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Jewish Communities Through Time 300 BCE–Present

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Turkmenistan

Explore the documented population history of the Jewish community in Turkmenistan, with source information and confidence indicators for each observation.

Earliest observation 2,100 1926
Latest observation 200 2015
Peak observation 5,400 1970
Recorded change -90.5% 1926 to 2015

Jewish communities

Explore important centres of Jewish life in Turkmenistan and their earliest documented presence.

Modern geographic reference
5 documented communities
Major community
Regional community

Modern boundaries are shown for geographic orientation. Historical political boundaries may differ.

Merv (Mary)

Major Documented by 300

Merv, in the historical region of Margiana near modern Mary, preserves the earliest documented evidence of Jewish presence in the territory of modern Turkmenistan. A fourth-century rabbinic account refers to a visit to Margiana, while Jewish inscriptions and ossuary evidence from approximately the fifth through seventh centuries provide archaeological evidence of Jewish life. Merv later remained an important Silk Road centre associated with Jewish merchants and communities.

Source: Turkmenistan

Ashgabat

Major Documented by 1881

Ashgabat developed a Jewish population after Russian expansion into Transcaspia in the late nineteenth century. Jewish soldiers and later craftsmen and merchants from the European Russian Empire settled in the city, and 310 Jews were recorded there by 1887. Ashgabat subsequently became the principal centre of Ashkenazi Jewish life in Turkmenistan and remained the country's largest Jewish population centre after independence.

Source: Ashgabat

Turkmenabat (Chardzhou)

Regional Documented by 1900

Turkmenabat, historically known as Chardzhou or Chardjui, supported a small Bukharan Jewish community linked culturally and commercially with neighbouring Bukhara. Jewish families remained in the city through the Soviet and early post-Soviet periods. The year 1900 is used as a conservative documentary benchmark rather than a precise founding date.

Source: International Religious Freedom Report: Turkmenistan

Ýolöten

Regional Documented by 1840

Ýolöten formed part of the nineteenth-century network of Jewish settlements in the Murgab oasis. Jewish residents included families connected with Persian and Afghan Jewish communities, particularly migrants associated with Mashhad and Herat. Descendants of Afghan Jews formerly living in Ýolöten later emigrated from Turkmenistan.

Source: Community in Turkmenistan

Serakhs

Regional Documented by 1840

Serakhs, near the Persian frontier, became one of the settlements associated with nineteenth-century Jewish migration from Persia into the territory of modern Turkmenistan. Jews from the Mashhad region were among those who established themselves along the frontier and Merv oasis after the forced conversion of Mashhad's Jewish community in 1839.

Source: Bukharan Jews

Population through time

Recorded and estimated Jewish population observations.

Population values reflect the available documented or estimated observations. Gaps between years should not be interpreted as continuous measurement.

Historical timeline

Major documented events in the history of the Jewish community in Turkmenistan.

300 BCE Present
300 BCE 300 CE 900 1500 Present
4th century CE Community

Earliest documented Jewish presence in Margiana

A rabbinic reference from the early fourth century records a visit by Shmuel bar Bisna to Margiana, the historical region along the Murgab River in present-day Turkmenistan. This provides the earliest textual evidence of Jewish presence in the territory, while later archaeological discoveries at Merv provide additional physical evidence.

Source: Turkmenistan
5th–7th centuries Community

Archaeological evidence of Jewish life at Merv

Archaeological excavations at ancient Merv uncovered ossuaries associated with Jewish burial practices dating approximately from the fifth through seventh centuries. Together with later references to Jews at Merv, these finds provide physical evidence of an established Jewish presence along the Central Asian trade routes.

Source: Turkmenistan
9th–14th centuries Trade

Jewish merchants participate in Merv's Silk Road networks

During the medieval period Jewish merchants were associated with Merv, one of the major commercial centres of the Silk Road. Documentary references indicate Jewish presence in the city during different periods before the destruction and decline associated with the Mongol invasions.

