For The Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Continued Tour Part 11, click here.

Ashkagat, Turkmenistan

Brief Recap

During my summer Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship tour I traveled in China from Beijing, to Xian, Turpan, and Urumqi, then crossed into Kazakhstan to Almaty, followed by Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, and then Tashkent in Uzbekistan, traveling a land route of 5,133 kilometers, or 3,188 miles on the ground in 21 days while also interviewing martial art masters and visiting museums in every major city along the way.

On this winter trip I took it a bit easier, traveling from Tashkent where I left off last summer, to Samarkand, and Bukhara in Uzbekistan, crossing the border into Turkmenistan, then Turkmenabat, Mary/Merv, and finally Ashgabat, the capital city of Turkmenistan traveling a land route of 2,058 kilometers, or 1,278 miles over a 17 day period, for a combined total of 7,191 kilometers or 4,466 miles, in 38 days, naturally visiting martial arts schools, museums and Silk Road sites all along the way, as usual. It’s not that I was lazier on this trip, but rather my winter vacation is shorter so my goals had to be abbreviated.

Though I only found a few Kung Fu schools in Uzbekistan I know there are many others. I’m not going to write more about Uzbekistan here as I’m sending quite a few pictures for a photo gallery for your perusal. Uzbekistan is home to many of the world’s most ancient civilizations and wonders of literature, poetry, philosophy, art, and architecture whose beauty and grandeur is really impossible to describe.

Turkmenistan

Turkic peoples are any of a wide variety of ethnic/cultural groups that speak languages of the Turkic sub-family of the Altaic languages. In the 6th Century they established an empire stretching from what is now Mongolia, parts of northwestern China, and west to the Black Sea (the eastern edge of Europe). They include Azerbaijanis, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Uighurs, Uzbeks and quite a large number of other races and cultures. Central Asia is really divided between Turkic peoples and those speaking languages from Persia, now called Iran. Turkic peoples were warrior horse tribes of the highest caliber for most of recorded history and bonded by Islam for most of the past 1,000 years or so.

Turkmenistan has been at the heart of Central Asia for several millenniums, bordered by Kazakhstan in the north, Uzbekistan in the north-east, Afghanistan and Iran in the South, Azerbaijan and Russia all along the Caspian Sea in the east. Most of Turkmenistan, some 80% is comprised of the Karakum Desert which is one of the driest places on earth with an average rainfall of less than half an inch a year. This has bred an unusually hearty and tough people and culture. On October 27th, 1991 Turkmenistan declared independence from the Soviet Union after 67 years as a union republic. On December 12, 1995 the 50th Session of the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution on the Permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan preventing it from participating in multi-national defense organizations (like perhaps NATO), while simultaneously Turkmenistan has diplomatic relations with 132 countries. In other words, they fiercely love their independence and freedom, sincerely wish to stay out of other people’s wars and provocations, and are really quite internationally social.

While I was in Turkmenistan’s capital city Ashgabat I picked up a copy of Turkmenistan’s first president’s (Saparmyrat Nyyazow) book titled Ruhnama and found it quite enlightening, quoting extensively as he does Turkic folklore, Islamic and Buddhist beliefs. He was very much a moralist but also had quite a sense of humor at times too. He describes the Turkic people as honest, loyal, straightforward, and possessing of extraordinary martial valor:

“We have many national heroes to be proud of because the art of war is not unfamiliar to our nation. A nation which regarded every adolescent boy as a soldier and whose horses were always saddled and readied guns passed on its art of war over from generation to generation. Our art of war of thousands of years started in the era of Oguz Khan, who was the ancestor of Turkmen…” “They never disguised themselves while riding a camel. Everyone one of them fought the enemies like wild wolves…”

Yet, they steadfastly maintain honor in war: “In the field of the art of war, the sons of Turkmen have drawn lessons from the teachings of people. One of the teachings says that “Even a snake would not disturb anyone asleep….” “The fame of Turkmen heroes went beyond the mountains and became well-known everywhere since they were known for their bravery, fearlessness, fidelity to their oath, generosity, and good manners.” “…In that era, in Persia, Tukey, the Caucasus, Russia and in many other countries, the palaces were guarded by the Turkmen. The Turkmen soldiers were known as dependable, loyal and decent men.”

President Saparmyrat Nyyazow was also very much a naturalist: “Man is a produce of nature and a child of nature. Man has to obey the harmony, rules and order of nature and has to be line with it. Nature is the major teacher of man.”

