Bandar Torkaman City

Bandar-e Torkaman in GOLESTAN Province is situated to the west of Gorgan and limited to the Caspian Sea in the west. Its neighbor is the Republic of Turkmenistan in the north. Its southern part till Gorganroud, has a temperate and damp climate and its northern part due to proximity to the southern desert of Turkmenistan and remoteness from Alborz Mountains, have an almost dry and desert like climate.

The distance from Bandar Turkaman and Gorgan is 35 km. The name of Turkaman, for the first time was referred to in a Chinese dictionary of 8th AD. It is also known that Turkaman was the name of a yellow skin nation with a Turkish dialect who used to live in the north of "Isig Goel" lake in north Mongolia, about a thousand years back. On the victory of the Arab muslims in the Turk territory, along with some of these people called Qazian-e-Islam attacked other territories. A group of these Turkamans resided at the west and the south and later on some of these groups migrated to different eastern and the southeastern regions of the Caspian Sea. The Saljuki government was the most important Turkish government and its formation was the biggest source of change in the Islamic civilization and Iran.

Saljuq Ebne Daqayeq was one of the Turkamans chieftains. In the 10th century AD. the Qaz tribes that were ancestors of the Turkamans assaulted Russia and Iran. In the 16th century AD., the Turkamans took possession of all the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea to Gorgan. After Teimoor, the Turkamans dynasties such as the Qara Qoyounlou and Aq Qoyounlou formed powerful governments who governed in the west and north of Iran respectively. Later on they ruled in central and south Iran.

To prevent the invasion of Turkamans and Ozbaks, Shah Abbas made the Kurd warriors emigrate from the western parts to this region, and formed five provinces for the Kurds from the frontiers of Astar Abad till Chenaran. But imigration of Kurds did not prevent the Turkaman assaults which savage continued. Due to inter-clan battles from one hand and the horrible savagely invasions of Bokhara and Kheiveh Khans (rulers), the Turkaman regions became turmoil. The above conflicts and the pressures of the Russian Empire increased the Turkamans immigration to the banks of the Gorgan River.

The Qajar Dynasty (Ghajar) came to power with the aid of the Turkaman tribes. In 1276 AH. , coinciding with the Marv war, the Turkamans with the aid of ruler of Kheiveh defeated the Qajar Army, and this territory, remained under the Turkaman domination. During constitution the Turkamans opposed the constitutional government and plundered cities and villages who supported the government. But after the victory of the constitutional government, the Turkamans returned to their regions. After land reforms in 1962, specific groups of Turkamans, began cultivation and the others went to cities and some Turkaman villages moved to cities like Bandar Turkaman.

The present Bandar Turkaman was constructed in 1927 during the reign of Pahlavi I, and coinciding with the beginning of the railway network. Today it has expanded and became an interesting town with tourism attractions.