Ministry of Defense (Turkmenistan)


The Ministry of Defense of Turkmenistan is a government agency under the Armed Forces of Turkmenistan which is the executive body in implementing defense policies in Turkmenistan. The current Minister of Defense is Major General Begench Gundogdyev. It was founded in January 1992 with the assistance of the Russian Armed Forces.
At its formation, most of the ethnic Turkmen employees were retired Soviet officials and members of the Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR, with other officials coming from small backgrounds such as chief of staff Annamurat Soltanov who had served in Afghanistan and Begdzhan Niyazov who had a career in law enforcement prior to his rising to his position.

Military Policy

is considered to be the most neutral of all former republics of the Soviet Union. The country's military did not sign the Tashkent Treaty in May 1992, and is an observer in the Council of Ministers of Defense of the CIS.
The neutral policy of Turkmenistan was also emphasized in relation to the 1996 Afghan War, maintaining an even relationship with both the Taliban and the Afghan government.
Following the events of 9/11, coalition troops did not appear on Turkmen territory, in particular, when President Niyazov refused to provide the German government with a base to store German aircraft, arguing that the country intends to continue to follow the principles of neutrality.

List of Ministers of Defense

Defense Ministry units, groups and areas

Sections of the defense ministry's building houses of the following institutions:
Based on the Soviet model, the House of Officers is the main cultural center of the military designed to improve Civil–military relations. It is the equivalent to Military officers' clubs in the United States. Concerts of military ensembles such as the "Merdana nesiller" Ensmeble, the Göreldeli Military Band and the "Sherhet Ovazlara" Ensemble of the State Border Service have performed at the House of Officers. The house hosts receptions on holidays such as Defender of the Fatherland Day and Independence Day. A special attraction of the House of Officers is the Museum of Military Glory, where numerous exhibits tell a history of Turkmen military history since the time of Oguz Khan. The building also has a stationary full-time professional television studio that prepares weekly television shows on the Altyn Asyr and Ovaz channels. It frequently hosts guests from the Military Institute and the military school.

''Milli goşun''

The Defence Ministry issues its social and political magazine called Milli goşun every quarter which has the information about the measures for strengthening of defensive capability of the country.

Department structure

The defense ministry has the following command structure: