of GDP (1995); note - figures do not include about $7 billion for
the government's counterinsurgency effort against the separatist
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)

======================================================================

@Turkmenistan
------------

Map
---

Location: 40 00 N, 60 00 E -- Central Asia, bordering the Caspian
Sea, between Iran and Kazakstan

Flag
----

Description: green field, including a vertical stripe on the hoist
side, with a claret vertical stripe in between containing five
white, black, and orange carpet guls (an asymmetrical design used in
producing rugs) associated with five different tribes; a white
crescent and five white stars in the upper left corner to the right
of the carpet guls

Geography
---------

Location: Central Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran
and Kazakstan

Geographic coordinates: 40 00 N, 60 00 E

Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States

Area:
total area: 488,100 sq km
land area: 488,100 sq km
comparative area: slightly larger than California

Land boundaries:
total: 3,736 km
border countries: Afghanistan 744 km, Iran 992 km, Kazakstan 379 km,
Uzbekistan 1,621 km

Coastline: 0 km
note: Turkmenistan borders the Caspian Sea (1,768 km)

Maritime claims: none (landlocked)

International disputes: Caspian Sea boundaries are not yet
determined

Climate: subtropical desert

Terrain: flat-to-rolling sandy desert with dunes rising to
mountains in the south; low mountains along border with Iran;
borders Caspian Sea in west
lowest point: Sarygamysh Koli -110 m
highest point: Ayrybaba 3,139 m

Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, coal, sulfur, salt

Land use:
arable land: 2%
permanent crops: 0%
meadows and pastures: 69%
forest and woodland: 0%
other: 29%

Irrigated land: 12,450 sq km (1990)

Environment:
current issues: contamination of soil and groundwater with
agricultural chemicals, pesticides; salinization, water-logging of
soil due to poor irrigation methods; Caspian Sea pollution;
diversion of a large share of the flow of the Amu Darya into
irrigation contributes to that river's inability to replenish the
Aral Sea; desertification
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: party to - Ozone Layer Protection; signed,
but not ratified - Climate Change, Desertification

Geographic note: landlocked