Ashgabat is the capital and largest city. Turkmenistan has long served as a thoroughfare for other nations and cultures. Merv is one of the oldest oasis-cities in Central Asia, and was once the biggest city in the world. It was also one of the great cities of the Islamic world and an important stop on the Silk Road. Annexed by the Russian Empire in 1881, It figured prominently in the anti-Bolshevik movement in Central Asia. In 1925, It became a republic of the URSS, it became independent in 1991
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Economy: It continues to recover from the 2014 downturn in hydrocarbon prices, but remains in the grip of its worst economic crisis since the immediate post-independence period, driven in part by low gas prices, the suspension of gas exports to Russia between 2016 and 2019.and poor harvests. It depends heavily on the production and export of natural gas, oil, petrochemicals and, to a lesser degree, cotton, wheat, and textiles is largely a desert country with intensive agriculture in irrigated areas
turkmenistan
