockets and crew bomber missiles during the [[Cold War]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

== Demographics ==

=== Religion ===
98% of the Turkmen SSR was Muslim,{{When|date=April 2025}} but [[atheism]] was the state religion.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

Although [[Sufism]] in the [[Soviet Union]] was outlawed,<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Lemercier-Quelquejay |first=Chantal |author-link=Chantal Lemercier-Quelquejay |date=1983 |title=Sufi brotherhoods in the USSR: A historical survey |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02634938308400444 |journal=[[Central Asian Survey]] |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=1–35 |doi=10.1080/02634938308400444 |issn=0263-4937|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{Rp|page=1}} it remained present throughout [[Soviet Central Asia]], including in the Turkmen SSR.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|page=24}} Compared to elsewhere in Soviet Central Asia, Sufism was especially prominent in the Turkmen SSR, which had fewer officially-sanctioned [[Mosque|mosques]] than its neighbors,<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|page=25}} where it created a "parallel spiritual hierarchy" which rivaled officially-sanctioned Islamic networks.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|page=29}} The [[Kubrawiya]] [[tariqa]] was practiced in the northern portion of the Turkmen SSR.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|page=24}} Sufism in the Turkmen SSR was intertwined with [[Turkmen tribes|tribal identity]] within the republic, and all members of certain tribes considered themselves "Sufi adepts".<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|page=26}}

=== Education ===
Prior to the advent of the Soviet Union, [[Literacy|illiteracy]] in the area was commonplace, and few [[State school|public education]] facilities and [[Library|libraries]] existed.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=|pages=81-82}} The government of the Turkmen SSR claimed to have "wiped out" illiteracy in the Turkmen SSR.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=81}} Government statistics reported the number of public libraries in the Turkmen SSR rose from just 42 in 1929, to 647 in 1940, and to over 3,000 by the early 1980s.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=82}} Prominent libraries in the Turkmen SSR included the Karl Marx State Library of the Turkmen SSR, the Central Research Library of the TSSR Academy of Sciences, the Republican Library for Science and Technology of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information and Propaganda of the TSSR Planning Committee, the Republican Scientific Medicine Research Library, the Republican Children's Library, and the Republic Juvenile Library.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=|pages=83-84}}

Due to the relatively [[Rural area|rural]] and [[Pastoralism|pastoral]] nature of the Turkmen SSR, government education services included mobile libraries and [[Book talk|book talks]] aimed at rural people.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=86}}

==Culture==
When the [[Soviets]] came to power in 1920s, Turkmens were required to add a Russian suffix to their names.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}} The ending ev/ov was added to male names and eva/ova to female names.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}} In [[Russian language|Russian]], these endings mean "belonging to", which was part of the effort to promote the idea of a unified [[Soviet people]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

Prior to [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] times, the practice of ''kalym'', or a [[bride price]], was common in the area.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Bennigsen |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Bennigsen |date=1989 |title=Islam in retrospect |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02634938908400659 |journal=[[Central Asian Survey]] |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=89–109 |doi=10.1080/02634938908400659 |issn=0263-4937|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{Rp|page=94}} This practice was outlawed in the 1920s, and made a criminal offense.<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=94}} By the 1930s, the practice virtually disappeared.<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=94}} During the late 1980s, amid [[perestroika]], ''kalym'' became commonplace again.<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=95}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|title=Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan: country studies|publisher=[[Federal Research Division]], [[Library of Congress]]|location=Washington, D.C.|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/97005110/|date=1997|editor-last=Curtis|editor-first=Glenn E.|edition=1|isbn=0-8444-0938-3|oclc=36364151}} {{PD-notice}}
*{{cite book|last=Edgar|first=Adrienne Lynn|year=2006|title=Tribal Nation: The Making of Soviet Turkmenistan|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=1-306-04622-X|oclc=1091486335}}
*Kurbanov, Seitnazar. 1982. "Information and Bibliographical Activities of the Leading Libraries of the Turkmen SSR." ''Libri: International Journal of Libraries & Information Services'' 32 (June): 81–90.

{{Republics of the Soviet Union}}
{{Turkmenistan topics}}

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[[Category:1925 disestablishments in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:1991 disestablishments in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Communism in Turkmenistan]]
[[Category:Former socialist republics]]
[[Category:Republics of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1991]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1921]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1925]]
[[Category:Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic| ]]