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Ashgabat

July 21, 2023

"Ashkhabad" redirects here. For the Turkmen folklore band, see Ashkhabad (band). For the Second World War merchant ship, see SS Ashkhabad.
For the cities in Iran, see Eshqabad (disambiguation).

Ashgabat or Asgabat (Turkmen: Aşgabat, [ɑʃʁɑˈbɑt];[3] Persian: عشق‌آباد, romanized: Ešqābād), formerly named Poltoratsk (Russian: Полтора́цк, IPA: [pəltɐˈratsk]) between 1919 and 1927, is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies between the Karakum Desert and the Kopetdag mountain range in Central Asia, near the Iran-Turkmenistan border, and it has a population of 1,031,992 (2019).

Ashgabat
Aşgabat
Capital city
Neutrality Road, Gypjak Mosque, Abadanchylyk Square, Independence Park, Suburbs, Urban highways
Seal
Location of Ashgabat within Turkmenistan
Coordinates: 37°56′15″N 58°22′48″E / 37.93750°N 58.38000°E / 37.93750; 58.38000
Country Turkmenistan
Founded1881
Government
 • TypePresidential[1]
 • MayorRahym Nurgeldiyewic Gandymow (since 9 June 2021) [2]
Area
 • Total917.6 km2 (354.3 sq mi)
Elevation
273 m (896 ft)
Population
 (2019[citation needed])
 • Total1,031,992
 • Density1,100/km2 (2,900/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+05:00
 • Summer (DST)UTC+05:00 (not observed)
Postal code
744000–744040
Area code(+993) 12
Vehicle registrationAG
Websiteashgabat.gov.tm
Satellite view of Ashgabat

The city was founded in 1881 on the basis of an Ahal Teke tribal village, and made the capital of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924. Much of the city was destroyed by the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake, but has since been extensively rebuilt under the rule of Saparmurat Niyazov's "White City" urban renewal project,[4] resulting in monumental projects sheathed in costly white marble.[5] The Soviet-era Karakum Canal runs through the city, carrying waters from the Amu Darya from east to west.[6] Since 2019, the city has been recognized as having one of the highest costs of living in the world largely due to Turkmenistan's inflation and import issues.[7][8][9]

Etymology

 
View of Ashgabat centre

Ashgabat is called Aşgabat in Turkmen, (Russian: Ашхабад, romanized: Ashkhabad) in Russian from 1925 to 1991, and عشق‌آباد ('Ešqābād) in Persian. Before 1991, the city was usually spelled Ashkhabad in English, a transliteration of the Russian form. It has also been variously spelled Ashkhabat and Ashgabad. From 1919 until 1927, the city was renamed Poltoratsk after a local revolutionary, Pavel Poltoratskiy.[10]

Although the name literally means "city of love" or "city of devotion" in modern Persian, the name might be modified through folk etymology. Turkmen historian Ovez Gundogdiyev believes that the name goes back to the Parthian era, 3rd century BC, deriving from the name of the founder of the Parthian Empire, Arsaces I of Parthia, in Persian Ashk-Abad (the city of Ashk/Arsaces).[11]

Geography

Ashgabat is very close to the border with Iran.[12] It occupies a highly seismically active oasis plain bounded on the south by the foothills of the Kopet Dag mountains (Turkmen: Köpetdag) and on the north by the Karakum Desert. It is surrounded by, but not part of, Ahal Province (Turkmen: Ahal welaýaty). The highest point in the city is the 401 metres (1,316 ft) high sandhill upon which the Yyldyz Hotel was built, but most of the city lies between 200 and 255 metres (656 and 837 ft) of elevation. The Karakum Canal runs through the city.[13][14][15]

Like the rest of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat's soil is primarily sediment that accumulated on the bottom of the Paratethys Ocean. The Kopet Dag mountains emerged toward the end of the Cretaceous Period.[16]

Urban layout

1881 to 1929

Prior to 1881 any buildings other than yurts were made solely from adobe and were limited to one story in height due to the seismic risk.[17] As of 1900 only one building in the city was two stories tall, the municipal museum.[18] City planning began following the Russian conquest, with "very simple planning schemes." The basic layout of downtown streets "has been preserved to this day and defined the unique character of the city structure combining linear and radial types of layout of blocks." The Russian writer Vasily Yan, who lived in Askhabad from 1901 to 1904, described the city as "a little tidy town consisting of numerous clay houses, surrounded by fruit gardens with straight streets, planted with slim cottonwood, chestnut, and white acacia planned by the hand of military engineers."[19] Another description noted,

The fortress was the center of the bureaucratic part of the city. Here stood especially sturdy thick-walled houses, with strong window grates and corner buttresses. Earthquakes were less frightening in such houses, and behind the thick walls even in the hottest months some measure of indoor coolness was retained. Each house had a garden around it, on maintenance of which residents spared neither expenditures nor water...Nearer the rail station lived the railroad workers and craftsmen. Here the houses were shorter and more densely spaced, gardens smaller, and dust on the streets greater...
Gradually a third center of Ashkhabad started to emerge, of the merchants. Roughly equidistant from the rail station and the fortress was laid out a sad marketplace, becoming not only a center of stores and stalls, but a center of gravity for merchants' residence.[20]

1930 to 1948

In 1930, asphalt was used for the first time to pave Ashgabat's streets.[21] The water supply was increased by piping water from springs in neighboring Gämi and Bagyr.[21]

The first master plan for Ashgabat, developed between 1935 and 1937 at the Moscow Institute of Geodesy, Aerial Imagery, and Cartography, envisioned expansion to the west, including irrigation and greening of the Bikrova canyon (today Bekrewe).[15] The city architect's office was created in 1936 but was unable to implement the new master plan "as it implied significant demolition of the existing buildings."[22] A description of Ashgabat published in 1948 just before the earthquake noted, "In Ashgabat there are nearly no tall buildings, thus every two-story building is visible from above...", i.e., from the foothills. The tallest structures were the clock tower of the textile mill, the "round smokestack of the glass factory", two "exceptionally thin minarets" of the "former mosque", and "two splendid towers over the long building of the main city hotel."[20]

Impact of the 1948 earthquake

 
Textile factory in Ashgabat depicted on a 1950 stamp

During the 1948 earthquake, since the bulk of Ashgabat at that time was built of either adobe or fired brick, all but a very few buildings collapsed or were damaged beyond repair (the reinforced concrete grain elevator, Church of St. Alexander Nevsky, and Kärz Bank were among the structures that survived).[23][24] According to Turkmenistan's official news agency,

Nearly all one-story residential buildings in the city made of mud brick were destroyed, 95 percent of all one-story buildings made of fired brick, and the remaining structures were damaged beyond repair. The number of inhabitable buildings was in single digits, and at that, only after capital renovation.[22]

A new general plan was hastily developed by July 1949. The city was divided into four zones: central, northern, eastern, and southwestern. Reconstruction of the city began in that year.[15][22] Thus from the early 1950s through 1991 Ashgabat's skyline was dominated by the Brutalist Style favored by post-Stalin Soviet architects.[25] The city's central avenue, Magtymguly (former Kuropatkin, Freedom, and Stalin Prospect), featured "monotonous and primarily two-story construction of administrative and residential buildings." This reconstruction "preserved the existing network of city streets as it was economically unjustified to redesign them."[22] The city was described as "...a Communist-era backwater, rebuilt into a typically drab provincial Soviet city..."[26] The plan was updated in 1959.[27]

Among the buildings erected in the 1950s and 1960s were the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Turkmenistan Communist Party, the Council of Ministers Building, the Mollanepes Academic Drama Theater, the former Ashkhabad Hotel (now renamed Paytagt), the Academy of Sciences complex, and the downtown library building. On then-Karl Marx Square stood a monument to the Soviet "fighters for victory of Soviet power in Turkmenistan".[15]

The 1960s master plan

The Turkmen State Project Institute undertook a feasibility study in the mid-1960s to forecast Ashgabat's development to the year 2000, and on that basis to develop a new master plan. Up until then the city had largely expanded to the east, but now the plan called for development to the south and west. This plan was used for about 20 years, and led to construction of the city's first four-story apartment buildings in the Howdan (Russian: Гаудан) microdistricts, formerly the site of the Ashgabat-South aerodrome, as well as annexation of three collective farms in the near suburbs and their conversion into residential neighborhoods, one of which, Leningrad kolkhoz, to this day is referred to informally by its former name.[22][28] The plan was reworked in 1974, and this resulted in relocation of several industrial plants away from the city center, and thus creation of the industrial zones to the northwest, south, southeast, and northeast.[15]

Between 1961 and 1987 the city architect was Abdulla Ahmedov, who introduced Soviet modernism to Ashgabat.[29] Ahmedov's greatest architectural accomplishment during this period is considered the Ashgabat Hotel (today renamed Paytagt Hotel), built between 1964 and 1970, "a harmonious synthesis of architecture and monumental art."[29]

Growth

In 1948 Ashgabat was described before the earthquake as lying "on a sloping plain of the Kopet-Dag foothills, stretching seven kilometers from west to east and five kilometers from the railroad right-of-way to the south, in the direction of the mountains."[20] Through the mid-1970s, Ashgabat was a compact city, as shown by the 1974 Soviet military's General Staff map J-40-081.[30] The village of Köşi, collective farm "Leningrad", airport, and suburbs to the north were outside the city limits.

Beginning in the 1970s, Ashgabat's boundaries shifted outward, with the aforementioned municipalities annexed, the aerodrome at Howdan redeveloped, and creation of the Parahat (Russian: Mir) neighborhoods to the south and industrial parks to the east. In 2013, Ashgabat annexed a portion of the then-Ruhabat district of Ahal Province as well as the city of Abadan (previously named Büzmeýin, and renamed that as a neighborhood) plus all land and villages in between. The southern boundary of Ashgabat was extended southward to the foothills of the Kopet Dag mountains. Overall, Ashgabat's land area rose by 37,654 hectares. The following municipalities were abolished due to their incorporation into the city of Ashgabat: city of Abadan, towns of Jülge and Ruhabat, villages of Gökje, Gypjak, Birleşik, Magaryf, Herrikgala, Ýalkym, Gurtly, Hellewler, Ylmy-Tejribe bazasy, Ýasmansalyk, Köne Gurtly, Gulantäzekli, Serdar ýoly, Gaňtar, Gyzyljagala, Inerçýage, Tarhan, Topurly, and Ussagulla.[31][32][33] A further expansion occurred January 5, 2018, when additional land to the north was annexed, incorporating the Gurtly Reservoir and two greenfield residential construction projects, known today as Täze Zaman. This statute also established the current four boroughs of Ashgabat.[34][35]

Climate

Ashgabat
Climate chart (explanation)
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
 
 
20
 
 
9
0
 
 
24
 
 
11
1
 
 
41
 
 
17
6
 
 
32
 
 
24
12
 
 
21
 
 
30
17
 
 
6
 
 
36
22
 
 
3
 
 
38
24
 
 
2
 
 
37
22
 
 
3
 
 
32
16
 
 
10
 
 
24
10
 
 
19
 
 
17
5
 
 
20
 
 
10
1
█ Average max. and min. temperatures in °C
█ Precipitation totals in mm
Source: pogoda.ru.net[36]
Imperial conversion
JFMAMJJASOND
 
 
0.8
 
 
47
31
 
 
0.9
 
 
52
34
 
 
1.6
 
 
62
42
 
 
1.3
 
 
75
53
 
 
0.8
 
 
86
62
 
 
0.2
 
 
97
71
 
 
0.1
 
 
101
75
 
 
0.1
 
 
99
71
 
 
0.1
 
 
89
61
 
 
0.4
 
 
76
50
 
 
0.7
 
 
62
41
 
 
0.8
 
 
51
34
█ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F
█ Precipitation totals in inches

The Kopet Dag mountain range is about 25 kilometres (16 mi) to the south, and Ashgabat's northern boundary touches the Kara-Kum desert. Because of this Ashgabat has a cold desert climate (Köppen climate classification: BWk, bordering from BWh) with very hot, dry summers and cool, short winters. The average high temperature in July is 38.3 °C (100.9 °F). Nighttimes in the summer are warm, with an average minimum temperature in July of 23.8 °C (75 °F). The average January high temperature is 8.6 °C (47.5 °F), and the average low temperature is −0.4 °C (31.3 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded in Ashgabat is 47.2 °C (117 °F), recorded in June 2015.[36] A low temperature of −24.1 °C (−11 °F) was recorded in January 1969.[36] Snow is infrequent in the area. Annual precipitation is only 201 millimetres (7.91 in); March and April are the wettest months, and June to September are the driest months. In May 2022, 338 millimetres (13.31 in), 1,352% of the monthly normal, was reported.[37]

Climate data for Ashgabat (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1893–present)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 27.8
(82.0) 		32.6
(90.7) 		38.6
(101.5) 		39.6
(103.3) 		45.6
(114.1) 		47.2
(117.0) 		46.8
(116.2) 		45.7
(114.3) 		45.4
(113.7) 		40.1
(104.2) 		35.0
(95.0) 		33.1
(91.6) 		47.2
(117.0)
Average high °C (°F) 9.0
(48.2) 		11.1
(52.0) 		17.0
(62.6) 		23.9
(75.0) 		30.5
(86.9) 		36.2
(97.2) 		38.4
(101.1) 		37.2
(99.0) 		31.8
(89.2) 		24.4
(75.9) 		15.7
(60.3) 		9.8
(49.6) 		23.8
(74.8)
Daily mean °C (°F) 3.9
(39.0) 		5.7
(42.3) 		11.1
(52.0) 		17.6
(63.7) 		24.1
(75.4) 		29.6
(85.3) 		31.7
(89.1) 		30.0
(86.0) 		24.3
(75.7) 		17.1
(62.8) 		9.7
(49.5) 		5.0
(41.0) 		17.5
(63.5)
Average low °C (°F) −0.1
(31.8) 		1.3
(34.3) 		6.0
(42.8) 		11.8
(53.2) 		17.5
(63.5) 		22.3
(72.1) 		24.5
(76.1) 		22.4
(72.3) 		17.1
(62.8) 		10.8
(51.4) 		5.0
(41.0) 		1.1
(34.0) 		11.6
(52.9)
Record low °C (°F) −24.1
(−11.4) 		−20.8
(−5.4) 		−13.3
(8.1) 		−0.8
(30.6) 		1.3
(34.3) 		9.2
(48.6) 		13.8
(56.8) 		9.5
(49.1) 		2.0
(35.6) 		−5.0
(23.0) 		−13.1
(8.4) 		−18.1
(−0.6) 		−24.1
(−11.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 21
(0.8) 		33
(1.3) 		42
(1.7) 		33
(1.3) 		23
(0.9) 		8
(0.3) 		3
(0.1) 		2
(0.1) 		3
(0.1) 		12
(0.5) 		23
(0.9) 		18
(0.7) 		221
(8.7)
Average rainy days 9 9 13 12 10 5 3 2 3 6 8 10 90
Average snowy days 5 5 1 0.03 0 0 0 0 0 0.1 1 3 15
Average relative humidity (%) 78 72 66 58 47 35 34 34 40 54 68 77 55
Mean monthly sunshine hours 112.7 119.4 146.2 194.4 275.1 335.5 353.8 348.1 289.2 216.8 157.2 104.4 2,652.8
Source 1: Pogoda.ru.net[38]
Source 2: NOAA (Sunshine hours 1961–1990)[39]

History

Ashgabat grew on the ruins of the Silk Road city of Konjikala, first mentioned as a wine-producing village in the 1st-2nd century BC and leveled by an earthquake in the 1st century BC. Konjikala was rebuilt because of its advantageous location on the Silk Road and it flourished until its destruction by Mongols in the 13th century. After that it survived as a small village until Russians took over in the 19th century.[40][41]

The near suburb of Köşi, until 2013 a separate village but in that year annexed by Ashgabat, may have been site of a Parthian fortress constructed to protect the capital city, Nisa, based on discoveries of pottery and other artifacts in the 1970s and as recently as 2020. Other artifacts indicating settlement during the Parthian period were reportedly discovered during laying of telephone cables on the site of the Gülistan (Russian) Bazaar in downtown Ashgabat.[42]

According to Muradov, the first mention of the settlement in modern times is found in Khiva chronicles of 1811.[43]

British Lieutenant Colonel H.C. Stuart reported in 1881 that the Ahal branch of the Teke tribe of the Turkmen ethnic group arrived in the area around 1830 and established several semi-nomadic villages (auls) between what are now the city of Gyzylarbat and village of Gäwers, inclusive. One of these villages was named Askhabad.[44] The first Russian reference to Ashgabat dates to 1850, in a document kept in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs archives listing 43 Ahal fortresses, "Ishkhabad" among them.[19] It was described as a "typical Turkmen aul".[20]

It was formally part of Persia but de facto autonomous under Turkoman tribal control until Russian forces defeated the Teke army at the Battle of Geok Tepe in January 1881. Persia ceded Askhabad to the Russian Empire in September 1881 under the terms of the Akhal Treaty.

