Water Unites

Karakum
When I arrived in Ashgabat in late February of 1992, it was icy cold. At that time, nothing
worked any more in this gas-rich country. Independence from the Soviet Union came
as a surprise and nobody was prepared for it, as was the case in all the other Central
Asian countries. Everything in Ashgabat looked rural, poor and improvised. Only the
Carpet Museum, where James Baker, then the U.S. Secretary of State, had signed the
guestbook one day before the arrival of our delegation, gave witness of some pride and
history. And it was freezing cold inside the buildings. With independence, the process of
nation-building and the construction of the capital began. The president, Sapparmurat
Niyasov, said cheerfully when we met him: «Please be welcome in our new country». He
explained his vision of statehood, which was subsequently implemented very quickly.
The cult of personality associated with public wealth and private poverty became visible
to every visitor. No place in the world has changed more than this town in the middle of
the desert. What can be done with money is on display in this white city. And Ashgabat is
still expanding. It keeps on wresting new land from the desert for construction projects.
Marble-clad, high- rise buildings soar into the ever-blue sky. And yet, Ashgabat seems to
have no shortage of water. Fountains, canals, parks and splendid boulevards dominate
the city. But people in Ashgabat have not really changed as much as the new look of the
city might suggest. They are aware of their traditions. The national costumes are colorful
and witness the joy of life. Festivals are celebrated, men and women have divided the
tasks among themselves.
Due to the hot climate, it has never been easy to live in this inhospitable part of
Central Asia. Turkmenistan has very little fertile soil and almost no local sources of water.
Life here is only possible thanks to a costly irrigation system. The country’s most important
source of water, the Amu Darya flowing from the eastern border with Uzbekistan, is
located far from population centers in the south. The Karakum Canal made it possible
for cities to grow and opened up new tracts of land for agriculture. The 1 400-kilometerlong
canal branches off from the Amu Darya. It runs across the Karakum desert, almost
reaching the Caspian Sea. The construction of this gigantic canal began in 1954. It is one
of the longest canals in the world. This canal changed life not only in Turkmenistan, but
also across the entire region. With the construction of the canal, water came to the Turkmen
desert. This water previously flowed into the Aral Sea. The construction project in
the desert was a part of «Man’s Conquest of Nature», as proclaimed by Stalin. Along the
canal, in this once lifeless area, agriculture was now possible. Mass-production of cotton
was promoted. The canal takes a huge amount of water from the Amu Darya. Central
Asia’s great river loses up to half its water to the Karakum Canal. Some just drains away in
the sandy bottom of the canal.
But the expression «the desert blooms» is more than a metaphor in Turkmenistan.
It is the water of the Karakum Canal that makes it possible for people to survive, here, in
one of the driest places in Asia, and to live between tradition and modernization. We
have already discovered that wherever there is water, there is life. In Merv, a city with
World Heritage status, one can observe this with particular clarity. Left and right of the
112 Photo essay – Karakum