This is a survey of the postage stamps and

postal history Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of the use of postage stamps and covers and associated postal artifacts illustrating historical episodes in the development of postal systems. The term is att ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

. The Republic of Turkmenistan ( tk, Türkmenistan Respublikasy), also known as Turkmenia (russian: Туркмения) is a country in

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkmen SSR). It is bordered by

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

to the southeast,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

to the south and southwest,

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

to the east and northeast,

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

to the north and northwest and the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

to the west. The national postal administration is

Turkmenpochta Turkmenpost ( tk, Türkmenpoçta, ''Turkmenpochta''), is the national postal operator of Turkmenistan. The company is responsible for the delivery of mail and issuing postage stamps. It has been a member of the Universal Postal Union since Januar ...

First stamps

The first stamps of Turkmenistan were issued on 26 April 1992.''Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue Part 10 Russia''. 6th edition. London:

Stanley Gibbons The Stanley Gibbons Group plc is a company quoted on the London Stock Exchange specialising in the retailing of collectable postage stamps and similar products. The group is incorporated in London. The company is a major stamp dealer and philat ...

, 2008, p.566. Before then, Turkmenistan used stamps of the Soviet Union.

Overprints

Unlike other ex-Soviet republics, Turkmenistan did not overprint Soviet stamps to meet their postal needs after independence, although a number of overprints were carried out on Turkmenistan stamps in 1992 and 1993.

Postal services

All postal activity is done with the state-owned corporation

which is under the rule of the

Ministry of Communications A Communications Ministry or Department of Communications is a ministry or other government agency charged with communication. Communications responsibilities includes regulating telecommunications, postal services, broadcasting and print media. T ...

. The Turkmenistan government exercises close control over postal communications. Parcels and letters are routinely opened by customs officials and delivery is unreliable. Businesses tend to use international couriers such as Federal Express and DHL, although in 2005 these firms were shut down by the government.

References

Communications in Turkmenistan

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