Russian Empire

The city was officially founded January 18, 1881, as a fortified garrison and was named after the Turkmen village on that site.[20][45][15][46] Russian military engineers platted the garrison settlement "on the western edge of the aul (village) of Askhabad on the Gaudan (Howdan) road leading to Persia. The fortress stood on a hill 12 meters high, on which was constructed a citadel-redoubt, and below [it], the residential area, surrounded by walls and a moat."[15] Sixty-seven Turkmen families were compensated for the land confiscated from them for this construction.[46]

Russia developed the area due to its proximity to the border of British-influenced Persia. In 1882 a wagon road was built through the mountains to Quchan, Iran, which led to increased trade as well as settlement of Persian and Armeno-Turkmen merchants in Askhabad.[46] The Trans-Caspian railway reached Askhabad in 1885. The population grew from 2,500 in 1881 to 10,000 in 1886 and 19,428 (of whom one third were Persian) by 1897.[46][47] The Transcaspian Public Library was established in 1885, boys and girls high schools were founded in 1886, and the Kuropatkin School of Horticulture and Viticulture appeared in 1890. The first telephone station was installed in 1900.[46]

The city was regarded as a pleasant municipality with European-style buildings, shops, and hotels. Several streets were named after Russian military figures, reflecting its status as a garrison town, including the main square, named in honor of General Mikhail Skobelev, commander of Russian forces during the 1880–1881 Trans-Caspian military campaign. These included as well the western boundary avenue, named in honor of General Nikolai Grodekov, and the city's central avenue, renamed in the 1890s to honor General and Trans-Caspian Governor-General Aleksey Kuropatkin, both of whom had served in the Trans-Caspian campaign under Skobolev's command.[48]

In 1908, the first Bahá'í House of Worship was built in Askhabad. It was badly damaged in the 1948 earthquake and finally demolished in 1963.[49][50] The community of the Bahá'í Faith in Turkmenistan was largely based in Askhabad.

By 1915 Askhabad featured branches of the Russian State Bank, Persian Accounting Loan Bank, Russian-Asian Bank, Société Générale, and Askhabat Mutual Credit Union.[19]

Soviet period

Soviet rule was established in Ashgabat in December 1917. However, in July 1918, a coalition of Mensheviks, Social Revolutionaries, and Tsarist former officers of the Imperial Russian Army revolted against the Bolshevik rule emanating from Tashkent and established the Ashkhabad Executive Committee. After receiving some support (but even more promises) from General Malleson, the British withdrew in April 1919 and the Tashkent Soviet resumed control of the city.

In 1919, the city was renamed Poltoratsk (Russian: Полторацк), after Pavel Poltoratskiy, the Chairman of the Soviet of National Economy of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.[45][51] When the Turkmen SSR was established in 1924, Poltoratsk became its capital. The original name but in the form of "Ashkhabad" rather than "Askhabad" was restored in 1927.[45] In keeping with standard Soviet practice, Imperial Russian street names were changed to honor prominent Communists, Russians, or socialist ideals. For example, Skobolev Square became Karl Marx Square, Grodekov Street became Ostrovskiy Street, and Kuropatkin Prospect became Freedom Prospect (and from 1953 to 1961, following Joseph Stalin's death, Stalin Prospect).[52][53] In 1927 a statue of Vladimir Lenin designed by A.A. Karelin and Ye.R. Tripolskaya was erected.[15]

During World War II Ashgabat became a refuge for both institutions, including Moscow State University and the Kiev film studio, and individuals. Roughly 8,000 refugees were quartered in private homes during the war.[21] Among the outsiders who escaped to Ashgabat during the war were Andrei Sakharov and author Yury Olesha. In 1944 Ukrainian motion picture director Mark Donskoy filmed Rainbow (Ukrainian: Веселка , Russian: Радуга) in Ashgabat, which was nominated for an Academy Award as best foreign film.[21]

From this period onward, the city experienced rapid growth and industrialisation, although severely disrupted by a major earthquake on October 6, 1948. An estimated 7.3 on the Richter scale, the earthquake killed 110–176,000[54][55][56][57] (⅔ of the population of the city), although the official number announced by Soviet news was only 40,000.[58]

Independence

In July 2003, street names in Ashgabat were replaced by serial numbers except for nine major highways, some named after Saparmurat Niyazov, his father, and his mother. The Presidential Palace Square was designated 2000 to symbolize the beginning of the 21st century. The rest of the streets were assigned larger or smaller four-digit numerical names. Following Niyazov's death in 2006, Soviet-era street names were restored, though in the years since, many of them have been replaced with names honoring Turkmen scholars, poets, military heroes, and figures from art and culture, as well as celebrating the nation's independence. For example, Karl Marx Square became Garaşsyzlyk (Independence) Square, Ostrovskiy Street became Abba Annaýew (in honor of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov's great-uncle), and Freedom Prospect became Magtymguly.[52][53][59][60]

In 2013, the city was included in the Guinness Book of Records as possessing the world's highest concentration of white marble buildings.[61]

Ashgabat's "11th Line" project was dedicated on June 29, 2012, including 17 high-rise apartment buildings along 10 ýyl Abadançylyk şaýoly, two secondary schools, two kindergartens, a fire station, and a health clinic.[62] The "12th Line" project was completed October 1, 2014, consisting of a straightening and widening of Atamyrat Nyýazow şaýoly plus construction of 13 high-rise apartment buildings, two secondary schools, two kindergartens, a new headquarters building for the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the Telekeçi shopping center, and the Development Bank. On that same date, the new Cabinet of Ministers building was also opened.[63]

In preparation for the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, the city spent $5 billion on residential construction. December 4, 2014, the president issued a decree calling for construction of 60 9-story apartment buildings in the Parahat-7 microdistrict, a greenfield project in the southeast quadrant of the city.[64] On November 10, 2015, the "13th Line" was dedicated, a complete reconstruction of buildings along Oguzhan köçesi west of Garaşsyzlyk şaýoly.[65] Projects included demolition and redevelopment of the Leningrad kolkhoz neighborhood as the "14th Line", and the Gazha and Vosmushka neighborhoods as the "15th Line".[52][66][67][68][69]

Subsequent to conclusion of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, the "16th Line" project, a redevelopment of the Köşi neighborhood and extension of Magtymguly Prospect to the west, was begun in 2018.[70][71] The "16th Line" was dedicated on November 10, 2020; it includes 16 high-rise apartment buildings, the Gül zemin shopping center, and a monument to the Alabay sheepdog.[72] In addition, the Gurtly and Choganly housing complexes, both greenfield projects, were constructed.[73][74][75] In May 2021 the government announced plans for the "17th Line", consisting of a resort complex encircling Golden Lake (Turkmen: Altyn köl), the former Gurtly Reservoir, to include 268 vacation cottages plus buildings for public services and amenities.[76]

On 23 August 2022 the government announced plans to demolish one- and two-story houses in several microdistricts of central Ashgabat and to replace them with modern apartment buildings. A map of the areas intended for urban renewal was broadcast on national television that day, but no indication of a timeline was given.[77][78]

The largest current residential project is construction of "Ashgabat-City" (Turkmen: Aşgabat-siti) north of the Choganly residential neighborhood, which is planned to include over 200 buildings on 744 hectares, and for the first time in the city's history to feature some buildings as tall as 35 stories.[79][80][81][82][83] These will include 180 12- to 35-story residential buildings containing 17,836 apartments intended to house over 107,000 occupants.[84][85][86]

Ashgabat milestones:[87]

Districts

Boroughs

 
The four boroughs of the city

See also Map of the Boroughs of Ashgabat

As of January 5, 2018, Ashgabat includes four boroughs (uly etraplar), each with a presidentially appointed mayor (Turkmen: häkim):[1][88][89][90][91][92][93]

  1. Bagtyýarlyk etraby (formerly President Niyazov, Lenin District, expanded to include former Ruhabat District plus new territory)
  2. Berkararlyk etraby (formerly Azatlyk, Sovetskiy District)
  3. Büzmeýin etraby (formerly Abadan District, expanded to include former Arçabil and Çandybil Districts)
  4. Köpetdag etraby (formerly Proletarskiy District)

This is a reduction from the previous number of boroughs. Arçabil and Çandybil boroughs were merged on February 4, 2015, and the new etrap, named Arçabil, was in turn renamed Büzmeýin in January 2018. At that time the Abadan borough of Ashgabat, created in 2013 by annexing the town of Abadan and surrounding villages to Abadan's south, was abolished and its territory was merged into the newly renamed Büzmeýin borough. The former Ruhabat borough was abolished at the same time and its territory absorbed by Bagtyýarlyk borough.[94]

On 15 June 2020, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov announced intention to create a fifth borough of Ashgabat, to be called Altyn etraby, centered on the new resort zone created on the shores of the former Gurtly Water Reservoir, recently renamed "Golden Lake" (Altyn köl).[95]

Microdistricts

Ashgabat's boroughs are subdivided into microdistricts (Russian: микрорайоны, singular микрорайон, Turkmen: etrapçalar, singular etrapça). These are administrative units that possess no independent governance structures. They are used for management of utilities and publicly owned housing. Ashgabat includes the following microdistricts:

  • 1 through 11 Etrapça
  • 30 Etrapça
  • Howdan A
  • Howdan B
  • Howdan W
  • Parahat 1 through 8[96][97][98]

Demographics

In 1871 a Russian visitor named Strebnitskiy counted over four thousand "nomad tents" (yurts), implying a population of 16 to 20 thousand Ahal Teke Turkmen, many of whom were killed or dispersed in the 1881 Battle of Geok Tepe. The population was 2,500 in 1881, virtually all Russian.[47] By 1886 Askhabad's population was about 10,000, mainly ethnic Russians.[15][19] Construction of the Trans-Caspian Railway stimulated an influx of migrants seeking employment, particularly from the Caucasus, Volga Valley, and Iran, and Askhabad's subsequent population growth was as follows:

1897: 19,426
1908: 39,867
1911: 45,384

Ethnic Russians dominated the population after 1881, with about 20 percent admixture of Caucasus-origin migrants (mainly Armeno-Turkmen).[15][20] One source indicates that pre-revolutionary Askhabad had no Turkmen residents at all, and that they lived in nearby auls.[20] This began to change in the 1920s, following imposition of Soviet power, which brought with it forced collectivization. In 1926 Ashkhabad's population of 51,593 included 52.4% Russians, 13.53% Armeno-Turkmen, 4.3% Persians, , and 29.8% "other". By 1939, Ashkhabad counted 126,500 residents, including 11.7% Armeno-Turkmen. The 1959 census recorded a population of 169,900, which grew to 338,000 by 1983, including 105 nationalities, of which ethnic Armeno-Turkmen constituted 40 percent.[15]

According to estimates of the 2012 Turkmen census the Turkmens form 78.5% of the city's population. Russians form 10% of the population, followed by Turks (1.1%), Uzbeks (1.1%), and Azeris (1%).[99]

Architecture

Post-1991

Following independence in 1991, President Saparmurat Niyazov began hiring foreign architectural and construction firms, most prominently Bouygues of France and the Turkish firms Polimeks and Gap Inşaat, the latter a subsidiary of Çalık Holding. These firms blended Persian-style domes, which Niyazov favored, with Greco-Roman architectural elements such as pillars.[100][101][102][103][104]

Following Niyazov's death, domes began to go out of fashion for buildings other than mosques, and public buildings began to take on more modernist characteristics, often with a motif reflecting the structure's intended occupant. For example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building is topped by a globe of the Earth, inside which is a conference center; the Development Bank building is topped by a giant coin; the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry building is shaped like a stylized caduceus, the dental hospital is shaped like a molar and the international terminal of Ashgabat International Airport is shaped like a falcon.[105] The dominant characteristic of new construction since 1991 has been nearly universal facing with white marble.[106][17] Another recurring motif is the eight-pointed star of Oguz Han, the largest of which is on the television tower and has entered the Guinness Book of World Records.[107][108][109] The official Turkmen government guide book to Ashgabat refers to the star of Oguz Khan as "...the basic dominant of the whole architectural-art decor..."[19]

After independence, the city architect's office ordered construction of many high-rise (generally 12-story) residential buildings. Modern construction techniques allow high-rise development with good seismic safety. Primarily consisting of residential towers, the first floor is typically used as retail space and for building maintenance.[17]

Monuments and statues

Ashgabat features many sculptures honoring Turkmen, Turkic, and other Islamic poets and heroes. Four statues, of Lenin, Alexander Pushkin, Taras Shevchenko, and Magtymguly, date to the Soviet period, as do a statue and a bust of Turkmen composer Nury Halmammedov. Since then, however, much new sculpture has appeared. In Ylham (Inspiration) Park are found numerous busts and statues. Additional statues can be seen in the VDNH Park. A monumental statue of the current president was dedicated in May 2015 near Ashgabat Stadium. One also finds statues of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Alp Arslan. In addition to the statue of former President Niyazov atop the Neutrality Monument, a gilded statue of him stands before the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and a gilded seated statue of him graces the entry to the Turkmen Agricultural University.

Since independence in 1991, several monuments to features of Turkmenistan's governance have been erected: to neutrality, to the constitution, to the renaissance of Turkmenistan, to independence, as well as a special monument to former President Saparmurat Niyazov's magnum opus, Ruhnama.

The memorial complex in Bekrewe includes a statue of a bull with the Earth balanced on its horns, symbolizing the 1948 earthquake, and a statue of two traditionally dressed Turkmen warriors guarding a widow grieving the death of her husband in World War II. The exterior wall of the museum features bas reliefs depicting events in Turkmenistan's history.

