Lieutenant Colonel C.E. Stuart reported that in the 1830s the Teke tribe began to settle in the lower Murghab River delta near Merv, which, he said, they destroyed around 1855. From here the Teke extended their reach to Kizil-Arvat (the present-day city of Gyzylarbat), ultimately splitting into the Ahal Teke, located between Kizil-Arvat and Gäwers (an area Stuart called "Daman-i-Kuh"), and the Merv (today Mary) Teke, mainly between the Tejen and Murghab Rivers. Edmund O'Donovan described Merv as of 1881 as
...a heap of melancholy ruins. There are remains of baths, and palaces, and ramparts crumbling around, with nothing living but snakes and jackals to be seen, or perhaps some wandering Turkoman looking out for his sheep...This is all that remains of Merv...[1]
O'Donovan also asserted that as of 1881
The Turkomans of Merv have only been twenty-six years in the oasis. They formerly inhabited the district around Sarakhs on the upper part of the Tejend river. They were driven from there twenty-seven years ago by the Persians, who objected to the neighbourhood of persons so disagreeable as to insist in carrying off Persian men, their wives, and daughters, and selling them at 5L per head in Bokhara.[1]
The Ahal and Mary Teke were separated by a Persian-controlled zone north of the Kopetdag Mountains called Deregez.[2] Though technically under Persian suzerainty, the Teke were de facto autonomous, and as O'Donovan remarked, were noted for raids to capture slaves for sale in the markets of Khiva and Bukhara. At one point the shah of Persia offered a reward of five tomans "for the head of each Turkoman killed raiding within his frontier."[3] O'Donovan described to the Royal Geographic Society Mary Teke inhabitants of Mäne, a village in Deregez, as "nominally paying tribute to Persia, but who are really independent."[1]
"The original settlement of the Akhal Tekeh, on the borders of Persia, was contemporaneous with that of the Merv Tekeh, of whom they are an integral portion. The whole tribe was brought from the 'Labáb', or banks of the Oxus...
A Teke Turkmen rug"The name 'Akhal'...is borrowed from one of their chief 'obahs,' or camps, near which are the ruins of a large Persian town and mounds of fire temples...the country occupied by the 'Akhal' consists of a strip of fertile land, varying from two or three to sixteen miles in width, and extending from Kizil-Arvat, about 160 miles...to Gawars, the most easterly settlement...
"The number of tents of families of the Akhal are variously computed, some estimates giving as high as 20,000. A comparison of Persian and Turcoman estimates...gives an average of about 8,000 tents, or 40,000 souls, which is probably very near the truth. One-fifth of this number must be adult males.
Ancient TurkmenAkhal-Teke horse, bronze, 4th-1st century BC."The principal settlements of the 'Akhal' are at Akhal, a permanent camp of 500 tents often increased to 1000 of various sections; Goombali, 1000 tents; Kariz, occupied only temporarily; Harrik-Kileh, Askabad, and Annau."[4]
The Teke had militarily resisted Persian incursions in the 19th century intended to pacify them.[5] The Teke came under Russian colonial rule in the 1880s. Though the Turkmen tribes defeated Russian troops during the first incursion in 1879, a subsequent invasion between 1880 and 1881, culminating in the second Battle of Gökdepe, resulted in imposition of Russian Imperial authority. Following surrender, the Teke commander, Ovezmurat Dykma-Serdar, was commissioned a major in the Russian Imperial Army. Russia's conquest of the Teke was completed in 1884 with the taking of Merv.
Following this conquest, the Teke were largely pacified and reverted from slave-trading to sheep-raising as the main source of income. A Russian diplomat, P.M. Lessar, reported that between December 1881 and April 1882, "a great change had taken place" and "it became possible to travel between Askhabad and Sarakhs without escort, accompanied by only a few labourers armed with guns against chance robbers."[6]
Culture
Historically each Turkmen tribe has had its own unique carpet pattern, clothing, headgear and dialect.[7][8][9] Teke Turkmen carpets often feature a standard Teke rosette (Turkmen: göl), called the guşly göl, which in the words of O'Bannon "has the least variation of all Turkoman guls [sic] and has apparently changed least through time. This is the design which is also called Royal Bokhara...It is almost always connected by intersecting blue or black lines. It is an oval-shaped octagon, usually not more than four inches high and eight inches wide. The secondary gul is a diamond-shaped form and is sometimes referred to as a 'tarantula'."[9][10]
Typical Teke Turkmen rosette (göl) on a knotted carpetPhotograph of a map of the Altyn Asyr Oriental Bazaar (Tolkuchka) in Ashgabat, TurkmenistanNational flag of Turkmenistan, featuring the five rosettes of the major tribes with the Teke rosette on top
The design of this rosette is reproduced in the layout of the Altyn Asyr bazaar in Ashgabat, and is the topmost rosette on Turkmenistan's national flag.
