republic · Central Asia and the Steppe

Turkmen SSR

1924 CE – 1991 CE · capital Ashgabat

The Soviet republic of the Turkmen, a desert land of gas fields and cotton built around the Karakum Canal.

Origins

The Turkmen SSR was created in October 1924 in the national delimitation of Soviet Central Asia, from the Transcaspian region of the Turkestan ASSR and Turkmen districts of the Bukharan and Khorezm republics. Its capital was Poltoratsk, renamed Ashgabat in 1927.

Rule and society

Soviet rule settled nomadic and semi-nomadic Turkmen tribes, collectivised farming and fought Basmachi resistance led by Junaid Khan into the 1930s. In 1948 an earthquake destroyed Ashgabat, killing tens of thousands. The Karakum Canal, begun in the 1950s, carried water from the Amu Darya for cotton, and natural gas became a major export. Turkmen was written in a Latin alphabet from 1928 and in Cyrillic from 1940.

Decline and legacy

Saparmurat Niyazov, first secretary from 1985, led the republic to independence on 27 October 1991, when it became Turkmenistan.

Lineage

Turkestan ASSR 1918 CE – 1924 CEKhorezm People's Soviet Republic 1920 CE – 1924 CETurkmen SSRTurkmenistan 1991 CE – present

Connections (1)

More states of Central Asia and the Steppe →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Turkmen SSR. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/turkmen-ssr
MLA
“Turkmen SSR.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/turkmen-ssr. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Turkmen SSR.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/turkmen-ssr.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Turkmen SSR’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/turkmen-ssr (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