In advance of the V Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games held in September 2017, roughly one billion dollars was spent on widening and upgrading Ashgabat's major thoroughfares.[52] Several traffic circles were created, in which were placed mainly abstract monuments. As of 2020 the most recent addition to these are the Bicycle Monument (Turkmen: Welosiped binasy), which President Berdimuhamedov dedicated on June 3, 2020, and the Turkmen Alabay monument, dedicated on November 10, 2020.[110][111]

Controversies

Much of the urban renewal since 1991 has involved demolition of traditional single-family residential housing, commonly with allegedly forced eviction of residents, and often without compensation to the homeowners. In particular, private homes rebuilt in neighborhoods flattened by the 1948 earthquake, many of which were never formally registered with the government, were subject to confiscation and demolition without compensation, as were former dacha communities like Ruhabat, Berzengi, and Choganly, which in nearly all cases lacked formal ownership documents.[112][113][114][115][116][117]

First Baha'i Temple in the world

 
First Bahá'í House of Worship 1908
Main article: Bahá'í Faith in Turkmenistan

When Ashgabat was under Russian rule, the number of Bahá'ís in the city rose to over 1,000, and a Bahá'í community was established, with its own schools, medical facilities and cemetery. The community elected one of the first Bahá'í local administrative institutions. In 1908 the Bahá'í community completed the construction of the first Bahá'í House of Worship, sometimes referred to by its Arabic name of mašriqu-l-'aḏkār (Arabic: مشرق اﻻذكار),[118] where people of all religions may worship God without denominational restrictions.[119] The building was designed under the guidance of `Abdu'l-Bahá by Ustad' Ali-Akbar Banna Yazdi who also wrote a history of the Baha'is in Ashgabat.[120][121]

The House of Worship itself was surrounded by gardens, with four buildings at the four corners of the gardens: a school, a hostel where travelling Bahá'ís were entertained, a small hospital, and a building for groundskeepers.[121]

Under the Soviet policy towards religion, the Bahá'ís, strictly adhering to their principle of obedience to legal government, abandoned these properties in 1928.[122] For the decade from 1938 to 1948, when it was seriously damaged by the earthquake, it was an art gallery. It was demolished in 1963.[119]

Other notable structures

The Arch of Neutrality was dismantled and re-erected in its original form in the south of the capital.

Turkmenistan Tower, the television and radio broadcasting tower, at a height of 211 meters is the tallest structure in the country. It was dedicated on October 17, 2011.[17]

The administrative center of Ashgabat as the national capital is on the Archabil highway, where several ministries and agencies, as well as educational, research, and cultural centers, are found.[123] The former Novofiryuzenskoye shosse (New Firyuza Highway) was rebuilt by Gap Inşaat in 2004.[citation needed]

 
Panorama of Ashgabat at night

Economy

The principal industries are cotton textiles and metal working. It is a major stop on the Trans-Caspian railway. A large percentage of the employment in Ashgabat is provided by the state institutions; such as the ministries, undersecretariats, and other administrative bodies of the Turkmenistan government. There are also many foreign citizens working as diplomats or clerks in the embassies of their respective countries. Ashgabat lends its name to the Ashgabat agreement, signed by India, Oman, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, for creating an international transport and transit corridor facilitating transportation of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.[124]

In 2019 and 2020, Ashgabat was the most expensive city in the world for foreign expatriates in ECA International's Cost of Living Survey.[7][9][125] It was also listed as the second most expensive city in the world overall by the 2020 Mercer Cost of Living Survey.[8] Its high cost of living for foreigners has been attributed to severe inflation and rising import costs.[7][8][126]

Industry

Between 1881 and 1921, little industry existed in Ashgabat. Muradov relates that in 1915 the city featured "68 enterprises, mainly semi-handicrafts, with a total of 200-300 workers."[18] Another source relates that as of 1911 roughly half the workforce of somewhat more than 400 "workers" was employed at the railroad depot, engaged in locomotive and railcar maintenance and repair, with the rest occupied in cotton ginning, cottonseed oil extraction, flour milling, and leather-, brick-, glass-, and iron production.[15] By 1915 the city boasted as well three printing houses, an electrical power station, three cotton gins, a creamery, a tannery, and 35 brickyards.[19]

In 1921 Soviet authorities built a new glass plant plus a wine and spirits factory. In the years following several more factories were added, including the "Red Metalworker" iron-working plant (1925), the silk spinning plant (1928), a cotton spinning plant and textile plant (1929), candy factory (1930), garment factory (1933), shoe factory (1934), and a meat cannery (1938).[15] As of 1948, Ashgabat boasted "about twenty large factory-plant enterprises, which produce fabrics, glass, footwear, garments, meat products, dredges, agricultural implement parts and much else."[20][127]

Annexation of the former city of Buzmeyin (Turkmen: Büzmeýin), which from 2002 to 2018 was known as Abadan,[93] brought into Ashgabat's city limits its major industrial suburb. Today's Buzmeyin neighborhood features the Buzmeyin State Electrical Power Plant, and factories for production of reinforced concrete, cement, asbestos roofing, pipes, and concrete blocks, as well as a carpet-weaving factory and soft-drink bottling plant.[15]

Today more than 43 large and 128 medium-sized industrial enterprises along with over 1,700 small industrial facilities are located in Ashgabat and its suburbs.[128] The most important are Ashneftemash, Turkmenkabel, and Turkmenbashy Textile Complex.[129]

Electrical power generation

The Abadan State Power Plant (now Büzmeýin State Power Plant), commissioned in 1957, was the first large power plant in Turkmenistan. Two gas turbine plants with a capacity of 123 MW each currently generate electricity in this plant.[130] The Ashgabat State Power Plant, located in the southern part of city, began operating in 2006. It is equipped with gas turbine generators with a total capacity of 254.2 megawatts.[130]

Ashgabat also draws power from the Ahal State Power Plant, located outside the city in Ahal Province. It began operating in 2010 with two gas turbines producing 254.2 MW. Three small gas turbines were added in 2013 and two more gas turbines in 2014, bringing capacity to 648.1 MW.[130]

Shopping

 
Turkmen carpets in Altyn Asyr Bazaar

Altyn Asyr Bazaar in Choganly, also known as "Tolkuchka", features manufactured items including traditional fabrics and hand-woven carpets, as well as livestock and used automobiles. Modern shopping areas are found mostly in central streets, including the modern Berkarar Mall and the Paýtagt and Aşgabat shopping centres, as well as the 15 Years of Independence Shopping Centre (Turkmen: 15 ýyl Garaşsyzlyk söwda merkezi), colloquially known as the "Wholesale Market" (Russian: Optovyy rynok).[131][132][133]

Local residents tend to shop at traditional bazaars: Gülistan (Russian) Bazaar, Teke Bazaar, Daşoguz Bazaar, Paytagt (Mir) Bazaar, and Jennet Bazaar. The Turkish-owned Yimpaş department store closed as of December 2016.[134]

Transportation

 
The falcon shape of the international terminal of Ashgabat International Airport
 
Inside the international terminal of Ashgabat International Airport

The city is served by the Ashgabat International Airport, expansion of which cost $2.3 billion and which has a design capacity of 14,000,000 passengers per year.[135][136][137] Turkmenistan Airlines is headquartered at the airport.[138] Ashgabat offers air service to and from all the major cities of the Turkmenistan. Since March 2020, in order to prevent the import and spread of coronavirus infection, all planes arriving in Turkmenistan from abroad are redirected to the Turkmenabat International Airport .[139]

On 18 October 2006, the Ashgabat Cable Car opened, connecting the city with the foothills of the Kopetdag.[140]

Ashgabat Monorail commenced service in 2016, becoming the first monorail in the Central Asia region.[141][142][143] It is a loop 5.2 kilometers long and circulates exclusively on the territory of the Olympic Village (Turkmen: Olimpiýa şäherçesi).[142][143]

In January 2018, it was reported that black cars had been impounded for weeks in Ashgabat, a result of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov's conviction that black cars bring bad luck.[144]

The Ukrainian construction firm Interbudmontazh has proposed construction of a subway (metropolitan) line, to connect the Ashgabat-Siti residential area in the northern suburbs to downtown Ashgabat.[145]

Railway

 
Turkmenistan Railways Diesel locomotive CKD9A in Ashgabat
Main article: Rail transport in Turkmenistan

Ashgabat has a single central railway station. In May 2009 the restoration of the Ashgabat railway station was completed. The railway station is made in Soviet-style architecture with its long point on the building roof.

The Trans-Caspian Railway (Türkmenbaşy–Balkanabat–Bereket–Ashgabat–Mary–Türkmenabat) runs through Ashgabat from east to west. Since 2006 there is also a train line from Ashgabat to the north, the Trans-Karakum Railway.[146]

As of July 2021, the following railway routes are scheduled from and to Ashgabat:[147][148][149][150]

City buses and trolleybus

 
Bus stop with air conditioning in Ashgabat

Public transport in the city consists mainly of buses. More than 100 bus[151][152] lines cover a total range of more than 2,230 kilometres (1,386 miles) with 700 buses running on urban routes. The city primarily uses Iran Khodro 0457 (Mercedes-Benz) and Hyundai New Super Aero City[153] buses.[154] Bus timetables and detailed schematic map of the route are at every stop. Distances between stops are about 300–500 meters.

Travel in the Ashgabat city public transport for the majority of the country's population incurs a fee. Money is thrown into a box next to the driver. Large bills are given to the driver, he gives change. The fare for travel in city public transport is 50 Turkmen tenge (since 2017).[155] Route taxi (marshrutka) is 1 manat.

Information about bus routes and stops in Ashgabat is available in the mobile application Duralga.[156]

From November 1, 2017, the electronic system of payment for public transport came into full force in Ashgabat. Payment can be made using an electronic transport card. There are three types of electronic cards: school, for pensioners and general. When entering through the front door of the bus, the passenger must present the electronic card to the validator. The term of use of the transport electronic card is 4 years.[157]

The new International Passenger Bus Terminal of Ashgabat was inaugurated on September 5, 2014.[158][159] It offers intercity service to Bäherden, Türkmenbaşy, Dashoguz, Turkmenabat, Archman, Konye-Urgench, and Mollagara, as well as points in between.[160] The main intracity bus terminals serving Ashgabat are near the Teke Bazaar and at the domestic airport terminal. Intercity lines are operated by Hyundai Universe Luxury, Iran Khodro SC 0457, Sahab Renault and Yutong ZK6129H.

Also, suburban communication has been established with Ýaşlyk, Geok Tepe, Gorjaw, Yzgant, Babarap, Bugdaýly, Annau, Gämi, Owadandepe, Watan, Khurmant, Onaldy, Gami Dacha, Kasamly Julge, Gäwers, Yashyldepe, Akdashayak, Niyazow, Suitchilik, Parahat. PAZ 32054 buses and Volkswagen minibuses operate on suburban routes.[161]

From 19 October 1964 to 31 December 2011 the city also had the Ashgabat trolleybus system. At the beginning of the twentieth century a narrow-gauge steam railway connected the city with the suburb of Firyuza. As of 2011, there were 7 routes in the city. As of 2011, the Ashgabat trolleybus fleet had 47 trolleybuses (Škoda 14TrM) on its balance sheet. In 2000, the last obsolete trolleybuses of the JuMZ-T2 model were written off.

Taxi

In Ashgabat taxis are available at any time of the day or night.[162] Awtomobil Ulag Hyzmat OJSC is the monopoly taxicab operator in the city.[163] The fleet uses only new Toyota Corolla[164] (white) and Hyundai Elantra (yellow) automobiles.[165] Taxi fare is from 5 to 30 manats, depending on the distance from the city center and the results of negotiations with the driver.[166]

Passengers may also hire taxicabs via mobile apps Onlaýn taksi and Taxi hyzmaty.[167][168]

Telecommunication

As of 2021, Ashgabat has two mobile phone service providers:

  • Altyn Asyr is a Turkmen national state company for the provision of communication services, established in 2004. In 2010, the company launched a 3G network of UMTS standard, covering all districts of Ashgabat and the Ashgabat International Airport . On September 18, 2013, the 4G network was put into operation using LTE technology.[169]
  • Ashgabat City Telephone Network provides CDMA communication services (over 55 thousand subscribers). The network was created and put into operation by the company for the first time in 2003.[170]

In addition to the mobile network providers, Turkmentelecom provides internet services.

Turkmenpochta is the official national postal operator of Turkmenistan. Based in Ashgabat, it currently operates through 38 postal offices in city.[171]

Media

Notable newspapers published in Ashgabat include the daily newspapers Türkmenistan and Neytralny Turkmenistan.[172]

 
Turkmenistan Tower

TV

The main offices of 7 television channels are located in Ashgabat: Altyn Asyr, Yashlyk, Miras, Turkmenistan Sport, Turkmen Owazy, Ashgabat and Turkmenistan TV.[173]

Ashgabat TV is main city channel. The channel tells about the events of social, cultural, economic life, the activities of scientific and educational institutions of the Ashgabat.[174][175]

Almost 136[176] international TV channels are available in the IPTV playlist for subscribers of the Ashgabat City Telephone Network.[177] Most of them are thematic channels: news, sports, scientific and educational, TV channels for children, channels of various genres of cinema, music.[176]

Residents of Ashgabat also watch television via satellite dishes.[178]

Radio

As of 2008, Ashgabat has 4 FM stations: Owaz, Char Tarapdan, Miras and Watan. These stations can additionally be streamed through Turkmentelecom's website.[179]

Science and education

Main articles: Education in Turkmenistan and ru:Образование в Туркмении
See also: List of universities in Turkmenistan

Ashgabat is the most important educational center of Turkmenistan with several institutions of higher education. Magtymguly Turkmen State University was founded in 1950. The main university building is located on Beýik Saparmyrat Türkmenbaşy şaýoly. Turkmen State Medical University is situated in Ashgabat as well. It is subordinate to the Ministry of Health and Pharmaceutical Industry of Turkmenistan. Other prominent institutions are the Turkmen State Institute of Economics and Management, a main business school founded in 1980, as well as the Turkmen State Institute of Architecture and Construction, Turkmen Agricultural University, and The National Institute of Sports and Tourism of Turkmenistan. In 2016, the English- and Japanese-medium Oguz Khan University of Engineering Technologies was opened with support of the Japanese government. The International University of Humanities and Development is another English-medium institution of higher education. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' training ground is the Institute of International Relations.[180][181]

Ashgabat is home to five military academies: the Military Institute, the Naval Institute, the Border Guards Institute, the Institute of National Security, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs Institute. In 2020 the Military Institute began accepting applications from women.[181][182]

Four international secondary schools operate in Ashgabat. The Russian Embassy sponsors the Russian-medium A.S. Pushkin Russo-Turkmen School, the French construction company Bouygues sponsors a French school for children of its Francophone employees, the Turkish Embassy sponsors the Turkish-medium Turgut Ozal Turkmen-Turkish School, and the American Embassy sponsors the English-medium Ashgabat International School.[183][184][185][186]

Prior to establishment of Soviet authority in Turkmenistan, Ashgabat had only 11 schools and no scientific or research centers.[15] By 1948 Ashgabat had three institutions of higher education, 20 technical schools, 60 libraries, "and approximately the same number of kindergartens."[20]

The Turkmen Academy of Sciences was founded June 29, 1951, and includes the unique Desert Institute among its 26 scientific research institutes, as well as the State Seismological Service, 17-degree-granting schools, two medical research centers, a library, and two print shops. The Academy of Sciences is the only institution in Turkmenistan accredited to award postgraduate degrees. In 2019, President Berdimuhamedov decreed that state funding of the Academy of Sciences would end within three years.[15][187][188][189][190] Prior to founding of the Turkmen Academy of Sciences, local scientific-research institutes, all located in a single two-story building, were subordinate to the USSR Academy of Sciences.[20]

Main sights

 
Horse racing at the International Equestrian Sports Complex

Museums include the Turkmen Fine Arts Museum and Turkmen Carpet Museum, noted for their impressive collection of woven carpets as well as a Turkmen history museum and the Ashgabat National Museum of History, which displays artifacts dating back to the Parthian and Persian civilizations. Ashgabat was also home to the Arch of Neutrality, a 75 m (250 ft) tall tripod crowned by a golden statue of late president Saparmurat Niyazov (also known as Turkmenbashy, or head Turkmen). The 15 m (50 ft) high statue, which rotated in order to always face the sun during daylight hours, was removed on August 26, 2010, after Niyazov's successor, current President Berdimuhamedov, made clear earlier in the year that the statue was to be taken out of Ashgabat's Independence Square.[191] In 2011 a Monument to the Constitution was built, its total height of 185 m (607 ft) makes it the second tallest structure in Turkmenistan.[192]

Alem Cultural and Entertainment Center was recognised by Guinness World Records as the world's tallest Ferris wheel in an enclosed space.[193] The Ashgabat Flagpole is the fifth tallest free–standing flagpole in the world, standing at 436 ft (133 m) tall. The Ashgabat Fountain has the world's greatest number of fountain pools in a public place.[194][195] Ashgabat also features Turkmenistan Tower which is the tallest tower in Turkmenistan, the decorative octagonal Star of Oguzkhan is recognized as the world's largest architectural image of the star and entered in the Guinness World Records.[196]

Palaces

Theatres

Ashgabat's major theaters are:

Each of several former municipalities annexed by Ashgabat also features local a "house of culture" Turkmen: Medeniýet Öýi.