Demographics
The Teke tribe can be subdivided in two, the Ahal Teke and Mary Teke. Lt. Col. Stuart noted as well subdivision into four clans, the Wakil (variant Wekil), Beg, Suchmuz, and Bukshi:
"The Wakil and Beg clans are collectively called Toctamish, as they are descended from a person of that name. The Suchmuz and Bukshi clans are collectively called Otamish..."[3]
As of 1879 Russian military officers estimated the Ahal Teke population at "30,000 yurts", and that the Teke "were capable of fielding 50,000 armed men, of whom 20,000 were cavalry and the rest were infantry."[11] The main body of Teke were located between Geok-Tepe and "Askhabad", with two villages east of that, Anau and Gäwers. Combined population of the main body was estimated at 40,000 to 50,000 people, and the Russian commander believed "capture of this area meant the mastery of the entire Ahal-Teke oasis."[11]
Stuart estimated in 1881 the number of "Akhal Tekke" at "25,000 tents" and of "Merv Tekke" at "40,000 tents", which latter number included "Salor (5000 tents)". He estimated five people per tent, implying a total Teke tribal population of about 325,000 in that year.[3]
Today members of Teke tribe are predominantly found in the southeastern regions of Turkmenistan.[12] They represent over a third of Turkmenistan's population (more than 1.6 million, as of 2014[update]).[13][14][12] Major tribes of Turkmenistan have mainly settled different parts of the country.[12]
Soviet policy on nationalities managed to diminish tribal identities in Turkmenistan, but the identities are still important in contemporary social contexts. Teke, and especially its subdivision Ahal Teke, have traditionally dominated Turkmenistan's political structure. Former Presidents Saparmurat Niyazov and Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow and current President Serdar Berdimuhamedow were or are of the Ahal Teke tribe.[7]
"Teke dialect [is] spoken by members of the Teke tribe settled in the southern regions of Turkmenistan and along the northern skirt of the Köpetdag mountains, from Gizilarbat to the banks of the Murgap and Tejen rivers. This dialect has two subdialects:
(a) Ahal: Tejen and Ashgabat districts up to Gizilarbat, including Büzmeyin, Gökdepe, Bäherdin, Bami and Goch districts.
(b) Mari: Mari, Türkmengala, Sakarchäge, Murgap and Bayramali districts."[8]
The official Turkmen language is based on the Ahal Teke and Mary Teke dialects.[7][8] Stuart wrote in 1881, "The Turkomans speak a variety of Turki differing very little from the Turki spoken all over Northern Persia, and the Turks of Persia understand it, though there are some differences. The Persians call the Turki spoken by the Turkmans, Jagatai."[3] The common use of Chagatay as the Turkic lingua franca of Central Asia, however, changed under Soviet rule in 1924 when Russian became the common literary language of Central Asia and local dialects of Turkic languages were allowed to be used in publications.[15]
Initial efforts in the late 1920s and early 1930s to create a common literary Turkmen language incorporating elements of all major dialects failed when Joseph Stalin's purges resulted in death of the intellectuals involved.[5] Following independence the political dominance of the Teke tribe led to de facto adoption of the Teke dialect as the standard for literary Turkmen speech and writing.[16] As Clark put it,
"Standard Turkmen is regarded as their national language by all Turkmen living within Turkmenistan and, according to many Turkmen, by at least some of those living in nearby countries as well. This partly abstract standard language stands closest to the real language of the Teke dialect, and specifically of its Ahal subdialect spoken in the Ashgabat region, because many of the specialists who formulated the standard language in the 1930s were Ahal Teke, and the majority of officials, businessmen and intellectuals who routinely use the standard language, are Ahal Teke or live in Ashgabat."[8]
Etymology
Stuart asserted, "Tekke means wild goat. The word Tekke also is applied to the old he-goat that leads a flock of goats."[3] The modern definition of the word is "billy goat".[17]
The history of Turkmenistan traditionally began with the arrival of Indo-European Iranian tribes around 2000 BC. Early tribes were nomadic or semi-nomadic due to the arid conditions of the region, preventing widespread adoption of agriculture. The steppe culture in Central Asia was an extension of a larger Eurasian series of horse cultures which spanned the entire spectrum of language families, including the Indo-Europeans and Turko-Mongol groups. Some of the known early Iranian tribes included the Massagatae, the Scythians/Sakas, and early Soghdians, who were most likely precursors of the Khwarezmians. Turkmenistan was a passing point for numerous migrations and invasions by tribes, which gravitated towards the settled regions of the south, including ancient Mesopotamia, Elam, and the Indus Valley civilization.
Ashgabat or Asgabat, formerly named Poltoratsk between 1919 and 1927, is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies between the Karakum Desert and the Kopetdag mountain range in Central Asia, near the Iran-Turkmenistan border. The city has a population of 1,030,063.
The Akhal-Teke is a Turkmen horse breed. They have a reputation for speed and endurance, intelligence, and a distinctive metallic sheen. The shiny coat of the breed led to their nickname, "Golden Horses". These horses are adapted to severe climatic conditions and are thought to be one of the oldest existing horse breeds. There are currently about 6,600 Akhal-Tekes in the world, mostly in Turkmenistan, although they are also found throughout Europe and North America. Akhal is the name of the line of oases along the north slope of the Kopet Dag mountains in Turkmenistan. It has been inhabited by the Tekke tribe of Turkmens.
Merv, also known as the Merve Oasis, formerly known as Alexandria, Antiochia in Margiana and Marw al-Shāhijān, was a major Iranian city in Central Asia, on the historical Silk Road, near today's Mary, Turkmenistan. Human settlements on the site of Merv existed from the 3rd millennium BC until the 18th century AD. It changed hands repeatedly throughout history. Under the Achaemenid Empire, it was the center of the satrapy of Margiana. It was subsequently ruled by the ancient Macedonians, Seleucids, Parthians, Sasanians, Arabs, Ghaznavids, Seljuqs, Khwarazmians and Timurids, among others.
Ahal Region is one of five provinces of Turkmenistan. It is in the south-center of the country, bordering Iran and Afghanistan along the Kopet Dag Range. Its area is 97,160 km2 (37,510 sq mi) and population 886,845.
Mary Region is one of five provinces in Turkmenistan. It is located in the south-east of the country, bordering Afghanistan. Its capital is the city of Mary. Its area is 87,150 km2 (33,650 sq mi) and population 1,613,386. The average population density is about 15 persons per square kilometer, but it reaches 150–200 per square kilometer in the most developed oases.
Mary, formerly named Merv, Meru and Alexandria Margiana, is a city on an oasis in the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan, located on the Murgab River. It is the capital city of Mary Region. In 2010, Mary had a population of 126,000, up from 92,000 in the 1989 census. The ruins of the ancient city of Merv are located near the present-day city.
Turkmens are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern regions of Iran and north-western Afghanistan. Sizeable groups of Turkmens are found also in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and the North Caucasus. They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Eastern Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages.
The Turkmen people have traditionally been nomads and equestrians, and even today after the fall of the USSR attempts to urbanize the Turkmens have not been very successful. They never really formed a coherent nation or ethnic group until they were forged into one by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s. Rather they are divided into clans, and each clan has its own dialect and style of dress. Turkmens are famous for making knotted Turkmen carpets, often mistakenly called "Bukhara rugs" in the West. These are elaborate and colorful hand-knotted carpets, and these too help indicate the distinctions among the various Turkmen clans.
Edmund O'Donovan, Irish war correspondent, was born in Dublin. In 1866 he began to contribute to The Irish Times and other Dublin papers. He was the first journalist killed in the Kordofan area during the Sudan campaigns while reporting for The Daily News.
The State Emblem of Turkmenistan was created after Turkmenistan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Like other post-Soviet republics whose symbols do not predate the October Revolution, the current emblem retains some components of the Soviet one such as the cotton, wheat and rug. The eight-point green starburst with golden edges features in its center a red circular disc which carries sheaves of wheat, five carpet guls, and centered upon that a smaller blue circle with a lifelike depiction of former President Saparmurat Niyazov's pet Akhal-Teke horse Yanardag, a source of pride for the Turkmen people. A round variant of the emblem was used from 1992 until 2003, when President Saparmurat Niyazov proposed to change its appearance and said that the ancient Turkmen octagon has been considered to be a symbol of abundance, peace and tranquillity.
