Turkmenistan has announced another conscription for military service for a period of two years. A presidential decree to this effect was published in the local media.

Men who will be called up for military service in April - June 2023 are subject to conscription if they have turned 18 by the draft day and have lost their right to deferment until the age of 27.

It should be noted that the military doctrine of neutral Turkmenistan is dictated by considerations of defense sufficiency.

Turkmenistan, with a population of around 6mn, has an army of 35,000 troops. In comparison, Uzbekistan, with a population of about 35mn, has 65,000 soldiers who serve only one year.

Turkmenistan's army is considered the third strongest among the five Central Asian states, after Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. That is according to a report by the think tank Global Firepower 2023.

On land, Turkmenistan shares borders with Afghanistan (800 kilometers), Iran (1,148 kilometers), Kazakhstan (458 kilometers), and Uzbekistan (1,650 kilometers).

In the Caspian Sea, the country borders Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, and Russia. The total length of Turkmenistan's maritime border is about 600 kilometers.

Credits: Eziz Boyarov, Ashgabat