Parks and squares

Ashgabat has many parks and open spaces, mainly established in the early years of the Independence and well maintained and expanded thereafter. The most important of these parks are: the Botanical Garden, Güneş, Turkmen-Turkish friendship, Independence. The oldest city park, Ashgabat, was founded in 1887 and is colloquially known as First Park.[198] In the center of Ashgabat is the Inspiration Alley, an art-park complex which is a favorite place for many locals. The amusement park World of Turkmenbashi Tales is a local equivalent to Disneyland. Squares: 10 Years of Turkmenistan Independence, Magtymguly, Eternal Flame, Zelili, Chyrchyk, Garashsyzlyk, March 8, Gerogly, Dolphin, 15 years of Independence, Ruhyýet, 10 ýyl Abadançylyk, Ylham and Tashkent.

The Ashgabat Botanical Garden was founded on 1 October 1929, and is the oldest botanical garden in Central Asia.[199][200][201] It covers a territory of approximately 18 hectares, and contains a live exhibition of more than 500 different species of plants coming from various parts of the world.[202][203]

Halk Hakydasy Memorial Complex

Halk Hakydasy Memorial Complex was opened in 2014 in remembrance of those killed in the Battle of Geok Tepe in 1881, during World War II, and to commemorate of the victims of the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake. It is located in the southwestern part of the city on Bekreve street.[204][205]

Cinemas

Ashgabat has five cinemas. In 2011, Aşgabat Cinema, the first 3-D cinema in Turkmenistan, opened in Ashgabat.[206] The Watan and Turkmenistan theaters were reconstructed. Additional cinemas are located in the Berkarar Mall and the Gül zemin Mall.

Mosques

Major mosques in Ashgabat include:

There are also several mosques in former towns and villages annexed by Ashgabat and thus now neighborhoods within the city limits.

Churches

Ashgabat has five operating Christian churches. Four are Russian Orthodox churches:[208]

  • Saint Alexander Nevsky Church, founded in 1882 as parish church of the Russian military garrison, consecrated in 1900, located in the 30th Microdistrict (Russian: Храм святого благоверного великого князя Александра Невского)
  • Temple of Saint Nicholas the Miracle-Worker, located inside the Khitrovka Cemetery (Russian: храм святителя и Чудотворца Николая)
  • Temple of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, located near the Ruhnama School (Russian: храм Воскресения Христова)
  • Temple of the Holy Equals to Apostles Cyril and Methodius, located in Büzmeýin (Russian: Храм святых равноапостольных Кирилла и Мефодия)

The Roman Catholic Chapel of the Transfiguration operates on the grounds of the Apostolic nunciature.

Other Christian denominations exist but as of 2019 only two were registered with the government and thus able to operate legally. The U.S. Department of State reported that Turkmen authorities "scrutinize or obstruct religious groups attempting to purchase or lease buildings or land for religious purposes."[209]

Sports

 
Olympic Stadium in Ashgabat

The main sporting venues in Ashgabat are the Olympic Stadium, Ashgabat Stadium, the National Olympic ice rink, Sports complex for winter sports and the Olympic water sports complex.

Ashgabat was chosen as the host city of the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. Between 2010 and 2017 an Olympic Village was built by the Turkish firm Polimeks south of the city center, at a cost of $5 billion.[210][211]

In October 2017 a Jack Nicklaus Designs Signature 18-hole golf course opened in Ashgabat. It features 82 sand traps and covers 70 hectares.[212][213][214][215][216][217][218]

Ashgabat was the host of the 2018 IWF World Weightlifting Championships.

The city's professional football clubs Altyn Asyr FK, FC Aşgabat and FK Köpetdag Aşgabat play in the Ýokary Liga, the top league of Turkmenistan.

Inha Babakova, 1999 World High Jump champion, was born in Ashgabat.

Weightlifter Polina Guryeva captured Turkmenistan's first Olympic medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics, taking silver in the women's 59 kg.

Twin towns – sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Turkmenistan

Ashgabat is twinned with:[219][220]

Partner cities

Ashgabat cooperates with:[219]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Türkmenistanyň Halk Maslahatynyň Çözgüdi HM-6 14 December 1992" (PDF).
  2. ^ . TDH. Turkmenistan State News Agency (TDH) - Turkmenistan Today. July 9, 2021. Archived from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  3. ^ . Oxford Dictionaries | English. Archived from the original on November 23, 2018. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
  4. ^ Pannier, Bruce (July 21, 2004). "Turkmenistan: Government Orders People Out Of Their Homes In Name Of 'Urban Renewal'". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  5. ^ Scott, Noel (October 28, 2010). Tourism in the Muslim World. Emerald Group Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84950-920-6.
  6. ^ . Embassy of India, Ashgabat. Archived from the original on February 18, 2014. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  7. ^ a b c Chapman, Wilson (June 18, 2019). "Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Is the World's Most Expensive City for Expats". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  8. ^ a b c Williams, Ollie (June 8, 2020). "The 10 Most Expensive Cities in the World Just Became Pricier". Forbes. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Turkmenistan's capital tops list of most expensive cities for expats". BBC. June 22, 2021.
  10. ^ Клычев, Анна-Мухамед (1976). Ашхабад (in Russian). Изд-во "Туркменистан".
  11. ^ "How Old is Ashgabat?". Turkmeniya.tripod.com. Retrieved November 24, 2013.
  12. ^ "Ashgabat, Turkmenistan". NASA. September 11, 2001.
  13. ^ Ashgabat: Map of City Centre (Map). Ashgabat: Enterprise No. 5 of the Ministry of Defense. 2015.
  14. ^ Ашхабад [Ashkhabad] (Map) (1969 ed.). 1:25,000. Генеральный штаб (in Russian). Генеральный штаб СССР. 1982. §§ J-40-69,70,81,82.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Туркменская Советская Социалистическая Республика: Энциклопедический справочник (in Russian). Ashkhabad: Издательство Чувашского обкома КПСС. 1984.
  16. ^ Михайлова, Н.Н., ed. (1948). "Туркменистан в образах литературы". Туркменистан. Наша Родина (in Russian). Moscow: Молодая гвардия.
  17. ^ a b c d "Ашхабад: беломраморный город любви" (in Russian). Международное информационное агентство "Россия сегодня". December 17, 2015.
  18. ^ a b Muradov, Ruslan (May 6, 2021). "История Ашхабада: на заре двадцатого века" (in Russian). «Туркменистан: золотой век».
  19. ^ a b c d e f Khramov, Viktor, ed. (2015). Guide-Book to Ashgabat. Ashgabat: Turkmen State Publishing Service.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Скосырев, П. (1948). "Ашхабад--столица Советского Туркменистана". In Михайлова, Н.Н. (ed.). Туркменистан. Наша Родина (in Russian). Moscow: Молодая гвардия.
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Sources

  • Е. М. Поспелов (Ye. M. Pospelov). "Имена городов: вчера и сегодня (1917–1992). Топонимический словарь." (City Names: Yesterday and Today (1917–1992). Toponymic Dictionary.) Москва, "Русские словари", 1993.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aşgabat.
 
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Ashgabat.
  • Official website

