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Imagine living in a country where Whatsapp is banned, the internet and Wi-Fi are virtually non-existent, and you can drive any car you want — as long as it’s white. That’s exactly how life is for the citizens of Turkmenistan, one of the most secretive countries in the world.
The Central Asian country is also one of the least visited, with just 15,000 tourists travelling there each year — but that could all be about to change.
For years, Turkmenistan has been notoriously difficult to visit. Travellers from the UK needed a visa, as well as a letter of invitation to support the application (or a letter from relevant companies or ministries if you were going there on business).
Even then, the decision on whether a visa would be granted could take up to a month, and were often rejected with little explanation.
But now, a new law has been introduced that will make it easier for foreigners to enter the country. Tourists can fill in a simplified online visa form, and the letter of invitation has been scrapped.
The new electronic visa could be a game-changer for Turkmenistan’s tourism industry, one of the most sparsely populated nations on the continent.
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Is there anything for tourists to see in Turkmenistan?
Turkmenistan is bordered by Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Iran. Once part of the Soviet Union, becoming independent after its dissolution in 1991, the country has a population of 6.5 million, making it the 35th most populated nation in Asia.
The city of Merv, now a UNESCO World Heritage site, is considered one of the great cities of the Islamic world – and once was an important stop on the Silk Road, a caravan route which was used for trade with China until the mid-15th Century.
But it’s history stretches much further than that. In 1972, archaeologists discovered the fortress town of Gonur Depe, which date back to the Bronze Age. It was thought that it was abandoned after the nearby Margab River naturally changed course. The settlement continues to be excavated to do this day, as experts work to uncover its secrets.
The capital city, Ashgabat, also holds the oddly-specific Guinness World Record for the place with the ‘highest density of white marble-clad buildings’.
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Chairman Of The People’s Council of Turkmenistan, and president of Turkmenistan until 2022, lives in a white palace and travels around town in a white limousine. It’s no surprise then that the capital is known as the ‘City of White Marble’. It’s mosque, Kipchak mosque, one of the largest in Central Asia, is also white.
Perhaps the most famous site in Turkmenistan thought is the Darvaza gas crater, often dubbed ‘The Door to Hell’, which has been burning continuously since 1968.
No one knows how the pit was first formed before it was set aflame by Soviet engineers. Perhaps there was simply no one around — or maybe its classified.
Some believe engineers were drilling for oil when a rig gave way and punched into a massive underground natural gas cavern, forming the huge crater, 70 metres wide and 30 metres deep.
One person who has experienced Turkmenistan for himself is a content creator named Chris, who is on a mission to visit every country in the world for his YouTube channel Authentic Traveling. Speaking about his visit to the crater, he said: ‘It is amazing, it is so hot.
‘You can feel these waves of massive heat coming. Sometimes the wind blows it away, it gets your face so incredibly hot. It’s absolutely amazing to come here to see this really, really cool wonder.’
Unusual rules and laws in Turkmenistan
If you decide to head to Turkmenistan, you might want to take note of some rather unusual rules in place in the country.
If you head to Ashgabat, it won’t take long to notice that all the cars on the streets are either white or silver – and it’s completely deliberate.
The car rule has come to the country of Berdimuhamedow, who reportedly made the rule after ordering the impounding of all black cars in the capital in 2018.
Police were said to have subsequently seized black cars and told the owners they had to pay to have them repainted white or silver. The ban was later extended to vehicles of all other colours.
No official reason was given for the directive, although it’s known that Mr Berdimuhamedow is a fan of the colour white (hence the aforementioned white palace and limo), believing it to be lucky.
Not only do cars have to conform to the colour rules, but they also have to be sparkling clean. In fact, visitors report that driving with a dirty car can land you in trouble with the police, who strictly enforce the rules.
But the bizarre rules in Turkmenistan don’t end there.
For example, don’t expect to be able to freely use the internet if you visit as you can in other parts of the world.
Access to the Internet is heavily regulated there and only a small fraction of the population can access it, with most websites banned other than local ones accessible via the Turkmenet, a censored version of the web available only in Turkmen.
And you won’t be able to drop your friends back a home a message telling them about the visually breathtaking sights of the capital.
Most social media apps, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are blocked in Turkmenistan, along with WhatsApp, Telegram and YouTube. While many get round the ban by using VPNs, these are frequently shut down by the authorities.
Youtuber Chris said: ‘Almost every single website is banned including major airline sites to book tickets out of the country! Imagine the anxiety I felt if I missed my flight.’ He did add though that despite the banning of certain social media it was still used, with places advertising Instagram accounts.
‘Officially Instagram is banned in the country but then at times they seem to look the other way…it never really made sense to me,’ he said.
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