Turkmenistan Accelerates Efforts to Establish Dominance as a Caspian Sea Power

Until recent years, Turkmenistan was often overlooked in discussions of Central Asia due to its policy of strict neutrality and extremely tight control over information. This was particularly evident regarding its ships on the Caspian Sea, both civilian and military.

That began to change in 2021-22 when Ashgabat became more active on the international front and took steps to build up its shipping capacity on the Caspian, The Caspian Post reports citing foreign media.

But at that time, it had only about 20 merchant ships and 16 naval vessels, all of which were small cutters and thus not in a position to pose a serious challenge to its neighbors or to withstand a challenge from them.

This month, Ashgabat has taken two significant steps that appear likely to change that. On the one hand, it has contracted with a Dutch company to modernize its Caspian port of Turkmenbashi; and on the other, it has agreed to have South Korean yards build more ships.

These moves will make it a more credible force on the Caspian and at the very least mean that Turkmenistan’s navy and merchant marine can no longer be ignored in any discussion of that body of water.