July 21, 2023
ashgabat, ashkhabad, redirects, here, turkmen, folklore, band, ashkhabad, band, second, world, merchant, ship, ashkhabad, cities, iran, eshqabad, disambiguation, asgabat, turkmen, aşgabat, ɑʃʁɑˈbɑt, persian, عشق, آباد, romanized, ešqābād, formerly, named, polt. Ashkhabad redirects here For the Turkmen folklore band see Ashkhabad band For the Second World War merchant ship see SS Ashkhabad For the cities in Iran see Eshqabad disambiguation Ashgabat or Asgabat Turkmen Asgabat ɑʃʁɑˈbɑt 3 Persian عشق آباد romanized Esqabad formerly named Poltoratsk Russian Poltora ck IPA peltɐˈratsk between 1919 and 1927 is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan It lies between the Karakum Desert and the Kopetdag mountain range in Central Asia near the Iran Turkmenistan border and it has a population of 1 031 992 2019 Ashgabat AsgabatCapital cityNeutrality Road Gypjak Mosque Abadanchylyk Square Independence Park Suburbs Urban highwaysSealLocation of Ashgabat within TurkmenistanCoordinates 37 56 15 N 58 22 48 E 37 93750 N 58 38000 E 37 93750 58 38000Country TurkmenistanFounded1881Government TypePresidential 1 MayorRahym Nurgeldiyewic Gandymow since 9 June 2021 2 Area Total917 6 km2 354 3 sq mi Elevation273 m 896 ft Population 2019 citation needed Total1 031 992 Density1 100 km2 2 900 sq mi Time zoneUTC 05 00 Summer DST UTC 05 00 not observed Postal code744000 744040Area code 993 12Vehicle registrationAGWebsiteashgabat gov tmSatellite view of AshgabatThe city was founded in 1881 on the basis of an Ahal Teke tribal village and made the capital of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924 Much of the city was destroyed by the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake but has since been extensively rebuilt under the rule of Saparmurat Niyazov s White City urban renewal project 4 resulting in monumental projects sheathed in costly white marble 5 The Soviet era Karakum Canal runs through the city carrying waters from the Amu Darya from east to west 6 Since 2019 the city has been recognized as having one of the highest costs of living in the world largely due to Turkmenistan s inflation and import issues 7 8 9 Contents 1 Etymology 2 Geography 2 1 Urban layout 2 1 1 1881 to 1929 2 1 2 1930 to 1948 2 1 3 Impact of the 1948 earthquake 2 1 4 The 1960s master plan 2 2 Growth 2 3 Climate 3 History 3 1 Russian Empire 3 2 Soviet period 3 3 Independence 4 Districts 4 1 Boroughs 4 2 Microdistricts 5 Demographics 6 Architecture 6 1 Post 1991 6 2 Monuments and statues 6 3 Controversies 6 4 First Baha i Temple in the world 6 5 Other notable structures 7 Economy 7 1 Industry 7 1 1 Electrical power generation 7 2 Shopping 8 Transportation 8 1 Railway 8 2 City buses and trolleybus 8 3 Taxi 9 Telecommunication 9 1 Media 9 1 1 TV 9 1 2 Radio 10 Science and education 11 Main sights 11 1 Palaces 11 2 Theatres 11 3 Parks and squares 11 3 1 Halk Hakydasy Memorial Complex 11 4 Cinemas 11 5 Mosques 11 6 Churches 12 Sports 13 Twin towns sister cities 13 1 Partner cities 14 See also 15 References 15 1 Notes 15 2 Sources 16 External linksEtymology Edit View of Ashgabat centreAshgabat is called Asgabat in Turkmen Russian Ashhabad romanized Ashkhabad in Russian from 1925 to 1991 and عشق آباد Esqabad in Persian Before 1991 the city was usually spelled Ashkhabad in English a transliteration of the Russian form It has also been variously spelled Ashkhabat and Ashgabad From 1919 until 1927 the city was renamed Poltoratsk after a local revolutionary Pavel Poltoratskiy 10 Although the name literally means city of love or city of devotion in modern Persian the name might be modified through folk etymology Turkmen historian Ovez Gundogdiyev believes that the name goes back to the Parthian era 3rd century BC deriving from the name of the founder of the Parthian Empire Arsaces I of Parthia in Persian Ashk Abad the city of Ashk Arsaces 11 Geography EditAshgabat is very close to the border with Iran 12 It occupies a highly seismically active oasis plain bounded on the south by the foothills of the Kopet Dag mountains Turkmen Kopetdag and on the north by the Karakum Desert It is surrounded by but not part of Ahal Province Turkmen Ahal welayaty The highest point in the city is the 401 metres 1 316 ft high sandhill upon which the Yyldyz Hotel was built but most of the city lies between 200 and 255 metres 656 and 837 ft of elevation The Karakum Canal runs through the city 13 14 15 Like the rest of Turkmenistan Ashgabat s soil is primarily sediment that accumulated on the bottom of the Paratethys Ocean The Kopet Dag mountains emerged toward the end of the Cretaceous Period 16 Urban layout Edit 1881 to 1929 Edit Prior to 1881 any buildings other than yurts were made solely from adobe and were limited to one story in height due to the seismic risk 17 As of 1900 only one building in the city was two stories tall the municipal museum 18 City planning began following the Russian conquest with very simple planning schemes The basic layout of downtown streets has been preserved to this day and defined the unique character of the city structure combining linear and radial types of layout of blocks The Russian writer Vasily Yan who lived in Askhabad from 1901 to 1904 described the city as a little tidy town consisting of numerous clay houses surrounded by fruit gardens with straight streets planted with slim cottonwood chestnut and white acacia planned by the hand of military engineers 19 Another description noted The fortress was the center of the bureaucratic part of the city Here stood especially sturdy thick walled houses with strong window grates and corner buttresses Earthquakes were less frightening in such houses and behind the thick walls even in the hottest months some measure of indoor coolness was retained Each house had a garden around it on maintenance of which residents spared neither expenditures nor water Nearer the rail station lived the railroad workers and craftsmen Here the houses were shorter and more densely spaced gardens smaller and dust on the streets greater Gradually a third center of Ashkhabad started to emerge of the merchants Roughly equidistant from the rail station and the fortress was laid out a sad marketplace becoming not only a center of stores and stalls but a center of gravity for merchants residence 20 1930 to 1948 Edit In 1930 asphalt was used for the first time to pave Ashgabat s streets 21 The water supply was increased by piping water from springs in neighboring Gami and Bagyr 21 The first master plan for Ashgabat developed between 1935 and 1937 at the Moscow Institute of Geodesy Aerial Imagery and Cartography envisioned expansion to the west including irrigation and greening of the Bikrova canyon today Bekrewe 15 The city architect s office was created in 1936 but was unable to implement the new master plan as it implied significant demolition of the existing buildings 22 A description of Ashgabat published in 1948 just before the earthquake noted In Ashgabat there are nearly no tall buildings thus every two story building is visible from above i e from the foothills The tallest structures were the clock tower of the textile mill the round smokestack of the glass factory two exceptionally thin minarets of the former mosque and two splendid towers over the long building of the main city hotel 20 Impact of the 1948 earthquake Edit Textile factory in Ashgabat depicted on a 1950 stampDuring the 1948 earthquake since the bulk of Ashgabat at that time was built of either adobe or fired brick all but a very few buildings collapsed or were damaged beyond repair the reinforced concrete grain elevator Church of St Alexander Nevsky and Karz Bank were among the structures that survived 23 24 According to Turkmenistan s official news agency Nearly all one story residential buildings in the city made of mud brick were destroyed 95 percent of all one story buildings made of fired brick and the remaining structures were damaged beyond repair The number of inhabitable buildings was in single digits and at that only after capital renovation 22 A new general plan was hastily developed by July 1949 The city was divided into four zones central northern eastern and southwestern Reconstruction of the city began in that year 15 22 Thus from the early 1950s through 1991 Ashgabat s skyline was dominated by the Brutalist Style favored by post Stalin Soviet architects 25 The city s central avenue Magtymguly former Kuropatkin Freedom and Stalin Prospect featured monotonous and primarily two story construction of administrative and residential buildings This reconstruction preserved the existing network of city streets as it was economically unjustified to redesign them 22 The city was described as a Communist era backwater rebuilt into a typically drab provincial Soviet city 26 The plan was updated in 1959 27 Among the buildings erected in the 1950s and 1960s were the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Turkmenistan Communist Party the Council of Ministers Building the Mollanepes Academic Drama Theater the former Ashkhabad Hotel now renamed Paytagt the Academy of Sciences complex and the downtown library building On then Karl Marx Square stood a monument to the Soviet fighters for victory of Soviet power in Turkmenistan 15 The 1960s master plan Edit The Turkmen State Project Institute undertook a feasibility study in the mid 1960s to forecast Ashgabat s development to the year 2000 and on that basis to develop a new master plan Up until then the city had largely expanded to the east but now the plan called for development to the south and west This plan was used for about 20 years and led to construction of the city s first four story apartment buildings in the Howdan Russian Gaudan microdistricts formerly the site of the Ashgabat South aerodrome as well as annexation of three collective farms in the near suburbs and their conversion into residential neighborhoods one of which Leningrad kolkhoz to this day is referred to informally by its former name 22 28 The plan was reworked in 1974 and this resulted in relocation of several industrial plants away from the city center and thus creation of the industrial zones to the northwest south southeast and northeast 15 Between 1961 and 1987 the city architect was Abdulla Ahmedov who introduced Soviet modernism to Ashgabat 29 Ahmedov s greatest architectural accomplishment during this period is considered the Ashgabat Hotel today renamed Paytagt Hotel built between 1964 and 1970 a harmonious synthesis of architecture and monumental art 29 Growth Edit In 1948 Ashgabat was described before the earthquake as lying on a sloping plain of the Kopet Dag foothills stretching seven kilometers from west to east and five kilometers from the railroad right of way to the south in the direction of the mountains 20 Through the mid 1970s Ashgabat was a compact city as shown by the 1974 Soviet military s General Staff map J 40 081 30 The village of Kosi collective farm Leningrad airport and suburbs to the north were outside the city limits Beginning in the 1970s Ashgabat s boundaries shifted outward with the aforementioned municipalities annexed the aerodrome at Howdan redeveloped and creation of the Parahat Russian Mir neighborhoods to the south and industrial parks to the east In 2013 Ashgabat annexed a portion of the then Ruhabat district of Ahal Province as well as the city of Abadan previously named Buzmeyin and renamed that as a neighborhood plus all land and villages in between The southern boundary of Ashgabat was extended southward to the foothills of the Kopet Dag mountains Overall Ashgabat s land area rose by 37 654 hectares The following municipalities were abolished due to their incorporation into the city of Ashgabat city of Abadan towns of Julge and Ruhabat villages of Gokje Gypjak Birlesik Magaryf Herrikgala Yalkym Gurtly Hellewler Ylmy Tejribe bazasy Yasmansalyk Kone Gurtly Gulantazekli Serdar yoly Gantar Gyzyljagala Inercyage Tarhan Topurly and Ussagulla 31 32 33 A further expansion occurred January 5 2018 when additional land to the north was annexed incorporating the Gurtly Reservoir and two greenfield residential construction projects known today as Taze Zaman This statute also established the current four boroughs of Ashgabat 34 35 Climate Edit AshgabatClimate chart explanation J F M A M J J A S O N D 20 9 0 24 11 1 41 17 6 32 24 12 21 30 17 6 36 22 3 38 24 2 37 22 3 32 16 10 24 10 19 17 5 20 10 1 Average max and min temperatures in C Precipitation totals in mmSource pogoda ru net 36 Imperial conversionJFMAMJJASOND 0 8 47 31 0 9 52 34 1 6 62 42 1 3 75 53 0 8 86 62 0 2 97 71 0 1 101 75 0 1 99 71 0 1 89 61 0 4 76 50 0 7 62 41 0 8 51 34 Average max and min temperatures in F Precipitation totals in inchesThe Kopet Dag mountain range is about 25 kilometres 16 mi to the south and Ashgabat s northern boundary touches the Kara Kum desert Because of this Ashgabat has a cold desert climate Koppen climate classification BWk bordering from BWh with very hot dry summers and cool short winters The average high temperature in July is 38 3 C 100 9 F Nighttimes in the summer are warm with an average minimum temperature in July of 23 8 C 75 F The average January high temperature is 8 6 C 47 5 F and the average low temperature is 0 4 C 31 3 F The highest temperature ever recorded in Ashgabat is 47 2 C 117 F recorded in June 2015 36 A low temperature of 24 1 C 11 F was recorded in January 1969 36 Snow is infrequent in the area Annual precipitation is only 201 millimetres 7 91 in March and April are the wettest months and June to September are the driest months In May 2022 338 millimetres 13 31 in 1 352 of the monthly normal was reported 37 Climate data for Ashgabat 1991 2020 normals extremes 1893 present Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearRecord high C F 27 8 82 0 32 6 90 7 38 6 101 5 39 6 103 3 45 6 114 1 47 2 117 0 46 8 116 2 45 7 114 3 45 4 113 7 40 1 104 2 35 0 95 0 33 1 91 6 47 2 117 0 Average high C F 9 0 48 2 11 1 52 0 17 0 62 6 23 9 75 0 30 5 86 9 36 2 97 2 38 4 101 1 37 2 99 0 31 8 89 2 24 4 75 9 15 7 60 3 9 8 49 6 23 8 74 8 Daily mean C F 3 9 39 0 5 7 42 3 11 1 52 0 17 6 63 7 24 1 75 4 29 6 85 3 31 7 89 1 30 0 86 0 24 3 75 7 17 1 62 8 9 7 49 5 5 0 41 0 17 5 63 5 Average low C F 0 1 31 8 1 3 34 3 6 0 42 8 11 8 53 2 17 5 63 5 22 3 72 1 24 5 76 1 22 4 72 3 17 1 62 8 10 8 51 4 5 0 41 0 1 1 34 0 11 6 52 9 Record low C F 24 1 11 4 20 8 5 4 13 3 8 1 0 8 30 6 1 3 34 3 9 2 48 6 13 8 56 8 9 5 49 1 2 0 35 6 5 0 23 0 13 1 8 4 18 1 0 6 24 1 11 4 Average precipitation mm inches 21 0 8 33 1 3 42 1 7 33 1 3 23 0 9 8 0 3 3 0 1 2 0 1 3 0 1 12 0 5 23 0 9 18 0 7 221 8 7 Average rainy days 9 9 13 12 10 5 3 2 3 6 8 10 90Average snowy days 5 5 1 0 03 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 15Average relative humidity 78 72 66 58 47 35 34 34 40 54 68 77 55Mean monthly sunshine hours 112 7 119 4 146 2 194 4 275 1 335 5 353 8 348 1 289 2 216 8 157 2 104 4 2 652 8Source 1 Pogoda ru net 38 Source 2 NOAA Sunshine hours 1961 1990 39 History EditAshgabat grew on the ruins of the Silk Road city of Konjikala first mentioned as a wine producing village in the 1st 2nd century BC and leveled by an earthquake in the 1st century BC Konjikala was rebuilt because of its advantageous location on the Silk Road and it flourished until its destruction by Mongols in the 13th century After that it survived as a small village until Russians took over in the 19th century 40 41 The near suburb of Kosi until 2013 a separate village but in that year annexed by Ashgabat may have been site of a Parthian fortress constructed to protect the capital city Nisa based on discoveries of pottery and other artifacts in the 1970s and as recently as 2020 Other artifacts indicating settlement during the Parthian period were reportedly discovered during laying of telephone cables on the site of the Gulistan Russian Bazaar in downtown Ashgabat 42 According to Muradov the first mention of the settlement in modern times is found in Khiva chronicles of 1811 43 British Lieutenant Colonel H C Stuart reported in 1881 that the Ahal branch of the Teke tribe of the Turkmen ethnic group arrived in the area around 1830 and established several semi nomadic villages auls between what are now the city of Gyzylarbat and village of Gawers inclusive One of these villages was named Askhabad 44 The first Russian reference to Ashgabat dates to 1850 in a document kept in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs archives listing 43 Ahal fortresses Ishkhabad among them 19 It was described as a typical Turkmen aul 20 It was formally part of Persia but de facto autonomous under Turkoman tribal control until Russian forces defeated the Teke army at the Battle of Geok Tepe in January 1881 Persia ceded Askhabad to the Russian Empire in September 1881 under the terms of the Akhal Treaty Russian Empire Edit The city was officially founded January 18 1881 as a fortified garrison and was named after the Turkmen village on that site 20 45 15 46 Russian military engineers platted the garrison settlement on the western edge of the aul village of Askhabad on the Gaudan Howdan road leading to Persia The fortress stood on a hill 12 meters high on which was constructed a citadel redoubt and below it the residential area surrounded by walls and a moat 15 Sixty seven Turkmen families were compensated for the land confiscated from them for this construction 46 Russia developed the area due to its proximity to the border of British influenced Persia In 1882 a wagon road was built through the mountains to Quchan Iran which led to increased trade as well as settlement of Persian and Armeno Turkmen merchants in Askhabad 46 The Trans Caspian railway reached Askhabad in 1885 The population grew from 2 500 in 1881 to 10 000 in 1886 and 19 428 of whom one third were Persian by 1897 46 47 The Transcaspian Public Library was established in 1885 boys and girls high schools were founded in 1886 and the Kuropatkin School of Horticulture and Viticulture appeared in 1890 The first telephone station was installed in 1900 46 The city was regarded as a pleasant municipality with European style buildings shops and hotels Several streets were named after Russian military figures reflecting its status as a garrison town including the main square named in honor of General Mikhail Skobelev commander of Russian forces during the 1880 1881 Trans Caspian military