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806 TURKMEN
in a region owned jointly by the group. They were united politically and militarily
for the defense of this territory and for the defense of their individual rights of
person and property. When a military threat was considered too much for smaller
and less inclusive descent groups to handle, they would unite with several other
similar groups which together formed a larger descent group based on more
distant ancestry. The largest descent groups of this sort are groups like the Teke,
Yomut, Goklen, Salor, Saryk, Chaudor and Ersari. These names often appear
as tribal designations in various descriptions of the Turkmen.
The Turkmen used their military prowess in fights among themselves over
territory or, more frequently, in raids for livestock. They also engaged in slave
raiding, usually raiding the sedentary inhabitants of northeastern Persia and
northern Afghanistan. Caravans would be surprised on the road, or farmers
working in their fields would be attacked switftly and then carried off as captives.
These captives could be kept as second-class members in their captor's household,
sold to fellow tribesmen or sent by caravan to slave markets in one of the
Central Asian cities, Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand or Merv.
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries witnessed the demise of Turkmen
political independence and military prowess. From the middle of the nineteenth
century on, the sort of irregular cavalry the Turkmen could put together was no
longer effective against the well-organized armies and artillery of czarist Russia.
Later, they also proved ineffective against the modernized Iranian army established
by Reza Shah. Most of the Turkmen came under Russian control. The
Russian conquest of Merv in 1884 marked the end of any internationally recognized
Turkmen polity. However, the transition to effective control by sedentary
states was gradual and characterized by occasional reversals. The Turkmen of
Iran maintained de facto independence until 1925, and some Iranian Turkmen
reasserted de facto independence during World War II and again after the Iranian
Revolution of 1978. During the Russian Revolution, many Turkmen asserted
independence temporarily as part of the so-called Basmachi movement. Despite
this, however, the general trend for all Turkmen has been effective control by
government dominated by other ethnic groups—Persians, Pushtun or Russians.
These governments are not especially sympathetic with Turkmen traditions and
are suspicious of possible desires for an independent Turkmenistan. Sentiment
for the preservation of Turkmen identity is not at present translated into an active
movement for independence. Within the Soviet Union, however, the Turkmen
do enjoy a degree of autonomy.
Loss of political independence has robbed nomadism of its political and military
value, and most Turkmen have responded by adopting either a sedentary
or a semi-sedentary residence pattern.
The Turkmen are divided into two occupational groups, the agricultural chomur
and the pastoral charwa. The chomur, who live in the better-watered regions,
traditionally made their living primarily by rainfall cultivation of wheat and
barley. Herding of sheep, goats, donkeys, horses, cattle and water buffalo was
secondary. Despite their primary reliance on agriculture, the chomur traditionally
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