The Treaty of Akhal, also known as Akhal-Khorasan Boundary Convention, was an agreement signed between Qajar Iran and Imperial Russia on 21 September 1881 to mark Iran's official recognition of Khwarazm's annexation by the Russian Empire.
A Turkmen rug is a type of handmade floor-covering textile traditionally originating in Central Asia. It is useful to distinguish between the original Turkmen tribal rugs and the rugs produced in large numbers for export mainly in Pakistan and Iran today. The original Turkmen rugs were produced by the Turkmen tribes who are the main ethnic group in Turkmenistan and are also found in Afghanistan and Iran. They are used for various purposes, including tent rugs, door hangings and bags of various sizes.
Gäwers is a village in Ak bugdaý District, Ahal Region, in southern Turkmenistan. It is the easternmost village of the traditional Ahal Teke tribal territory.
The list of Turkmenistan-related articles is below
The Battle of Geok Tepe in 1881 was the main event in the 1880/81 Russian campaign to conquer the Teke tribe of Turkmens. Its effect was to give the Russian Empire control over most of what is now Turkmenistan, thereby nearly completing the Russian conquest of Central Asia.
The major modern Turkmen tribes are Teke, Yomut, Ersari, Chowdur, Gokleng and Saryk. The most numerous are the Teke.
Iranian Turkmens are a branch of Turkmen people living mainly in northern and northeastern regions of Iran. Their region is called Turkmen Sahra and includes substantial parts of Golestan Province of Iran. The number of Turkmens in Iran is estimated at 0.5 to 2.4 million people.
The First Battle of Geok Tepe was the main event in the 1879 Russian expedition against the Akhal Tekke Turkmens during the Russian conquest of Turkestan. Nikolai Lomakin marched 275 miles to the Geok Tepe fortress, but mismanaged the attack and was forced to retreat. The next year, this was reversed by Mikhail Skobelev in the second Battle of Geok Tepe.
Ovezmurat Dykma-Serdar was a Teke Turkmen tribal leader in the second half of the 19th century. Originating from the Akhal region, the young Ovezmurat led armed raids (alaman) into the Persian provinces of Khorasan and Mazendaran. According to some reports, he was captured by the Shah's forces and held captive in Bojnurd prison in northeastern Iran. According to others, he was the commander of an armed detachment of Tekke tribesemen on behalf of the Khan of Khiva.
References
1 2 3 O'Donovan, Edmund (1977). "Chapter 15, Merv and Its Surroundings". In Cumming, Sir Duncan (ed.). The Country of the Turkomans. London: Oguz Press and the Royal Geographical Society. ISBN0-905820-01-0.
↑ This is a reference to the Iranian city Dargaz, which was the capital of the region described, and was called Mahometabad at that time.
1 2 3 4 5 Stuart, Lt. Col. C.E. (1977). "Chapter 11, The Country of the Tekke Turkomans, and the Tejend and Murghab Rivers". In Cumming, Sir Duncan (ed.). The Country of the Turkomans. London: Oguz Press and the Royal Geographical Society. ISBN0-905820-01-0.
↑ Rawlinson, Sir Henry (1977). "Chapter 10, The Road to Merv". In Cumming, Sir Duncan (ed.). The Country of the Turkomans. London: Oguz Press and the Royal Geographical Society. ISBN0-905820-01-0. The 19th-century villages of Kizil-Arvat, Gawars, Harrik-Kileh, Askabad, and Annau cited in Sir Henry's lecture certainly correspond to the contemporary city of Serdar, village of Gäwers, Ashgabat neighborhood of Herrikgala, and cities of Ashgabat and Änew, respectively. On the map Sir Henry provided to accompany his lecture (pages 266-267), "Goombali" and "Kariz" are shown as roughly halfway between "Doran" (Durun) and "Yengi-Kileh" (Yangala), and "Akhal" as just east of Yangala, but their exact locations are uncertain.
↑ Cumming, Sir Duncan, ed. (1977). "Chapter 17, P.M. Lessar's Second Journey in the turkoman Country - Askabad to Ghurian near Herat". The Country of the Turkomans. London: Oguz Press and the Royal Geographical Society. ISBN0-905820-01-0.
1 2 O'Bannon, George W. (1974). The Turkoman Carpet. Gerald Duckworth & Co., Ltd. ISBN0-7156-0740-5.
↑ Hojamuhamedow, N.; Dovodow, N. (1982). Carpets and Carpet Products of Turkmenistan (in Russian, English, and Turkmen). Ashkhabad: Издательство "Туркменистан".
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