Were I to live in Uzbekistan my choice of cities would be Bukhara; were I to live in Turkmenistan my choice of cities would be Mary, which is adjacent to the ancient, ancient city of Merv which in the Bronze Age (3,300–1,200 BCE) was one of the major cultural centers of the East, and is referred to in the Avesta (the holy book of the fire-worshippers) as Mouru, as one of the seven regions where the population followed Zarathustra, and was given the name Margush in an inscription by the Persian King Darius the First, and Merv in medieval Arabic literature. The State of Margush in the Bronze Age almost 40 centuries ago is thought to be the birthplace of Zoroastrianism. It was a state comparable with Mesopotamia, Egypt, China and India. The ancient palace/temple/fortress oasis complex of Gonur-depe in Merv is proving to be one of the world’s most precious archeological treasure troves of ancient history – a major crossroads of the ancient Silk Road there in the Karakum Desert. But, those are not the primary reasons I’d be happy living there. The reason is, like Bukhara in Uzbekistan – the people are friendly, honest and straightforward, the pace of life is relaxed and easy going, and it basically felt good to me. However, whereas Bukhara was experiencing spring-like weather when I visited, Mary/Merv was something else entirely.

On February 10th, the morning I arrived in Mary/Merv, a snow storm hit with blizzard like conditions, the first snow of the year and people joked I brought the snow. They actually like the snow and cold, whereas I had just endured the coldest winter in 25 years in Beijing. Ha! Funny. Photographing Merv during the storm proved to be something of a challenge, but my photos might be somewhat unique because of the lovely white snow covering – considering it’s one of the driest deserts in the world.

But, Ashgabat is the capital city and administrative center of Turkmenistan, and that is where I found President of National Wushu Federation of Turkmenistan and Head Coach of the Turkmenistan National Wushu Team, Master Yazmyrat Annamyradov.

Master Yazmyrat Annamyradov President: Wushu Federation of Turkmenistan

 

February 12, 2016

Like practically all martial art masters in Central Asia Master Yazmyrat started his martial art career in Karate, due in part to Russian influence during the era of the Soviet Union. He started this training in 1985, however in 1989 he went to a Wushu seminar in Russia and met up with Wushu Master Hussain Magomayev. After that life changing event he switched over and hasn’t looked back.

Thirty-one years later he’s become a legend here in Turkmenistan and highly respected around Asia as a superb trainer, coach, and organizer. For example, in Hong Kong they won 3 golds, 3 Silvers, and 4 bronzes in 2011, In Berlin, 4 golds, in fact all over the world they’ve done very well, even when fighting team competitions with only half a team. For example in the 2006 Junior World Wushu Championships held in Kuala Lumpur he only entered four athletes who walked away with three silver medals, earning them 5th place, which is pretty darned good considering other national teams were competing with teams of eight and there were forty-five nations participating in this event. Because of the medal count in this championship, his team was recognized as the Vice Champion. This was hardly the first or last of this emerging great team’s dramatic victories. Master Yazmyrat’s National Wushu Team has earned medals in over 150 international competitions in 45 countries. They also have a tendency to finish Sanda bouts with KOs. During our interview Master Yazmyrat showed me some videos of his team member’s international competition bouts and indeed I saw one knockout after another. No doubt these Turkmenistan athletes are dauntless and tough to the core, but, there’s a lot more going on here than that.

Master Yazmyrat Annamyradov and his four gold medalists in Berlin

 

In Turkmenistan the Wushu and Kung Fu federations are merged. This isn’t terribly surprising given the Permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan. So, synergizing Wushu and Kung Fu into one organization is perfectly in line with their penchant for unification and peace.

Altogether Master Yazmyrat has 25 Wushu coaches teaching about 1,500 students around Turkmenistan and their meteoric rise to Wushu international fame is noteworthy.

February 13, 2016

My last full day in Turkmenistan & very special visit with Turkmenistan’s National Junior Koresh (traditional wrestling) Team. All along The Road in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan I’d tried to visit a traditional Koresh wrestling school but it seemed the fates had decreed against it and so I was just absolutely delighted when Guvanch my friendly guide in Turkmenistan told me I had been invited to meet their national junior team at one of the fabulous Olympic/Asian Games training centers around Ashgabat on my last day there.

Just how old is Koresh? According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “When the Islamic rulers of Persia began hiring Turkic mercenaries about 800 CEc, the soldiers brought with them a style of loose wrestling called Koresh, in which grips may be taken on the long, tight leather pants worn by the wrestlers and the bout ends with a touch fall of the loser briefly on his back. Gradually the Turks took over the entire Muslim...” Get it?

