The humanistic message of the international sports movement acquires special significance in the context of realization of Turkmenistan’s neutral status and the policy of universal peace, friendship, good neighborliness and mutually beneficial cooperation that the country is actively pursuing.
Turkmenistan will celebrate the 30th anniversary of neutrality in 2025, which was declared the International Year of Peace and Trust by the UN on Turkmenistan’s initiative. The start of 2025 has once again demonstrated the demand for the peacekeeping potential of sports, which is one of the strategic priorities of the country’s development and an important area of interstate partnership.
The triumphant performance by “Galkynysh” group of national equestrian games at the 47th International Circus Festival in Monte Carlo was joyful news that helped to strengthen the international reputation of Turkmenistan. Turkmen equestrians won the main prize and special prizes of the festival. The winners were warmly congratulated and awarded prizes by the country’s leadership. Celebrations were held in the city of Arkadag on 1 February in honor of the triumph of the famous equestrian group.
The “Galkynysh” national equestrian games group procession along the avenues of the new city was led by riders carrying the national flag of Turkmenistan and the flag of the United Nations. Continuing the noble traditions of their ancestors, who honored sport as a symbol of peace and friendship, the renowned equestrian group popularizes the national heritage, of which famous Akhal-Teke horses and equestrian games of the Turkmen people are an important component.
The participation of “Galkynysh” national equestrian games group in the prestigious festival coincided with the visit by the National Leader of the Turkmen People, Chairman of the Khalk Maslakhaty to the Principality of Monaco. Speaking with journalists before departure, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that the Principality of Monaco was declared the Sports Capital of the World 2025, and in this regard, he drew a parallel with the International Year of Peace and Trust declared in Turkmenistan. In support of his words about the important role of sports in strengthening peace and trust throughout the world, the National Leader cited the famous expression of the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Pierre de Coubertin, who said “Oh, sport, you are peace!”. “This expression as a symbol of peace, creativity, development, joy and a healthy lifestyle, as well as the desire to win, inspires everyone,” Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said.
Neutral Turkmenistan is making a worthy contribution to promoting the Olympic values and strengthening fruitful co-operation in this area on a regional and global scale.
Turkmenistan has laid a solid foundation for international sports cooperation. In this regard, cooperation in the field of sports with more than 60 countries of the world is regulated on a bilateral legal basis. In addition, issues relating to sports cooperation are taken into account in declarations and statements of heads of state on the outcomes of high-level visits, as well as in the final documents of intergovernmental commissions on the development of bilateral cooperation with foreign countries.
Consolidation of efforts in such an important area allows Turkmenistan to expand the geography of external contacts, establish friendly relations and put forward progressive initiatives. This work is understood and supported by the international community. Suffice it to recall the Turkmenistan-initiated declaration of the calendar date of 3 June as World Bicycle Day, as well as the unanimous adoption of the UN General Assembly resolution “Integration of mainstream bicycling into public transportation systems for sustainable development.” In 2018, on the occasion of this international day, Ashgabat hosted the Largest Cycling Awareness Lesson which was included in Guinness World Records. A year later, the Longest Single Line Bicycle Parade was held at the Ashgabat Olympic Village with participation of 2019 people, which also went to Guinness World Records. The year 2020, in addition to the 12-kilometre cycle race, is remembered for the inauguration of the majestic monument “Bicycle”, which, like the cute Alabai – the mascot of the Asian Games–2017 held in Ashgabat – became one of the impressive sights of the Turkmen capital.
In this context, it is important to note that the joint statement “On encouraging the valuable contribution of Olympic refugee teams in strengthening peace and human rights” was adopted on Turkmenistan’s initiative at the 36th session of the UN Human Rights Council in September 2017.
As part of international sports cooperation, Turkmenistan is expanding its relations with the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Council of Asia, of which the country is a member, as well as with the United Nations International Bureau of Sport for Development and Peace, the Intergovernmental Committee for Physical Culture and Sport of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), specialized federations and other reputable international organizations.
Turkmenistan puts humanistic meaning in this important work, directly correlating adherence to the ideals of Olympism with the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals until 2030 aimed at creating conditions for the maximum development of human potential.
The consistent work to popularise the national wrestling of Gorsh in the world has become one of the most important areas in international sports cooperation and development of sports diplomacy. The World Goresh Wrestling Federation headquartered in Ashgabat has been operating since 2015, and national federations for this sport have been established in more than twenty countries. In close cooperation with the International Olympic Committee and sports federations, the country is developing many sports, including new ones, such as automobile, water sports, curling, bowling and billiards.
The unanimous election of Turkmenistan as a member of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Physical Culture and Sport (CIGEPS) for 2023–2027 is another evidence of the success of Turkmenistan’s sports diplomacy. Declaring Ashgabat as the City of New Sports Opportunities of the CIS is also in this line. This decision was unanimously adopted at the meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Government, which was held in Ashgabat in May 2024 in recognition of Turkmenistan’s significant contribution to the steady expansion of cooperation in the field of sports in the CIS as well as the opportunities and potential of the Turkmen capital as a major center for holding international meetings and forums, including sports.
