Renaming of Turkmen months and days of week, 2002

On August 10, 2002, the government of Turkmenistan adopted a law to rename all the months and most of the days of week. The names were chosen according to Turkmen national symbols, as described in Ruhnama, a book written by Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan's first president for life. According to Arto Halonen's documentary film The Shadow of the Holy Book, the Turkish businessman Ahmet Çalık came up with the idea to rename the months, as he was trying to befriend Niyazov in order to expand his business in the country.

After the law was passed the new names were used in all Turkmen state-owned media. Publications in languages other than Turkmen often use the new names too, especially those that were targeted at Russian-speaking citizens of Turkmenistan, with the old name sometimes written in brackets. The old month names were still used in popular speech, however.^[1]

Niyazov died in 2006. On April 23, 2008 it was reported that the cabinet of ministers of Turkmenistan discussed restoring the old names of the months and days of week.^[2] The old names were finally restored in July 2008.^[1]

The original month names were taken from the Russian language. The adopted Turkmen month names were as follows:

English name	Old Turkmen name	Adopted Turkmen name (2002-2008)	Explanation
January	Ýanwar	Türkmenbaşy	Meaning "The Leader of Turkmen", the adopted name of Saparmurat Niyazov, president of Turkmenistan and author of Ruhnama.
February	Fewral	Baýdak	Flag - the Turkmenistan flag day is celebrated in February on Niyazov's birthday.
March	Mart	Nowruz	The traditional Persian new year, which is celebrated in March.
April	Aprel	Gurbansoltan	Gurbansoltan Eje - The name of Niyazov's mother.
May	Maý	Magtymguly	Magtymguly Pyragy - Turkmen poet, considered by Niyazov as one of the greatest spiritual teachers of the Turkmen people.
June	Iýun	Oguz	Oguz Khan - the founder of the Turkmen nation, according to Ruhnama (see Oghuz).
July	Iýul	Gorkut	The hero of "Gorkut-Ata" Turkmen epic.
August	Awgust	Alp Arslan	The second leader of the Seljuk Empire, fought a war with the Byzantine Empire and initiated Turkish migration into Asia Minor.
September	Sentýabr	Ruhnama	Niyazov's book, defined as a spiritual guide for the Turkmen nation.
October	Oktýabr	Garaşsyzlyk	Independence - Turkmenistan's Independence Day is celebrated in October.
November	Noýabr	Sanjar	The last ruler of the Seljuk Empire.
December	Dekabr	Bitaraplyk	Neutrality - Turkmenistan was proclaimed a neutral country, and the Neutrality Day is celebrated in December.

The original names of the days of the week come from Persian. The adopted names were as follows:

English name	Old Turkmen name	Adopted Turkmen name	Explanation
Monday	Duşenbe	Başgün	First day
Tuesday	Sişenbe	Ýaşgün	Young day
Wednesday	Çarşenbe	Hoşgün	Favourable day
Thursday	Penşenbe	Sogapgün	Justice day
Friday	Anna	Annagün	Mother day
Saturday	Şenbe	Ruhgün	Spirit day
Sunday	Ýekşenbe	Dynçgün	Rest day

References

^ ^a ^b (Russian)Туркменам вернули прежний календарь, Lenta.ru, July 1, 2008
^ Turkmen Go Back to Old Calendar

External links

The months of the Gregorian (Christian) calendar in various languages
The days of the week in various languages
Бердымухамедов велел вернуть старый календарь, Аркадий Дубнов, gundogar.org, 2008-04-25 (Russian)

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Renaming of Turkmen months and days of week, 2002