Turkmen

The Turkmen are an Oghuz Turkic people of Central Asia whose homeland, Turkmenistan, lies between the Caspian Sea, the Kopet Dagh and the Amu Darya. Their history as a people begins with the Oghuz tribes of the Seljuk era in the 11th century, and their modern tribes, the Teke, Yomut, Goklen, Ersari, Salor and Saryk, took shape from the 16th century as nomadic horsemen of the Karakum desert and its oases. Russian conquest in the 1880s and the Persian-Russian border of 1881 split them between the Russian Empire, Persia and Afghanistan; large communities remain in northern Iran and northwestern Afghanistan, with smaller ones in Uzbekistan, Turkey, Pakistan and Russia. The Turkmen of Iraq and Syria are a separate people, settled there from the Seljuk and Ottoman eras, who speak a language close to Azerbaijani.

Turkmen culture is that of a horse-breeding, tent-dwelling people. The Akhal-Teke of Turkmenistan and the Yomut and Goklen breeds of Iran are prized, and horse racing marks festivals and weddings. Women weave the deep-red Turkmen carpets with tribal medallion (gul) designs and embroider dresses and wear heavy silver jewellery; men wear the tall sheepskin telpek hat. The round felt tent (ak öý) survives in summer camps. The bakhshi, a singer-storyteller with the two-stringed dutar, keeps the Gorogly epic and the poetry of Magtymguly Pyragy (18th century), the national poet on both sides of the border. Weddings last several days, with henna nights, a red veil for the bride and horse parades.

The Turkmen are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school, with deep Sufi roots (Naqshbandi orders and saints' shrines). Folk practices include pilgrimage to the tombs of holy men (ovliya), amulets, respect for sacred lineages (the 'holy tribes' such as the Ovlad) and rites around birth, marriage and death that predate Islam. In Iran their Sunni faith marks them off from the Shia majority and is maintained by local mosques and seminaries.

The complete Turkmen Bible was published in 2016-17, and the JESUS film and audio recordings are available. In Iran the Turkmen use Perso-Arabic script while Turkmenistan uses Latin script, so Scripture formats matter for Iranian Turkmen. Christian communities among Turkmen exist in small numbers in Turkmenistan; none are known in Iran.