campaign These included as well the western boundary avenue named in honor of General Nikolai Grodekov and the city s central avenue renamed in the 1890s to honor General and Trans Caspian Governor General Aleksey Kuropatkin both of whom had served in the Trans Caspian campaign under Skobolev s command 48 In 1908 the first Baha i House of Worship was built in Askhabad It was badly damaged in the 1948 earthquake and finally demolished in 1963 49 50 The community of the Baha i Faith in Turkmenistan was largely based in Askhabad By 1915 Askhabad featured branches of the Russian State Bank Persian Accounting Loan Bank Russian Asian Bank Societe Generale and Askhabat Mutual Credit Union 19 Soviet period Edit Soviet rule was established in Ashgabat in December 1917 However in July 1918 a coalition of Mensheviks Social Revolutionaries and Tsarist former officers of the Imperial Russian Army revolted against the Bolshevik rule emanating from Tashkent and established the Ashkhabad Executive Committee After receiving some support but even more promises from General Malleson the British withdrew in April 1919 and the Tashkent Soviet resumed control of the city In 1919 the city was renamed Poltoratsk Russian Poltorack after Pavel Poltoratskiy the Chairman of the Soviet of National Economy of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic 45 51 When the Turkmen SSR was established in 1924 Poltoratsk became its capital The original name but in the form of Ashkhabad rather than Askhabad was restored in 1927 45 In keeping with standard Soviet practice Imperial Russian street names were changed to honor prominent Communists Russians or socialist ideals For example Skobolev Square became Karl Marx Square Grodekov Street became Ostrovskiy Street and Kuropatkin Prospect became Freedom Prospect and from 1953 to 1961 following Joseph Stalin s death Stalin Prospect 52 53 In 1927 a statue of Vladimir Lenin designed by A A Karelin and Ye R Tripolskaya was erected 15 During World War II Ashgabat became a refuge for both institutions including Moscow State University and the Kiev film studio and individuals Roughly 8 000 refugees were quartered in private homes during the war 21 Among the outsiders who escaped to Ashgabat during the war were Andrei Sakharov and author Yury Olesha In 1944 Ukrainian motion picture director Mark Donskoy filmed Rainbow Ukrainian Veselka Russian Raduga in Ashgabat which was nominated for an Academy Award as best foreign film 21 From this period onward the city experienced rapid growth and industrialisation although severely disrupted by a major earthquake on October 6 1948 An estimated 7 3 on the Richter scale the earthquake killed 110 176 000 54 55 56 57 of the population of the city although the official number announced by Soviet news was only 40 000 58 Independence Edit In July 2003 street names in Ashgabat were replaced by serial numbers except for nine major highways some named after Saparmurat Niyazov his father and his mother The Presidential Palace Square was designated 2000 to symbolize the beginning of the 21st century The rest of the streets were assigned larger or smaller four digit numerical names Following Niyazov s death in 2006 Soviet era street names were restored though in the years since many of them have been replaced with names honoring Turkmen scholars poets military heroes and figures from art and culture as well as celebrating the nation s independence For example Karl Marx Square became Garassyzlyk Independence Square Ostrovskiy Street became Abba Annayew in honor of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov s great uncle and Freedom Prospect became Magtymguly 52 53 59 60 In 2013 the city was included in the Guinness Book of Records as possessing the world s highest concentration of white marble buildings 61 Ashgabat s 11th Line project was dedicated on June 29 2012 including 17 high rise apartment buildings along 10 yyl Abadancylyk sayoly two secondary schools two kindergartens a fire station and a health clinic 62 The 12th Line project was completed October 1 2014 consisting of a straightening and widening of Atamyrat Nyyazow sayoly plus construction of 13 high rise apartment buildings two secondary schools two kindergartens a new headquarters building for the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs the Telekeci shopping center and the Development Bank On that same date the new Cabinet of Ministers building was also opened 63 In preparation for the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games the city spent 5 billion on residential construction December 4 2014 the president issued a decree calling for construction of 60 9 story apartment buildings in the Parahat 7 microdistrict a greenfield project in the southeast quadrant of the city 64 On November 10 2015 the 13th Line was dedicated a complete reconstruction of buildings along Oguzhan kocesi west of Garassyzlyk sayoly 65 Projects included demolition and redevelopment of the Leningrad kolkhoz neighborhood as the 14th Line and the Gazha and Vosmushka neighborhoods as the 15th Line 52 66 67 68 69 Subsequent to conclusion of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games the 16th Line project a redevelopment of the Kosi neighborhood and extension of Magtymguly Prospect to the west was begun in 2018 70 71 The 16th Line was dedicated on November 10 2020 it includes 16 high rise apartment buildings the Gul zemin shopping center and a monument to the Alabay sheepdog 72 In addition the Gurtly and Choganly housing complexes both greenfield projects were constructed 73 74 75 In May 2021 the government announced plans for the 17th Line consisting of a resort complex encircling Golden Lake Turkmen Altyn kol the former Gurtly Reservoir to include 268 vacation cottages plus buildings for public services and amenities 76 On 23 August 2022 the government announced plans to demolish one and two story houses in several microdistricts of central Ashgabat and to replace them with modern apartment buildings A map of the areas intended for urban renewal was broadcast on national television that day but no indication of a timeline was given 77 78 The largest current residential project is construction of Ashgabat City Turkmen Asgabat siti north of the Choganly residential neighborhood which is planned to include over 200 buildings on 744 hectares and for the first time in the city s history to feature some buildings as tall as 35 stories 79 80 81 82 83 These will include 180 12 to 35 story residential buildings containing 17 836 apartments intended to house over 107 000 occupants 84 85 86 Ashgabat milestones 87 1882 1918 administrative center of Russia s Transcaspian Region 1918 1925 administrative center of the Turkmen Oblast in the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic since February 1925 capital of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic since October 1991 capital of independent TurkmenistanDistricts EditBoroughs Edit The four boroughs of the citySee also Map of the Boroughs of AshgabatAs of January 5 2018 Ashgabat includes four boroughs uly etraplar each with a presidentially appointed mayor Turkmen hakim 1 88 89 90 91 92 93 Bagtyyarlyk etraby formerly President Niyazov Lenin District expanded to include former Ruhabat District plus new territory Berkararlyk etraby formerly Azatlyk Sovetskiy District Buzmeyin etraby formerly Abadan District expanded to include former Arcabil and Candybil Districts Kopetdag etraby formerly Proletarskiy District This is a reduction from the previous number of boroughs Arcabil and Candybil boroughs were merged on February 4 2015 and the new etrap named Arcabil was in turn renamed Buzmeyin in January 2018 At that time the Abadan borough of Ashgabat created in 2013 by annexing the town of Abadan and surrounding villages to Abadan s south was abolished and its territory was merged into the newly renamed Buzmeyin borough The former Ruhabat borough was abolished at the same time and its territory absorbed by Bagtyyarlyk borough 94 On 15 June 2020 Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov announced intention to create a fifth borough of Ashgabat to be called Altyn etraby centered on the new resort zone created on the shores of the former Gurtly Water Reservoir recently renamed Golden Lake Altyn kol 95 Microdistricts Edit Ashgabat s boroughs are subdivided into microdistricts Russian mikrorajony singular mikrorajon Turkmen etrapcalar singular etrapca These are administrative units that possess no independent governance structures They are used for management of utilities and publicly owned housing Ashgabat includes the following microdistricts 1 through 11 Etrapca 30 Etrapca Howdan A Howdan B Howdan W Parahat 1 through 8 96 97 98 Demographics EditIn 1871 a Russian visitor named Strebnitskiy counted over four thousand nomad tents yurts implying a population of 16 to 20 thousand Ahal Teke Turkmen many of whom were killed or dispersed in the 1881 Battle of Geok Tepe The population was 2 500 in 1881 virtually all Russian 47 By 1886 Askhabad s population was about 10 000 mainly ethnic Russians 15 19 Construction of the Trans Caspian Railway stimulated an influx of migrants seeking employment particularly from the Caucasus Volga Valley and Iran and Askhabad s subsequent population growth was as follows 1897 19 426 1908 39 867 1911 45 384Ethnic Russians dominated the population after 1881 with about 20 percent admixture of Caucasus origin migrants mainly Armeno Turkmen 15 20 One source indicates that pre revolutionary Askhabad had no Turkmen residents at all and that they lived in nearby auls 20 This began to change in the 1920s following imposition of Soviet power which brought with it forced collectivization In 1926 Ashkhabad s population of 51 593 included 52 4 Russians 13 53 Armeno Turkmen 4 3 Persians and 29 8 other By 1939 Ashkhabad counted 126 500 residents including 11 7 Armeno Turkmen The 1959 census recorded a population of 169 900 which grew to 338 000 by 1983 including 105 nationalities of which ethnic Armeno Turkmen constituted 40 percent 15 According to estimates of the 2012 Turkmen census the Turkmens form 78 5 of the city s population Russians form 10 of the population followed by Turks 1 1 Uzbeks 1 1 and Azeris 1 99 Architecture EditPost 1991 Edit Following independence in 1991 President Saparmurat Niyazov began hiring foreign architectural and construction firms most prominently Bouygues of France and the Turkish firms Polimeks and Gap Insaat the latter a subsidiary of Calik Holding These firms blended Persian style domes which Niyazov favored with Greco Roman architectural elements such as pillars 100 101 102 103 104 Following Niyazov s death domes began to go out of fashion for buildings other than mosques and public buildings began to take on more modernist characteristics often with a motif reflecting the structure s intended occupant For example the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building is topped by a globe of the Earth inside which is a conference center the Development Bank building is topped by a giant coin the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry building is shaped like a stylized caduceus the dental hospital is shaped like a molar and the international terminal of Ashgabat International Airport is shaped like a falcon 105 The dominant characteristic of new construction since 1991 has been nearly universal facing with white marble 106 17 Another recurring motif is the eight pointed star of Oguz Han the largest of which is on the television tower and has entered the Guinness Book of World Records 107 108 109 The official Turkmen government guide book to Ashgabat refers to the star of Oguz Khan as the basic dominant of the whole architectural art decor 19 After independence the city architect s office ordered construction of many high rise generally 12 story residential buildings Modern construction techniques allow high rise development with good seismic safety Primarily consisting of residential towers the first floor is typically used as retail space and for building maintenance 17 Monuments and statues Edit Ashgabat features many sculptures honoring Turkmen Turkic and other Islamic poets and heroes Four statues of Lenin Alexander Pushkin Taras Shevchenko and Magtymguly date to the Soviet period as do a statue and a bust of Turkmen composer Nury Halmammedov Since then however much new sculpture has appeared In Ylham Inspiration Park are found numerous busts and statues Additional statues can be seen in the VDNH Park A monumental statue of the current president was dedicated in May 2015 near Ashgabat Stadium One also finds statues of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and Alp Arslan In addition to the statue of former President Niyazov atop the Neutrality Monument a gilded statue of him stands before the Ministry of Internal Affairs and a gilded seated statue of him graces the entry to the Turkmen Agricultural University Since independence in 1991 several monuments to features of Turkmenistan s governance have been erected to neutrality to the constitution to the renaissance of Turkmenistan to independence as well as a special monument to former President Saparmurat Niyazov s magnum opus Ruhnama The memorial complex in Bekrewe includes a statue of a bull with the Earth balanced on its horns symbolizing the 1948 earthquake and a statue of two traditionally dressed Turkmen warriors guarding a widow grieving the death of her husband in World War II The exterior wall of the museum features bas reliefs depicting events in Turkmenistan s history In advance of the V Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games held in September 2017 roughly one billion dollars was spent on widening and upgrading Ashgabat s major thoroughfares 52 Several traffic circles were created in which were placed mainly abstract monuments As of 2020 the most recent addition to these are the Bicycle Monument Turkmen Welosiped binasy which President Berdimuhamedov dedicated on June 3 2020 and the Turkmen Alabay monument dedicated on November 10 2020 110 111 Controversies Edit Much of the urban renewal since 1991 has involved demolition of traditional single family residential housing commonly with allegedly forced eviction of residents and often without compensation to the homeowners In particular private homes rebuilt in neighborhoods flattened by the 1948 earthquake many of which were never formally registered with the government were subject to confiscation and demolition without compensation as were former dacha communities like Ruhabat Berzengi and Choganly which in nearly all cases lacked formal ownership documents 112 113 114 115 116 117 First Baha i Temple in the world Edit First Baha i House of Worship 1908Main article Baha i Faith in Turkmenistan When Ashgabat was under Russian rule the number of Baha is in the city rose to over 1 000 and a Baha i community was established with its own schools medical facilities and cemetery The community elected one of the first Baha i local administrative institutions In 1908 the Baha i community completed the construction of the first Baha i House of Worship sometimes referred to by its Arabic name of masriqu l aḏkar Arabic مشرق اﻻذكار 118 where people of all religions may worship God without denominational restrictions 119 The building was designed under the guidance of Abdu l Baha by Ustad Ali Akbar Banna Yazdi who also wrote a history of the Baha is in Ashgabat 120 121 The House of Worship itself was surrounded by gardens with four buildings at the four corners of the gardens a school a hostel where travelling Baha is were entertained a small hospital and a building for groundskeepers 121 Under the Soviet policy towards religion the Baha is strictly adhering to their principle of obedience to legal government abandoned these properties in 1928 122 For the decade from 1938 to 1948 when it was seriously damaged by the earthquake it was an art gallery It was demolished in 1963 119 Other notable structures Edit The Arch of Neutrality was dismantled and re erected in its original form in the south of the capital Turkmenistan Tower the television and radio broadcasting tower at a height of 211 meters is the tallest structure in the country It was dedicated on October 17 2011 17 The administrative center of Ashgabat as the national capital is on the Archabil highway where several ministries and agencies as well as educational research and cultural centers are found 123 The former Novofiryuzenskoye shosse New Firyuza Highway was rebuilt by Gap Insaat in 2004 citation needed Panorama of Ashgabat at nightEconomy EditThe principal industries are cotton textiles and metal working It is a major stop on the Trans Caspian railway A large percentage of the employment in Ashgabat is provided by the state institutions such as the ministries undersecretariats and other administrative bodies of the Turkmenistan government There are also many foreign citizens working as diplomats or clerks in the embassies of their respective countries Ashgabat lends its name to the Ashgabat agreement signed by India Oman Iran Turkmenistan Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan for creating an international transport and transit corridor facilitating transportation of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf 124 In 2019 and 2020 Ashgabat was the most expensive city in the world for foreign expatriates in ECA International s Cost of Living Survey 7 9 125 It was also listed as the second most expensive city in the world overall by the 2020 Mercer Cost of Living Survey 8 Its high cost of living for foreigners has been attributed to severe inflation and rising import costs 7 8 126 Industry Edit Between 1881 and 1921 little industry existed in Ashgabat Muradov relates that in 1915 the city featured 68 enterprises mainly semi handicrafts with a total of 200 300 workers 18 Another source relates that as of 1911 roughly half the workforce of somewhat more than 400 workers was employed at the railroad depot engaged in locomotive and railcar maintenance and repair with the rest occupied in cotton ginning cottonseed oil extraction flour milling and leather brick glass and iron production 15 By 1915 the city boasted as well three printing houses an electrical power station three cotton gins a creamery a tannery and 35 brickyards 19 In 1921 Soviet authorities