President palace - Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.jpg

Eastern Turkmenistan for centuries formed part of the Persian province of Khurasan; in medieval times Merv (today known as Mary) was one of the great cities of the Islamic world and an important stop on the Silk Road.

Annexed by Russia between 1865 and 1885, Turkmenistan became a Soviet republic in 1924. It achieved independence upon the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. Extensive hydrocarbon/natural gas reserves could prove a boon to this underdeveloped country if extraction and delivery projects were to be expanded.

The Turkmenistan Government is actively seeking to develop alternative petroleum transportation routes to break Russia's pipeline monopoly. President for Life Saparmurat Nyyazow died in December 2006, and Turkmenistan held its first multi-candidate presidential electoral process in February 2007. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, a vice premier under Nyyazow, emerged as the country's new president.

The government of Turkmenistan adopted a new constitution in September intended to improve the isolated Central Asian state's democratic credentials and assure foreign investors of its reliability as an economic partner.

Turkmenistan, rich in natural gas, is at the center of Europe's plans to diversify energy sources, but some political analysts and rights groups have challenged its resolve to carry out democratic reforms since the death of Saparmurat Niyazov, its autocratic former leader, in 2006.

Under the constitutional changes announced Friday, Turkmenistan abolished a Niyazov-era legislative body whose 2,500 delegates were handpicked by the president, and it transferred its powers to an elected 125-member Parliament.

Mr. Berdymukhammedov, the new president, has distanced himself from his predecessor's rule and pledged to turn Turkmenistan, Central Asia's biggest producer of natural gas, into an open and investor-friendly country.

The new constitution provides for property rights and market-economy principles, a welcome signal for Western investors seeking a share of its energy resources.

Mr. Berdymukhammedov said that there would be parliamentary elections in December and that they would be monitored.

The new constitution fixes the presidential term at five years and gives the president some of the powers previously held by the disbanded legislature, like appointing regional governors.

Turkmenistan retains, with North Korea, its status as the world's worst violator of press freedom, according to Reporters without Borders.