Turkmen people - Definition and Overview

Turkmen people (of which the Turkic plural is properly Turkmenler) form an ethnic group, part of the Turkic peoples.

Turkmen people live in:

• Afghanistan
• Iran
• Turkmenistan

Turkmen in Iraq

A minority (about 10,000 people) live in Iraq. These people are the descendants of those Turks the Ottoman Empire brought to the region from Turkey to work as a secure line of people to transport mail from Baghdad to Istanbul and vice versa. They speak a language that is a mixture of Arabic, Kurdish and old Turkish. It is minority language.

Saparmurat Niyazov

Since October 22, 1993 Saparmurat Niyazov has used the title Turkmenbashi, meaning "Leader of all Ethnic Turkmen". In his state Turkmenistan, this is probably largely true. It should be noted, however, that Pres. Niyazov has not to date demonstrated any desire to expand his political suzerainty beyond the borders of Turkmenistan

See also

• Turkmen language
• Oghuz Turks - for a discussion of the terms Turcoman and Turkmen
• Demographics of Iran