Classic and Contemporary Values across the Silk Road: Today’s Turkmenistan

Victoria Clement
Eurasia Analyst at the Center for Advanced Operational Culture Learning at Marine Corps University

Eurasia has been host to numerous dynamic civilizations over the centuries. Today we see the intersection of their cultures in the post-Soviet states. In Turkmenistan, there is a renewed emphasis on moral education and social change to shape loyal citizens that brings together secular morality with an Islamic value system and a moral code derived from local meaning. The Turkmen people are raising their children to create a strong Turkmen identity, while the state seeks to legitimize the regime. How do the many Eurasian cultures of the Silk Road region interconnect in Turkmen society to shape behavior and attitudes? What is important to the Turkmen people, and how does that accord with state policy? In exploring these questions, this discussion will consider the terms Türkmençilik (Turkmen-ness) and terbiýe (upbringing) how those concepts serve both the populace and the state.