built a new glass plant plus a wine and spirits factory In the years following several more factories were added including the Red Metalworker iron working plant 1925 the silk spinning plant 1928 a cotton spinning plant and textile plant 1929 candy factory 1930 garment factory 1933 shoe factory 1934 and a meat cannery 1938 15 As of 1948 Ashgabat boasted about twenty large factory plant enterprises which produce fabrics glass footwear garments meat products dredges agricultural implement parts and much else 20 127 Annexation of the former city of Buzmeyin Turkmen Buzmeyin which from 2002 to 2018 was known as Abadan 93 brought into Ashgabat s city limits its major industrial suburb Today s Buzmeyin neighborhood features the Buzmeyin State Electrical Power Plant and factories for production of reinforced concrete cement asbestos roofing pipes and concrete blocks as well as a carpet weaving factory and soft drink bottling plant 15 Today more than 43 large and 128 medium sized industrial enterprises along with over 1 700 small industrial facilities are located in Ashgabat and its suburbs 128 The most important are Ashneftemash Turkmenkabel and Turkmenbashy Textile Complex 129 Electrical power generation Edit The Abadan State Power Plant now Buzmeyin State Power Plant commissioned in 1957 was the first large power plant in Turkmenistan Two gas turbine plants with a capacity of 123 MW each currently generate electricity in this plant 130 The Ashgabat State Power Plant located in the southern part of city began operating in 2006 It is equipped with gas turbine generators with a total capacity of 254 2 megawatts 130 Ashgabat also draws power from the Ahal State Power Plant located outside the city in Ahal Province It began operating in 2010 with two gas turbines producing 254 2 MW Three small gas turbines were added in 2013 and two more gas turbines in 2014 bringing capacity to 648 1 MW 130 Shopping Edit Turkmen carpets in Altyn Asyr BazaarAltyn Asyr Bazaar in Choganly also known as Tolkuchka features manufactured items including traditional fabrics and hand woven carpets as well as livestock and used automobiles Modern shopping areas are found mostly in central streets including the modern Berkarar Mall and the Paytagt and Asgabat shopping centres as well as the 15 Years of Independence Shopping Centre Turkmen 15 yyl Garassyzlyk sowda merkezi colloquially known as the Wholesale Market Russian Optovyy rynok 131 132 133 Local residents tend to shop at traditional bazaars Gulistan Russian Bazaar Teke Bazaar Dasoguz Bazaar Paytagt Mir Bazaar and Jennet Bazaar The Turkish owned Yimpas department store closed as of December 2016 134 Transportation Edit The falcon shape of the international terminal of Ashgabat International Airport Inside the international terminal of Ashgabat International AirportThe city is served by the Ashgabat International Airport expansion of which cost 2 3 billion and which has a design capacity of 14 000 000 passengers per year 135 136 137 Turkmenistan Airlines is headquartered at the airport 138 Ashgabat offers air service to and from all the major cities of the Turkmenistan Since March 2020 in order to prevent the import and spread of coronavirus infection all planes arriving in Turkmenistan from abroad are redirected to the Turkmenabat International Airport 139 On 18 October 2006 the Ashgabat Cable Car opened connecting the city with the foothills of the Kopetdag 140 Ashgabat Monorail commenced service in 2016 becoming the first monorail in the Central Asia region 141 142 143 It is a loop 5 2 kilometers long and circulates exclusively on the territory of the Olympic Village Turkmen Olimpiya sahercesi 142 143 In January 2018 it was reported that black cars had been impounded for weeks in Ashgabat a result of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov s conviction that black cars bring bad luck 144 The Ukrainian construction firm Interbudmontazh has proposed construction of a subway metropolitan line to connect the Ashgabat Siti residential area in the northern suburbs to downtown Ashgabat 145 Railway Edit Turkmenistan Railways Diesel locomotive CKD9A in AshgabatMain article Rail transport in Turkmenistan Ashgabat has a single central railway station In May 2009 the restoration of the Ashgabat railway station was completed The railway station is made in Soviet style architecture with its long point on the building roof The Trans Caspian Railway Turkmenbasy Balkanabat Bereket Ashgabat Mary Turkmenabat runs through Ashgabat from east to west Since 2006 there is also a train line from Ashgabat to the north the Trans Karakum Railway 146 As of July 2021 the following railway routes are scheduled from and to Ashgabat 147 148 149 150 Ashgabat Balkanabat Ashgabat Turkmenbasy Ashgabat Dashoguz Ashgabat Sarahs Ashgabat Serhetabat Ashgabat AmyderyaCity buses and trolleybus Edit Bus stop with air conditioning in AshgabatPublic transport in the city consists mainly of buses More than 100 bus 151 152 lines cover a total range of more than 2 230 kilometres 1 386 miles with 700 buses running on urban routes The city primarily uses Iran Khodro 0457 Mercedes Benz and Hyundai New Super Aero City 153 buses 154 Bus timetables and detailed schematic map of the route are at every stop Distances between stops are about 300 500 meters Travel in the Ashgabat city public transport for the majority of the country s population incurs a fee Money is thrown into a box next to the driver Large bills are given to the driver he gives change The fare for travel in city public transport is 50 Turkmen tenge since 2017 155 Route taxi marshrutka is 1 manat Information about bus routes and stops in Ashgabat is available in the mobile application Duralga 156 From November 1 2017 the electronic system of payment for public transport came into full force in Ashgabat Payment can be made using an electronic transport card There are three types of electronic cards school for pensioners and general When entering through the front door of the bus the passenger must present the electronic card to the validator The term of use of the transport electronic card is 4 years 157 The new International Passenger Bus Terminal of Ashgabat was inaugurated on September 5 2014 158 159 It offers intercity service to Baherden Turkmenbasy Dashoguz Turkmenabat Archman Konye Urgench and Mollagara as well as points in between 160 The main intracity bus terminals serving Ashgabat are near the Teke Bazaar and at the domestic airport terminal Intercity lines are operated by Hyundai Universe Luxury Iran Khodro SC 0457 Sahab Renault and Yutong ZK6129H Also suburban communication has been established with Yaslyk Geok Tepe Gorjaw Yzgant Babarap Bugdayly Annau Gami Owadandepe Watan Khurmant Onaldy Gami Dacha Kasamly Julge Gawers Yashyldepe Akdashayak Niyazow Suitchilik Parahat PAZ 32054 buses and Volkswagen minibuses operate on suburban routes 161 From 19 October 1964 to 31 December 2011 the city also had the Ashgabat trolleybus system At the beginning of the twentieth century a narrow gauge steam railway connected the city with the suburb of Firyuza As of 2011 there were 7 routes in the city As of 2011 the Ashgabat trolleybus fleet had 47 trolleybuses Skoda 14TrM on its balance sheet In 2000 the last obsolete trolleybuses of the JuMZ T2 model were written off Taxi Edit In Ashgabat taxis are available at any time of the day or night 162 Awtomobil Ulag Hyzmat OJSC is the monopoly taxicab operator in the city 163 The fleet uses only new Toyota Corolla 164 white and Hyundai Elantra yellow automobiles 165 Taxi fare is from 5 to 30 manats depending on the distance from the city center and the results of negotiations with the driver 166 Passengers may also hire taxicabs via mobile apps Onlayn taksi and Taxi hyzmaty 167 168 Telecommunication EditAs of 2021 Ashgabat has two mobile phone service providers Altyn Asyr is a Turkmen national state company for the provision of communication services established in 2004 In 2010 the company launched a 3G network of UMTS standard covering all districts of Ashgabat and the Ashgabat International Airport On September 18 2013 the 4G network was put into operation using LTE technology 169 Ashgabat City Telephone Network provides CDMA communication services over 55 thousand subscribers The network was created and put into operation by the company for the first time in 2003 170 In addition to the mobile network providers Turkmentelecom provides internet services Turkmenpochta is the official national postal operator of Turkmenistan Based in Ashgabat it currently operates through 38 postal offices in city 171 Media Edit Notable newspapers published in Ashgabat include the daily newspapers Turkmenistan and Neytralny Turkmenistan 172 Turkmenistan TowerTV Edit The main offices of 7 television channels are located in Ashgabat Altyn Asyr Yashlyk Miras Turkmenistan Sport Turkmen Owazy Ashgabat and Turkmenistan TV 173 Ashgabat TV is main city channel The channel tells about the events of social cultural economic life the activities of scientific and educational institutions of the Ashgabat 174 175 Almost 136 176 international TV channels are available in the IPTV playlist for subscribers of the Ashgabat City Telephone Network 177 Most of them are thematic channels news sports scientific and educational TV channels for children channels of various genres of cinema music 176 Residents of Ashgabat also watch television via satellite dishes 178 Radio Edit As of 2008 Ashgabat has 4 FM stations Owaz Char Tarapdan Miras and Watan These stations can additionally be streamed through Turkmentelecom s website 179 Science and education EditMain articles Education in Turkmenistan and ru Obrazovanie v Turkmenii See also List of universities in Turkmenistan Ashgabat is the most important educational center of Turkmenistan with several institutions of higher education Magtymguly Turkmen State University was founded in 1950 The main university building is located on Beyik Saparmyrat Turkmenbasy sayoly Turkmen State Medical University is situated in Ashgabat as well It is subordinate to the Ministry of Health and Pharmaceutical Industry of Turkmenistan Other prominent institutions are the Turkmen State Institute of Economics and Management a main business school founded in 1980 as well as the Turkmen State Institute of Architecture and Construction Turkmen Agricultural University and The National Institute of Sports and Tourism of Turkmenistan In 2016 the English and Japanese medium Oguz Khan University of Engineering Technologies was opened with support of the Japanese government The International University of Humanities and Development is another English medium institution of higher education The Ministry of Foreign Affairs training ground is the Institute of International Relations 180 181 Ashgabat is home to five military academies the Military Institute the Naval Institute the Border Guards Institute the Institute of National Security and the Ministry of Internal Affairs Institute In 2020 the Military Institute began accepting applications from women 181 182 Four international secondary schools operate in Ashgabat The Russian Embassy sponsors the Russian medium A S Pushkin Russo Turkmen School the French construction company Bouygues sponsors a French school for children of its Francophone employees the Turkish Embassy sponsors the Turkish medium Turgut Ozal Turkmen Turkish School and the American Embassy sponsors the English medium Ashgabat International School 183 184 185 186 Prior to establishment of Soviet authority in Turkmenistan Ashgabat had only 11 schools and no scientific or research centers 15 By 1948 Ashgabat had three institutions of higher education 20 technical schools 60 libraries and approximately the same number of kindergartens 20 The Turkmen Academy of Sciences was founded June 29 1951 and includes the unique Desert Institute among its 26 scientific research institutes as well as the State Seismological Service 17 degree granting schools two medical research centers a library and two print shops The Academy of Sciences is the only institution in Turkmenistan accredited to award postgraduate degrees In 2019 President Berdimuhamedov decreed that state funding of the Academy of Sciences would end within three years 15 187 188 189 190 Prior to founding of the Turkmen Academy of Sciences local scientific research institutes all located in a single two story building were subordinate to the USSR Academy of Sciences 20 Main sights Edit Horse racing at the International Equestrian Sports ComplexMuseums include the Turkmen Fine Arts Museum and Turkmen Carpet Museum noted for their impressive collection of woven carpets as well as a Turkmen history museum and the Ashgabat National Museum of History which displays artifacts dating back to the Parthian and Persian civilizations Ashgabat was also home to the Arch of Neutrality a 75 m 250 ft tall tripod crowned by a golden statue of late president Saparmurat Niyazov also known as Turkmenbashy or head Turkmen The 15 m 50 ft high statue which rotated in order to always face the sun during daylight hours was removed on August 26 2010 after Niyazov s successor current President Berdimuhamedov made clear earlier in the year that the statue was to be taken out of Ashgabat s Independence Square 191 In 2011 a Monument to the Constitution was built its total height of 185 m 607 ft makes it the second tallest structure in Turkmenistan 192 Alem Cultural and Entertainment Center was recognised by Guinness World Records as the world s tallest Ferris wheel in an enclosed space 193 The Ashgabat Flagpole is the fifth tallest free standing flagpole in the world standing at 436 ft 133 m tall The Ashgabat Fountain has the world s greatest number of fountain pools in a public place 194 195 Ashgabat also features Turkmenistan Tower which is the tallest tower in Turkmenistan the decorative octagonal Star of Oguzkhan is recognized as the world s largest architectural image of the star and entered in the Guinness World Records 196 Palaces Edit Oguzhan Presidential Palace the official presidential headquarters Ruhyyet Palace a place for official state events forums meetings inaugurations Wedding Palace a civil registry building 197 Theatres Edit Ashgabat s major theaters are Alp Arslan National Drama Theatre Magtymguly National Musical and Drama Theatre Main Drama Theatre named by Saparmurat Turkmenbashi Mollanepes Students Theatre Mukams Palace Pushkin State Russian Drama Theatre Theatre Art Ist Turkmen State Puppet Theatere Turkmen State CircusEach of several former municipalities annexed by Ashgabat also features local a house of culture Turkmen Medeniyet Oyi Parks and squares Edit Ashgabat has many parks and open spaces mainly established in the early years of the Independence and well maintained and expanded thereafter The most important of these parks are the Botanical Garden Gunes Turkmen Turkish friendship Independence The oldest city park Ashgabat was founded in 1887 and is colloquially known as First Park 198 In the center of Ashgabat is the Inspiration Alley an art park complex which is a favorite place for many locals The amusement park World of Turkmenbashi Tales is a local equivalent to Disneyland Squares 10 Years of Turkmenistan Independence Magtymguly Eternal Flame Zelili Chyrchyk Garashsyzlyk March 8 Gerogly Dolphin 15 years of Independence Ruhyyet 10 yyl Abadancylyk Ylham and Tashkent The Ashgabat Botanical Garden was founded on 1 October 1929 and is the oldest botanical garden in Central Asia 199 200 201 It covers a territory of approximately 18 hectares and contains a live exhibition of more than 500 different species of plants coming from various parts of the world 202 203 Halk Hakydasy Memorial Complex Edit Halk Hakydasy Memorial Complex was opened in 2014 in remembrance of those killed in the Battle of Geok Tepe in 1881 during World War II and to commemorate of the victims of the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake It is located in the southwestern part of the city on Bekreve street 204 205 Cinemas Edit Ashgabat has five cinemas In 2011 Asgabat Cinema the first 3 D cinema in Turkmenistan opened in Ashgabat 206 The Watan and Turkmenistan theaters were reconstructed Additional cinemas are located in the Berkarar Mall and the Gul zemin Mall Mosques Edit Major mosques in Ashgabat include Turkmenbasy Ruhy Mosque Artogrul Gazy Mosque a gift from Turkey was inaugurated in 1998 and resembles the Blue Mosque in Istanbul Hezreti Osman Mosque in the 8th microdistrict Hezreti Omar Mosque in the Parahat 7 microdistrict 207 Azadi Mosque on Zarpci kocesi Shehitler Turkmen Sehitler mosque on Gorogly kocesi Iranian mosque near the Iranian EmbassyThere are also several mosques in former towns and villages annexed by Ashgabat and thus now neighborhoods within the city limits Churches Edit Ashgabat has five operating Christian churches Four are Russian Orthodox churches 208 Saint Alexander Nevsky Church founded in 1882 as parish church of the Russian military garrison consecrated in 1900 located in the 30th Microdistrict Russian Hram svyatogo blagovernogo velikogo knyazya Aleksandra Nevskogo Temple of Saint Nicholas the Miracle Worker located inside the Khitrovka Cemetery Russian hram svyatitelya i Chudotvorca Nikolaya Temple of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ located near the Ruhnama School Russian hram Voskreseniya Hristova Temple of the Holy Equals to Apostles Cyril and Methodius located in Buzmeyin Russian Hram svyatyh ravnoapostolnyh Kirilla i Mefodiya The Roman Catholic Chapel of the Transfiguration operates on the grounds of the Apostolic nunciature Other Christian denominations exist but as of 2019 only two were registered with the government and thus able to operate legally The U S Department of State reported that Turkmen authorities scrutinize or obstruct religious groups attempting to purchase or lease buildings or land for religious purposes 209 Sports Edit Olympic Stadium in AshgabatThe main sporting venues in Ashgabat are the Olympic Stadium Ashgabat Stadium the National Olympic ice rink Sports complex for winter sports and the Olympic water sports complex Ashgabat was chosen as the host city of the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games Between 2010 and 2017 an Olympic Village was built by the Turkish firm Polimeks south of the city center at a cost of 5 