Source: Turkmenistan
19th century Migration

Persian Jews establish communities in the Merv oasis

Following persecution and the forced conversion of the Jewish community of Mashhad in 1839, Persian Jews migrated into territories of present-day Turkmenistan. Families settled particularly in the Merv oasis and around Ýolöten and Serakhs, where some were able to resume Jewish practice while maintaining commercial connections with Persia and Afghanistan.

Source: Bukharan Jews
1881–1900 Migration

Russian rule brings Ashkenazi settlement to Ashgabat

Following the Russian conquest of the region, Jewish soldiers and later artisans, merchants and other settlers from European parts of the Russian Empire arrived in Ashgabat and elsewhere in Transcaspia. By the late nineteenth century Ashgabat had developed an established Ashkenazi Jewish population.

Source: Ashgabat
1917–1925 Migration

Revolution reshapes Turkmenistan's Jewish communities

Political upheaval surrounding the Russian Revolution and establishment of Soviet rule prompted many Persian and Afghan Jews living in Transcaspia to return to Iran and Afghanistan. Smaller communities of Mashhadi origin remained around Merv, Bayramaly and Ýolöten, while Bukharan and Ashkenazi Jewish settlement continued under the new Soviet administration.

Source: Turkmenistan
1930s Persecution

Soviet authorities suppress Jewish communal institutions

During the 1930s Soviet anti-religious and political campaigns closed Jewish communal organizations, schools and most synagogues in Turkmenistan. Jews with connections to Iran and Afghanistan were particularly vulnerable to accusations of espionage, while residents of sensitive frontier districts were relocated into the interior.

Source: Turkmenistan
1941–1945 Migration

Ashkenazi refugees arrive during the Second World War

Jewish refugees and evacuees from western parts of the Soviet Union arrived in Soviet Turkmenistan during the Second World War. These arrivals strengthened the Ashkenazi component of the population, which eventually became the majority of Turkmenistan's remaining Jewish community.

Source: Community in Turkmenistan

Migration & displacement

Explore major documented movements into, within, and out of Turkmenistan.

Documented migration routes
3 documented movements
Origin
➤ Direction
Destination

Routes are geographic representations of documented movements and should not be interpreted as exact travel paths.

1840–1900 Refugee_Migration

Mashhadi Jews migrate to the Merv oasis

Mashhad Merv

Following the forced conversion of the Jewish community of Mashhad in 1839, Jewish families migrated into Central Asia and established themselves in the Merv oasis and other settlements in present-day Turkmenistan. Migration increased during the later nineteenth century as Mashhadi Jews sought greater religious freedom and commercial opportunities under Russian rule. No reliable migration total is assigned to this route.

Source: Bukharan Jews
1941–1945 Refugee_Migration

Jewish wartime evacuation to Turkmenistan

Western Soviet Union Ashgabat

Jewish refugees and evacuees from western territories of the Soviet Union reached Turkmenistan during the Second World War. These arrivals strengthened the Ashkenazi Jewish population, particularly in Ashgabat. The origin coordinate represents the western Soviet territories generally, and no Turkmenistan-specific Jewish evacuation total is assigned.

Source: Community in Turkmenistan
1989–2000 Mass_Migration

Post-Soviet Jewish emigration to Israel

Turkmenistan Israel
Approximately 1,050 people

Beginning in the final years of the Soviet Union and continuing after Turkmen independence, substantial numbers of Jews emigrated to Israel. Approximately 1,050 Turkmenistani Jews are reported to have made aliyah since 1989, dramatically reducing the country's Jewish population.

Source: Community in Turkmenistan

Population observations

Detailed demographic records and source information.

Year Population Type Confidence Source
1926 2,100 census medium Turkmenistan
1939 3,000 census medium Turkmenistan
1959 4,100 census high Jewish Population of the Soviet Republics
1970 5,400 census medium Jewish Population of the Soviet Republics
1979 2,800 census high Jewish Population of the Soviet Republics
1989 2,500 census medium Turkmenistan
2015 200 modern_population_estimate medium World Jewish Population