Turkmen is the official state language, and is closer to Turkish, Azeri and Crimean Tartar than those of its neighbours Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The Turkmen script was changed from Latin to Cyrillic in 1940, but the process of changing back to the Turkish version of the Latin script is underway. Turkmenistan shares the Central Asian Sufi tradition. Round 2-pin continental plugs are standard. Operated by BCTI .
Services are available from post offices in large towns.
Letters to Western Europe and the USA can take between two weeks and two months. Stamped envelopes can be bought from post offices. The main Post Office in Ashgabat is open until 1900. The press in Turkmenistan is still censored. From time to time these change.