Ashgabat has earned this status and gained great reputation in the international arena as a city with all the necessary conditions for organizing sports competitions of the highest level.
During the years of independence, the capital city has been steadily growing like all other regions of the country. Modern sports complexes, multifunctional stadiums, hippodromes, as well as specialized sports schools have been built in Ashgabat that contribute to the formation of the Olympic reserve.
Nowadays, Ashgabat has a solid infrastructure, including everything necessary for practicing various sports, including those that are not traditional for a hot climate – hockey, figure skating, short track, in which significant achievements have already been noted. It is enough to recall the participation of Turkmen sportsmen in the Asian Winter Games. The city boasts large, specialized facilities that have no analogues in the region, such as the Olympic Village, the Olympic Water Sports Complex, the National Olympic Sports Palace, the Winter Sports Complex and the multifunctional stadium “Ashgabat”.
The new buildings of the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Culture and Sports, including the faculty of Olympic sports and the Children’s and Youth Sports School of the Olympic Reserve for training of qualified specialists that were erected near the Olympic have organically blended with the architectural landscape of the Turkmen capital. The Ashgabat Golf Club, autodromes, fitness centers and other specialized facilities were built according to the best international standards. Much is being done to bring national equestrian sports to the international level.
Modern sports infrastructure has made it possible to hold major competitions in the country. The triumphant V Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in 2017 is an example of this. It was for the first time that along with 45 Asian countries, athletes from 19 countries of Oceania took part in the competition, and this was the distinctive feature of the Asian Games, organized under the motto “Health. Inspiration. Friendship”. The Ashgabat–2017 Asian Games program featured competitions in 21 sports. In addition to the 19 declared disciplines, the competition program included sports such as national wrestling Goresh and show jumping, which became a historic step in promoting the traditions of Turkmen wrestling and equestrian sports to the international arena.
The Amul-Khazar international rally and the World Weightlifting Championship held in 2018 contributed to the further strengthening of the sports reputation of Turkmenistan, writing new bright pages in the history of Turkmen and world sports. They were followed by major and prestigious international sports competitions such as the 14th World Kurash Wrestling Championship and the Central Asian Team Tennis Championship among up to 12-year-old boys and girls in 2023. And in April 2024, Ashgabat successfully hosted an international hockey tournament in which teams from CIS and other countries took part. In June 2024, Turkmenistan hosted a children’s tennis festival. It was in the same month that Turkmenistan was presented with the certificate of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF), recognizing the tennis complex of the Olympic Village of Ashgabat as Training Centre of the Asian region. On 8–17 November 2024, the international tennis tournament Ashgabat Open 2024 among under 14-year-old juniors was held at the high level at the tennis complex of the Ashgabat Olympic Village.
These and many other high-level competitions that Turkmenistan held with the generosity of a hospitable host as a highly responsible organiser strengthened the country’s sport reputation and became a worthy contribution to its policy of neutrality, creation and peace-making.
It is important to note that the modern specialized infrastructure has been reinforced and modernized not only in the capital city but also in the regions of the country. For example, many major competitions are held at the national tourist zone “Avaza” that boasts a multifunctional sports complex with a professional-sized ice arena and yacht clubs.
There are also sports facilities in the new city of Arkadag which has a multifunctional sports complex, a water sports complex, a stadium for 10 thousand seats and the General Directorate of Physical Culture and Sports of the first “smart” city in Turkmenistan. There were created all conditions for practicing martial arts, football, volleyball, basketball, tennis and table tennis, weightlifting and athletics, gymnastics, fencing, chess, checkers, equestrian and water sports.
The facilities created for sports activities contribute to the training and growth of professional skills of athletes, coaches, other specialists and, no less importantly, to the mass physical culture movement. Work in these areas is prioritised in the National Program for the Support and Development of Physical Culture and Sports in Turkmenistan for 2021–2025 and other state programs.
Young talented athletes are true ambassadors of friendship and peace, worthily representing permanently neutral Turkmenistan at major international competitions, affirming the high ideals of Olympism with their skills. Their achievements include numerous awards of various merits, including a silver medal won in women’s weightlifting at the XXXII Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.
Turkmen sportsmen participate in the Olympics and Asian Games, world and regional championships and other significant sports tournaments. They return from almost all competitions with medals, including the highest ones.
But sport is not only about records and medals. It is a powerful social, unifying force, closely linked with culture and diplomacy. Traditional ceremonies honoring the champions have become a recognition of the enormous contribution of the young generation of sportsmen to the development of Turkmen sports and growth of the country’s reputation in the international arena. It is gratifying to know that such celebrations are taking place in the country more and more often.