Turkmenistan P-41 100 Manat 2017 VF+/XF Commemorative—Martial Arts Games

A rare circulating commemorative issued by Turkmenistan to mark the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, held in Ashgabat in September 2017 — one of the most lavish sporting events ever staged in Central Asia, and a showcase of Turkmenistan's extraordinary marble-clad capital. Printed by De La Rue, London, this note combines striking commemorative imagery with the full security apparatus of a circulating banknote.

Front

• Colors: green (dominant engraving), light green background, gold accents
• Left motif: Commemorative design for the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games
• Center: Coat of arms of Turkmenistan
• Right portrait: Oguz Khan Türkmen (legendary founding ancestor of the Turkic peoples)
• Map: Turkmenistan
• Denomination: YÜZ MANAT (One Hundred Manat)
• Issuer: TÜRKMENİSTANYNň MERKEZİ BANKY
• Legend: ŞU BANKNOT TÖLEGLERİN ÄHLI GÖRNÜŞERİ ÜÇİN YÖREYÄR (This banknote is valid for all types of payments)
• Signature: Merdan Annadurdyyev (Head of the Central Bank of Turkmenistan)

Back

• Colors: green background, dark green engraving, gold accents
• Subject: Aşgabat Olympia Stadium, Aşgabat
• Legend: TÜRKMENİSTANYNň MERKEZİ BANKY — XXI ASYR – TÜRKMENİN ALTYN ASYRY (Central Bank of Turkmenistan — The 21st century is the golden age of the Turkmen)
• Denomination: YÜZ MANAT

Other Characteristics

• Varieties: Single issue — Prefix AA–AF (2017)
• Catalog numbers: P-41; TBB B233; Numista N#204011
• Watermark: Oguz Khan Türkmen, crescent moon with five five-pointed stars, numeral 100
• Composition: Paper
• Size: 150 × 75 mm
• Issued: 17 September 2017
• Type: Circulating commemorative
• Issuing entity: Central Bank of Turkmenistan (Türkmenistanyñ Merkezi Banky)
• Printer: De La Rue, London, United Kingdom
• Signature: Merdan Annadurdyyev (Head of the Central Bank of Turkmenistan)
• Currency: New Manat (TMT)

About Turkmenistan

• Origin of name: From Türkmen (the Turkic people) + Persian -stan (land of) — "Land of the Turkmen"
• Capital: Ashgabat (pop. ~1.1 million)
  • Origin of name: From Persian eshqâbâd — "city of love" or "city of devotion"
• Population: ~6.3 million (UN 2023) — roughly Missouri or Maryland
• Area: 488,100 km² (188,500 mi²) — roughly the size of Spain, or California plus Nevada
• GDP per capita (PPP): ~$17,000 (IMF est.)
• Main exports: Natural gas (world's 4th largest reserves), cotton, petroleum products, electricity
• Borders: Kazakhstan (north), Uzbekistan (north and east), Afghanistan (southeast), Iran (south); Caspian Sea (west)
• Official/spoken language: Turkmen (official); Russian widely spoken
• Ethnicities: Turkmen (~85%); Uzbeks (~5%); Russians (~4%); others
• Memberships: UN (1992, permanent neutrality status recognized 1995); CIS (associate member); OIC (1992);
• Sovereignty:
  • Ancient Persia and Parthian Empire — region part of successive Iranian empires from ~550 BC
  • Arab conquest (7th century AD) — Islam introduced; region becomes part of the Abbasid Caliphate
  • Seljuk Empire (11th–12th century) — Turkmen tribes rise to dominate the region; Merv becomes one of the world's largest cities
  • Mongol conquest (13th century) — Merv destroyed by Genghis Khan's forces in 1221, one of history's most devastating urban destructions
  • Timurid and Safavid periods (14th–18th century)
  • Russian conquest (1869–1885) — Transcaspian Oblast established; Ashgabat founded 1881
  • Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (1924–1991) — Soviet satellite state
  • Independence (1991–date) — declared October 27, 1991; Saparmurat Niyazov (Turkmenbashi) rules until 2006; succeeded by Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow (2007–2022), then his son Serdar Berdimuhamedow (2022–date); this note issued during Gurbanguly's presidency

Turkmenistan Unfiltered

• Turkmenistan is one of the world's most closed and isolated states — ranked among the least free countries on Earth by every major press freedom and democracy index
• The capital Ashgabat holds the Guinness World Record for the highest density of white marble-clad buildings — the entire city center was rebuilt from scratch after a devastating 1948 earthquake killed an estimated 110,000–170,000 people (nearly two-thirds of the population)
• The Darvaza gas crater — the "Door to Hell" — has been burning continuously in the Karakum Desert since Soviet engineers accidentally ignited it in 1971; it is one of the most surreal natural sights in Central Asia
• Former president Turkmenbashi renamed the months of the year after himself and his mother, banned opera, ballet, and gold teeth, and built a rotating golden statue of himself that always faced the sun
• Turkmenistan has the world's 4th largest natural gas reserves, yet much of the population lives in poverty due to state mismanagement
• The 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games cost an estimated $5 billion to host — an almost incomprehensible sum for a country of 6 million people — and included the construction of an entire Olympic village and stadium complex
• Turkmenistan is one of only three permanently neutral countries in the world (alongside Switzerland and Austria), a status enshrined by the UN in 1995

The Most Expensive Sporting Event You've Never Heard Of

In September 2017, Turkmenistan spent an estimated $5 billion — nearly its entire annual state budget — to host the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. The event was, by any measure, one of the most extravagant sporting spectacles in history: a purpose-built Olympic village clad in white marble, a stadium shaped like a horse (the Akhal-Teke, Turkmenistan's sacred breed), and an opening ceremony that reportedly involved thousands of performers and a fleet of drones. The world barely noticed. Turkmenistan's state media declared it a triumph of the "golden age of the Turkmen" — the phrase inscribed on the reverse of this very note.

This banknote was issued specifically for the occasion — one of the rare instances where a circulating commemorative captures not just a date, but an entire geopolitical moment: a hermit state's attempt to announce itself to the world through sport, marble, and spectacle.

Ashgabat: The White City

The Ashgabat Olympic Stadium on the reverse is part of a complex that cost more per capita to build than any comparable facility in history. Ashgabat itself is one of the strangest capitals on Earth — a city of gleaming white marble, golden domes, and near-empty boulevards, rebuilt entirely after the catastrophic 1948 earthquake and then rebuilt again by successive presidents into a monument to their own power. Walking its streets, visitors describe the sensation of being inside an architectural fever dream — grand, immaculate, and eerily quiet.

Own This Piece of Turkmenistan

Own this VF+/XF Turkmenistan P-41 100 Manat 2017 — a circulating commemorative from one of the world's most secretive states, issued for one of history's most extravagant sporting events, printed by De La Rue and bearing the image of a stadium that cost a nation its annual budget to build. An extraordinary addition to any Central Asian, commemorative, or world banknote collection.