High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Turkmen SSR for short, was one of republics of the Soviet Union in Central Asia. It was initially established on 7 August 1921 as the Turkmen Oblast of the Turkestan ASSR. On 13 May 1925 it was transformed into Turkmen SSR and became a separate republic of the USSR. In 1991, the Turkmen SSR became independent and was renamed Turkmenistan.