Thus, it was with no small amount of excitement that I walked up the stairs to their training hall as I’d read a little about it and knew they wore a jacket and belt when competing and hoped I might be allowed to participate a bit and see if my old Judo skills might be of some use.

Arriving at the training hall we, Guvanch and I were greeted by National Team Coach Hemra Nurmammedow and his team. I found out they were going to leave for an international competition that afternoon in Turkey but had showed up just to meet me and demonstrate their pride and joy, real Turkmen Koresh.

The students lined up along one edge of the mat and Coach Hemra offered me a jacket if I’d like to participate! Wow! Was he reading my mind? The answer to that was a no-brainer so I stripped off my outer pants and - of course - I had my Taekwondo pants underneath as I practice all kinds of martial arts along The Road, including Wushu, Taekwondo, Kickboxing, Wrestling, whatever! (This non-discriminatory policy of mine has prevented me from becoming a master of any art, but on the other hand I’ve had a darned good time and made a lot of friends.)

First Coach Hemra explained that traditional Turkman Koresh is different from other Koresh by for example the belt being tied around the waist as compared to around the chest, and different from traditional belt wrestling. I was also told (with Guvanch translating) that one point can be gained by getting the opponent to touch any body part to the mat, except the feet of course, e.g. hand, knee or elbow, whereas a complete win (two points) can be gained by throwing the opponent on his back. Then he had his students demonstrate some of the major throws/takedowns. It looked like all good fun to me, similar to Judo in some ways, but the footwork, grips, approach and executions were decidedly different in most cases.

It was explained to me that at the beginning of a match contestants step onto the mat, are formally introduced, then proceed to the center to get their grips. Once thus prepared, the referee will call a start to the match. After that I was invited to try it.

I tentatively followed the procedures but needed Coach Hemra to make sure my grips were right, which of course they weren’t the first time. Coach Hemra called for the match to begin and it was on! Fortunately for me the young guy, probably all of 16 or 17 years old didn’t resist at all so I threw him to the cheers of the audience. After helping him up I gave it another go and they so very kindly awarded the match to me. All in fun of course, but it was exceedingly kind of them to bring the team in to demonstrate this fine ancient art just for me. But, it’s the love of our martial arts that sustains us all in our endeavor to attain higher levels of mastery and promote our arts. So, I understood and felt/feel profound appreciation and honored at their thoughtfulness and effort. Giving me the splendid real Turkmen Koresh jacket as a gift was one of the nicest surprises I’ve ever had.

Knowing they had to leave that afternoon I got a couple of their e-mail addresses, passed out a few of my name cards, and bid them farewell wishing them luck in competition, health and happiness.

The end of The Road?

Though this Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour segment was a bit shorter than last summer’s, it was again supremely educational, challenging at times and really, really great fun. Classes at my high school here in Beijing start in a few days, and of course I’m really looking forward to that, but have to admit I’m already planning the next segment of this fabulous adventure, starting again in Ashgabat, then crossing the border to Mashhad (Iran), Damghan (Iran), Tehran (Iran), and then crossing the border to Turkey, and traveling from Ankara to The Harbor of Eleutherios later known as the Harbor of Theodosius, one of the ports of ancient Constantinople, in Istanbul, Turkey, the land’s end of the Silk Road, and beginning of the Maritime Silk Road. From there, who knows?

Technical note: To visit Turkmenistan you’ll need a Letter of Invitation which can only be gotten from one of their government owned travel agencies (unless you’ve got some high powered friends maybe). You will be given a guide, which is quite nice, and in my case very helpful indeed because he (Guvanch) was great at getting appointments and finding things in general. Crossing the Farab border from Uzbekistan to Turkmenistan was quite nice as I got there a little before 9:00 am, the weather was quite nice, they hadn’t really opened yet and practically nobody was there. But, a word to the wise: Be sure to have your guide’s name and phone number written down or Immigration might not let you in. Luckily I have e-mail on my phone and was able to get the phone number of my guide who met me on the other side of the border.

A word to the wise: 1) Get your calendar, 2) Find September 2017, 3) Write down “Asian Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan,” because that is going to be the biggest martial arts event of the century: Thai boxing, Sambo, Koresh, Jujitsu, Taekwondo, kickboxing, Gusakly Goresi, and of course: Turkmen Milli Goresi, other martial arts and a whole lot of other sports.

For The Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour Part 13, click here.