Turkmenistan, which is also known as Turkmenia, is located in Central Asia. Bordered by Uzbekistan to the east and north, Iran to the southwest and south, Kazakhstan to the northwest, Afghanistan to the southeast, and the Caspian Sea to the west, the country has been at critical points of civilization. This sovereign country possesses the fourth-largest natural gas reserves in the world.
Turkmenistan was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union with the Russian ruble as its currency until the collapse of the Soviet in 1991. In 1993, the Russian ruble was replaced by the Turkmenistan manat. Ever since the country issued its own currency, De La Rue has been its sole printing partner. Banknotes issued from 1993 highlight buildings, mosques, and mausoleums. They also bear a portrait of President Saparmurat Niyazov except the 1 and 5-manat notes. In 2005, a new set of notes was issued, bearing a unified design. The notes also come with a novel serial numbering.
At the beginning of 2009, the Central Bank of Turkmenistan introduced a new set of banknotes as necessitated by the revaluation of the Turkmenistan manat. Displayed on the obverse design of the notes are prominent personalities of the Turkmen nation while the reverse depicts various architecture found in Turkmenistan’s capital city, Ashgabat. The notes were reissued with enhanced security features such as a pearlescent stripe on the back, holographic stripes, SPARK features, and wider windowed security threads.
