ABSTRACT
Turkmenistan is a large FSU Central Asian state virtually the same size as the neighbouring Uzbekistan. Of all the Central Asian republics, Turkmenistan remained the most tightly under communist control until the break-up of the Soviet Union. The elections of 1990 promoted Communist Party leader Saparmurad Niyazov to the presidency, which he has retained. Independence was declared in October 1991 and in December the Turkmen Communist Party (TCP) became the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan (DPT). Turkmenistan also became a member of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC). There are nascent boundary problems, but the only crucial issues concern the delimitation of the Caspian Sea and the ownership of the KyapazSerdan Caspian oilfield, disputed with Azerbaijan. Turkmenistan takes a relatively conciliatory line towards the taliban in Afghanistan, although this may be connected with the desire to construct oil and gas pipelines through Afghanistan to Pakistan.
