    Ahar Arak Ardabil Bakhtiar Birjand Ghochan Hamadan Isfahan Kashmar Kerman Malayer Sanandaj Sarough Shahreza Shiraz Tabriz Zandjan     |
TURKMAN
The Turkmen are a tribe of immense importance. Most of them live in the former Soviet Republic of Turkmenistan and in Afghanistan. The Iranian population is restricted to an area around Gonbad-e-Kavus (population 500.000) in the province of Mazandran. The Iranian Turkmen belong to three tribes: the Yomut, the Tekke and the Atabat. The first two are most famous for carpets. Although originally nomadic, most Iranian Turkmen are now settled, though they often keep a traditional round tent standing near their modern brick houses. They speak a dialect of Turkish.
Turkmen rugs are traditionally constructed of wool (pile and foundation) and have limited colour schemes of reds, black and ivory, with other colours and silk occasionally introduced. The typical design is of geometrical 'gulls': octagonal designs varying according to tribe. Traditionally, rugs in other sizes have been made for specific areas of tents, as door hangings, bag faces and so on. Tribal leaders have occasionally made very large carpets as special commissions.
Turkmen carpets are still recognized today even among the expert carpet dealers in the United States and Western Europe as "Bukhara carpets". Bukhara is one of the ancient Oriental cities among the Silk Road where Turkmen people used to sell these beautiful hand-made wool textiles. Many world rug specialists consider these carpets (especially the antique masterpieces) as one of the most genuinely unique and high quality carpets in the world.
The main peculiarity of world-renowned Turkmen hand-made carpets is that they are actually woven from pure wool unlike most of Persian rugs where some cotton is blended to accelerate and simplify the rug weaving process. A special elastic pure wool yarn is spun from the wool of Turkmen "Saryja" sheep bred only in climate conditions of Turkmenistan from times immemorial - this wool is a major raw material for Turkmen textiles.
The various highly nutritional vegetation of local pastures attaches the most valuable properties to the wool of "Saryja" - high hygroscopic (the ability to easily absorb moisture from air and retrieve it back), effective protection from cold, high solidity of fibres, flexibility.
Turkmen hand-made carpets are made only from ecologically pure wool creating the most comfortable and aesthetic conditions.
An amazing beauty and longevity of Turkmen carpets is a result of magnificent carpet-weaving traditions that have attained high perfection and rich artistic expressiveness of the design during more than 4 thousand years of their existence.
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