billion 210 211 In October 2017 a Jack Nicklaus Designs Signature 18 hole golf course opened in Ashgabat It features 82 sand traps and covers 70 hectares 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 Ashgabat was the host of the 2018 IWF World Weightlifting Championships The city s professional football clubs Altyn Asyr FK FC Asgabat and FK Kopetdag Asgabat play in the Yokary Liga the top league of Turkmenistan Inha Babakova 1999 World High Jump champion was born in Ashgabat Weightlifter Polina Guryeva captured Turkmenistan s first Olympic medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics taking silver in the women s 59 kg Twin towns sister cities EditSee also List of twin towns and sister cities in Turkmenistan Ashgabat is twinned with 219 220 Aktau Kazakhstan Albuquerque United States 1990 Ankara Turkey 1994 Astana Kazakhstan 2017 Athens Greece Bamako Mali 1974 Bishkek Kyrgyzstan 2018 Dushanbe Tajikistan 2017 Kyiv Ukraine 2001 Lanzhou China 1992 Tashkent Uzbekistan 2017 Partner cities Edit Ashgabat cooperates with 219 Yerevan Armenia 2014 Tokyo Japan 2014 See also EditBoroughs and landmarks of Ashgabat Bagtyyarlyk District Berkararlyk District Bitarap Turkmenistan Avenue Buzmeyin Abadan Buzmeyin District Galkynysh Square Ashgabat Gypjak Independence Square Ashgabat Kopetdag District Magtymguly Avenue Saparmurat Turkmenbashy Avenue List of cities in Turkmenistan OpenStreetMap wiki article on geography of Ashgabat Russian TurkestanReferences EditNotes Edit a b Turkmenistanyn Halk Maslahatynyn Cozgudi HM 6 14 December 1992 PDF Turkmenistanyn Prezidentinin gol ceken resminamalary TDH Turkmenistan State News Agency TDH Turkmenistan Today July 9 2021 Archived from the original on August 5 2022 Retrieved July 9 2021 Ashgabat Definition of Ashgabat in English by Oxford Dictionaries Oxford Dictionaries English Archived from the original on November 23 2018 Retrieved November 23 2018 Pannier Bruce July 21 2004 Turkmenistan Government Orders People Out Of Their Homes In Name Of Urban Renewal Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty Retrieved November 22 2017 Scott Noel October 28 2010 Tourism in the Muslim World Emerald Group Publishing ISBN 978 1 84950 920 6 Brief Note on Turkmenistan Embassy of India Ashgabat Archived from the original on February 18 2014 Retrieved June 10 2014 a b c Chapman Wilson June 18 2019 Ashgabat Turkmenistan Is the World s Most Expensive City for Expats U S News amp World Report Retrieved July 3 2020 a b c Williams Ollie June 8 2020 The 10 Most Expensive Cities in the World Just Became Pricier Forbes Retrieved July 3 2020 a b Turkmenistan s capital tops list of most expensive cities for expats BBC June 22 2021 Klychev Anna Muhamed 1976 Ashhabad in Russian Izd vo Turkmenistan How Old is Ashgabat Turkmeniya tripod com Retrieved November 24 2013 Ashgabat Turkmenistan NASA September 11 2001 Ashgabat Map of City Centre Map Ashgabat Enterprise No 5 of the Ministry of Defense 2015 Ashhabad Ashkhabad Map 1969 ed 1 25 000 Generalnyj shtab in Russian Generalnyj shtab SSSR 1982 J 40 69 70 81 82 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Turkmenskaya Sovetskaya Socialisticheskaya Respublika Enciklopedicheskij spravochnik in Russian Ashkhabad Izdatelstvo Chuvashskogo obkoma KPSS 1984 Mihajlova N N ed 1948 Turkmenistan v obrazah literatury Turkmenistan Nasha Rodina in Russian Moscow Molodaya gvardiya a b c d Ashhabad belomramornyj gorod lyubvi in Russian Mezhdunarodnoe informacionnoe agentstvo Rossiya segodnya December 17 2015 a b Muradov Ruslan May 6 2021 Istoriya Ashhabada na zare dvadcatogo veka in Russian Turkmenistan zolotoj vek a b c d e f Khramov Viktor ed 2015 Guide Book to Ashgabat Ashgabat Turkmen State Publishing Service a b c d e f g h i j Skosyrev P 1948 Ashhabad stolica Sovetskogo Turkmenistana In Mihajlova N N ed Turkmenistan Nasha Rodina in Russian Moscow Molodaya gvardiya a b c d Muradov Ruslan May 13 2021 Istoriya Ashhabada vremya bolshih peremen in Russian Turkmenistan zolotoj vek a b c d e Komarov Vladimir October 6 2018 Ashhabadskaya tragediya 70 let spustya Turkmenistan zolotoj vek in Russian Bregman Mihail ETAPY ZhIZNENNOGO PUTI Chast 6 TURKMENIYa in Russian Partner MedienHaus GmbH amp Co KG Ashhabadskaya katastrofa Glava iz knigi B Karryeva Vot prishlo zemletryasenie in Russian Infoabad September 6 2015 Archived from the original on July 26 2020 Retrieved July 26 2020 Komarov Vladimir November 9 2013 Stolica ustremlennaya v budushee Turkmenistan zolotoj vek in Russian Turkmen Leader Opens Gold Palace Moscow Times May 19 2011 AShHABAD Bolshaya sovetskaya enciklopediya in Russian 1969 1978gg Izdanie III ed Moscow online edition Ashgabat OpenStreetMap a b Muradov Ruslan May 24 2021 Istoriya Ashhabada epoha modernizma in Russian Turkmenistan zolotoj vek Ashhabad J 40 081 Map in Russian Cartography by USSR Ministry of Defense Shema territorij prednaznachennyh dlya vklyucheniya v predely goroda Ashhabada Map in Russian May 27 2013 Izmeneniya v administrativnoj karte stolicy Turkmenistana i ee prilegayushih territorij Turkmenistan zolotoj vek in Russian May 28 2013 Izmeneniya v administrativnoj karte stolicy Turkmenistana i ee prilegayushih territorij in Russian Turkmeninform May 28 2013 Shema territorij etrapov goroda Ashhabada Map in Russian January 5 2018 Medzhlis Turkmenistana prinyal Postanovlenie o voprosah administrativno territorialnogo deleniya goroda Ashhabada Turkmenistan zolotoj vek in Russian January 5 2018 a b c Weather and Climate The Climate of Ashgabat in Russian Weather and Climate Retrieved August 21 2012 Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin June 1 2022 page 22 Pogoda i Klimat in Russian Pogodaiklimat ru Retrieved November 22 2021 Ashgabat Climate Normals 1961 1990 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Retrieved November 22 2021 Konjikala Archived October 29 2014 at the Wayback Machine Knowlton MaryLee 2006 Turkmenistan Marshall Cavendish p 40 ISBN 978 0 7614 2014 9 Na territorii Ashhabada obnaruzhena keramika parfyanskoj epohi Turkmenistan zolotoj vek in Russian September 11 2020 Archived from the original on November 27 2020 Retrieved September 17 2020 Muradov Ruslan April 23 2021 Istoriya Ashhabada chto bylo do osnovaniya in Russian Turkmenistan zolotoj vek The Country of the Turkomans London Oguz Press and the Royal Geographical Society 1977 ISBN 0 905820 01 0 Chapter 11 Stuart Lt Col H C The Country of the Tekke Turkomans and the Tejend and Murghab Rivers lecture delivered in 1881 a b c Pospelov pp 29 30 a b c d e Muradov Ruslan April 29 2021 Istoriya Ashhabada s chego vsyo nachinalos in Russian Turkmenistan zolotoj vek a b Chisholm Hugh ed 1911 Askabad Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol 2 11th ed Cambridge University Press p 762 Plan goroda Ashabada Plan goroda Askhabada Map 100 sazhen to one English inch 1 8 400 in Russian c 1890 Baha i House of Worship in Ashgabat Bahai us Archived from the original on August 8 2007 Retrieved June 28 2010 The Country of the Turkomans An anthology of exploration from the Royal Geographic Society Oguz Press and the Royal Geographic Society 1977 ISBN 0 905820 01 0 Ashhabad Bse sci lib com May 28 2009 Retrieved February 26 2015 a b c d State of the Map keynote State of the Map 2016 YouTube October 4 2016 Archived from the original on December 11 2021 a b Gazetteer of Ashgabat Street Names OpenStreetMap Wiki Comments for the significant earthquake Significant Earthquake Database National Geophysical Data Center Retrieved June 12 2015 US Geological Survey Earthquake usgs gov Archived from the original on September 1 2009 Retrieved June 28 2010 Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Britannica Online Britannica com Retrieved June 28 2010 Today the People of Turkmenistan Mourn for Those Perished in the 1948 Ashgabat Earthquake Golden Age State News Agency October 6 2007 Archived from the original on April 6 2009 Retrieved June 28 2010 Ardaev Vladimir October 6 2003 Bi bi si Lyudi i nravy Gorkaya pamyat Ashhabada BBC News in Russian Retrieved November 24 2013 Ministry of Defense of Turkmenistan Enterprise No 5 2011 Ashgabat Map Cartography by Ministry of Defense Ashgabat Sofitel AShHABAD PEREHODIT NA CIFROVUYu SISTEMU OBOZNAChENIYa ULIC in Russian Turkmenistan ru May 6 2002 Turkmenistan enters record books for having the most white marble buildings World news theguardian com London May 26 2013 Retrieved November 24 2013 Etapy razvitiya Turkmenskoj stolicy in Russian Neytral nyy Turkmenistan November 12 2020 Etapy razvitiya Turkmenskoj stolicy in Russian Neytral nyy Turkmenistan November 13 2020 S rasshirennogo zasedaniya Kabineta Ministrov Turkmenistana in Russian Gosudarstvennoe informacionnoe agentstvo Turkmenistana TDH Turkmenistan segodnya January 9 2015 V ramkah 13 j ocheredi zastrojki Ashhabada vvedeno v stroj bolee 30 obektov in Russian Infoabad November 11 2015 Turkmenistan Homeowners Evicted Denied Compensation Human Rights Watch September 4 2017 Otkryvaetsya 15 ochered zastrojki Ashhabada in Russian SNG TODAY October 23 2017 V 15 uyu ochered zastrojki Ashhabada vojdet krupnyj kompleks 2 etazhnyh kottedzhej desyatki zhilyh domov in Russian Turkmenportal February 5 2015 Sostoyalos torzhestvennoe otkrytie zdanij 14 ocheredi stroitelstva Ashhabada in Russian Turkmenportal October 20 2016 V Ashhabade nachato stroitelstvo novogo zhilogo mikrorajona in Russian SNG TODAY May 4 2018 Komarov Vladimir May 3 2018 Nachalos vozvedenie novogo zhilogo kompleksa vdol prospekta Mahtumkuli Turkmenistan zolotoj vek in Russian Prezident Turkmenistana otkryvaet kompleks stolichnyh novostroek in Russian Turkmenistan zolotoj vek November 10 2020 V novyh zhilyh massivah turkmenskoj stolicy gotovyatsya k sdache doma obekty socialnoj i transportnoj infrastruktury in Russian Gosudarstvennoe informacionnoe agentstvo Turkmenistana TDH Turkmenistan segodnya April 16 2017 Prezident Turkmenistana oznakomilsya s hodom realizacii programmy zastrojki Ashhabada Turkmenistan zolotoj vek in Russian September 4 2018 Komarov Vladimir February 18 2019 Nachalas realizaciya vtoroj ocheredi zastrojki zhilogo massiva Gurtly Turkmenistan zolotoj vek in Russian Komarov Vladimir May 29 2021 Modern cottage complex to be built in the north of Ashgabat Turkmenistan 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in ground breaking ceremony of Ashgabat city and opening of residential complex Turkmenistan Golden Age May 25 2021 Exhibition White City Ashgabat Achievements and perspectives of development of the capital Turkmenistan Golden Age May 24 2021 Ali Mohammad May 26 2021 Turkmenistan Begins Capital Expansion Despite Economic Crisis UrduPoint Network Independent Neutral Turkmenistan 10 Glorious Years of the Epoch of Turkmenbashi the Great Ashgabat 2001 pp 39 40 in Russian Postanovlenie o voprosah administrativno territorialnogo deleniya goroda Ashhabada January 5 2018 Archived from the original on July 8 2018 Retrieved July 10 2018 Glava gosudarstva podpisal Postanovleniya o pereimenovanii i strukturnoj reorganizacii nekotoryh hyakimlikov Ahalskogo velayata i Ashhabada January 5 2018 Archived from the original on July 8 2018 Retrieved July 10 2018 Medzhlis Turkmenistana vnyos izmeneniya v administrativno territorialnoe delenie goroda Ashhabada January 5 2018 Archived from the original on December 3 2020 Retrieved May 24 2021 Parlament Turkmenistana vnyos izmeneniya v administrativno territorialnoe delenie Ashhabada January 6 2018 V Turkmenistane izmenilis administrativnye granicy Ashhabada i Ahalskogo regiona January 6 2018 a b Glava gosudarstva podpisal Postanovleniya o pereimenovanii i strukturnoj reorganizacii nekotoryh hyakimlikov Ahalskogo velayata i Ashhabada January 8 2018 Archived from the original on July 9 2018 Retrieved July 10 2018 Ashhabad priros novymi territoriyami Gosudarstvennoe informacionnoe agentstvo Turkmenistana May 27 2013 Archived from the original on September 1 2018 Retrieved November 24 2013 Berdymuhamedov otkryl Zolotoe ozero ocherednoj grandioznyj proekt in Russian Hronika Turkmenistana June 16 2020 OpenStreetMap Ashgabat Microdistricts of Ashgabat Ashgabat Map Ashgabat Ministry of Defense of Turkmenistan Enterprise No 5 2011 Tourist Map of Turkmenistan Ashgabat Map of City Centre Map Ashgabat Ministry of Defense of Turkmenistan Enterprise No 5 2017 Asgabat Nacionalnyj i religioznyj sostav naseleniya Turkmenistana segodnya Archived from the original on June 24 2016 Retrieved May 27 2016 French Bouygues to build new buildings for ministry of foreign affairs and ministry of education in Ashgabat Turkmenistan ru October 29 2008 President of Turkmenistan inaugurates new residence Palace Complex Oguzkhan Turkmenistan ru May 19 2011 Third Palace Is A Pricey Charm For Turkmen President RFE RL May 23 2011 Polimeks Construction With all its projects Gap Insaat Completed Projects Morton Elise November 2 2016 Architecture gone wild the 12 most insanely great contemporary buildings of the New East The Calvert Journal Lomov Anton February 24 2013 Turkmenistan rebuilds capital into marble white city Daily Star Lebanon Agence France Presse Archived from the original on July 26 2020 Retrieved July 26 2020 Zvezda Oguz hana v Knige rekordov Ginnessa Turkmenistan zolotoj vek in Russian October 30 2011 Turkmeniya Chast I Vosmikonechnye zvezdy i gyoli in Russian Artemij Lebedev May 31 2014 Varlamov Ilya May 29 2016 Ashgabat Turkmenistan varlamov ru Bicycle Monument Opened in Ashgabat on World Bicycle Day Business Turkmenistan June 3 2020 Turkmenistan leader unveils giant gold dog statue BBC November 12 2020 Turkmenistan Open Letter to President Berdymukhadmedov regarding ongoing expropriation and demolition of homes in Ashgabat and the surrounding Akhal region October 25 2011 Turkmenistan Satellite images reveal how mass forced evictions blight upcoming Asian Games Amnesty International October 27 2015 Turkmenistan Homeowners Evicted Denied Compensation Human Rights Watch September 4 2017 Najibullah Farangis April 21 2007 Turkmenistan The Human Toll Of Ashgabat s Evictions Eurasianet Turkmenistan 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U S Department of State 2009 2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices Turkmenistan U S Department of State 2019 Smith Peter 2000 Mashriqu l Adhkhar A concise encyclopedia of the Baha i Faith Oxford Oneworld Publications p 235 ISBN 1 85168 184 1 a b Rafati V Sahba F 1989 Bahai temples Encyclopaedia Iranica Akiner Shirin 1991 Kegan Paul ed Cultural Change and Continuity in Central Asia Routledge p 293 a b Baha i House of Worship Ashkabad Central Asia The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha is of the United States 2007 Archived from the original on August 8 2007 Retrieved August 3 2007 Effendi Shoghi March 11 1936 The World Order of Baha u llah Haifa Palestine US Baha i Publishing Trust 1991 first pocket size edition pp 64 67 Komarov Vladimir Budushee belomramornoj stolicy Elektronnaya gazeta Zolotoj vek Archived from the original on October 6 2018 Retrieved November 24 2013 Ashgabat Agreement The Hans India March 24 2016 Retrieved August 2 2017 Leung Kanis July 2 2020 Hong Kong falls two places to become sixth most expensive city for expats South China Morning Post Retrieved July 3 2020 Expert annual inflation rate in Turkmenistan reached almost 300 Chronicles of Turkmenistan June 6 2018 Caryyew B Ilamanow Ya 2010 Turkmenistanyn Geografiyasy in Turkmen Ashgabat Bilim Ministrligi Ashhabad Turkmenistan Retrieved March 12 2015 Zabrodin Fedor Sdelano v Turkmenistane Turkmenistan ru Retrieved March 12 2015 a b c Turkmenenergo dowlet elektroenergetika korporasiyasy in Turkmen Ministry of Energy Turkmenistan February 14 2016 Archived from the original on April 11 2021 Retrieved April 11 2021 Ashgabat Shopping Mall Archived October 5 2013 at the Wayback Machine Asgabatdaky Sowda Merkezleri 15 yyl Garassyzlyk sowda merkezi The shopping centre Yimpas in Ashgabat dismisses staff before closing Chronicles of Turkmenistan December 12 2016 Retrieved August 2 2017 Turkmenistan opens 2 3 billion bird shaped international air terminal Reuters September 17 2016 Ashgabat International Airport Turkmenistan 2016 Polimeks Archived from the original on January 8 2020 Retrieved July 26 2020 Ashgabat International Airport CAPA Centre for Aviation Aviation Week Network Retrieved August 2 2020 Directory World Airlines Flight International March 30 5 April 2004 1 Aviarejsy iz za predelov Turkmenistana vremenno perenapravlyayutsya v Turkmenabat Obshestvo May 12 2023 Turkmen president attends inaugurations of three facilities dated to 15th anniversary of Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ru Retrieved November 24 2013 http www intaminworldwide com transportation Home news Ashgabat a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a Missing or empty title help a b International Games Open In Ashgabat RFE RL September 17 2017 a b Construction Gallery Ashgabat Turkmenistan The Monorail Society May 2014 Bad Luck For Black Car Owners in Turkmen Capital Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty January 8 2018 Predstavlen proekt metropolitena kotoryj svyazhet stolicu Turkmenistana s Ashhabad siti in Russian Chronicles of Turkmenistan May 27 2020 Turkmenistan Railways in Turkmen and Russian Turkmendemiryollary agentligi Turkmenistan vosstanovil vnutrennee zheleznodorozhnoe soobshenie V Turkmenistane polnostyu vosstanovleno zh d soobshenie May 31 2021 V Turkmenistane vveli novyj grafik s bolshim chislom poezdov po strane Turizm May 12 2023 Raspisanie AOOT Demiryollary Route Ayauk gov tm Retrieved March 16 2022 V Ashhabade budet zapushen novyj avtobusnyj marshrut Hyundai New Super Aero City tip avtobusa Galereya Turkmenistan zolotoj vek in Russian Turkmenistan gov tm January 28 2013 Archived from the original on December 2 2013 Retrieved November 24 2013 TURKMENISTAN Turkmenistan in Russian Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia Retrieved March 16 2022 Novoe mobilnoe prilozhenie Duralga predostavit informaciyu ob avtobusnyh marshrutah i ostanovkah Ashhabada V stolice Turkmenistane perehodyat na elektronnuyu sistemu oplaty proezda v avtobusah Turkmenistan to launch international bus service Retrieved August 2 2017 V Ashhabade budet postroen passazhirskij avtovokzal mezhdunarodnogo klassa Internet gazeta in Russian Turkmenistan ru Retrieved November 24 2013 International Bus Terminal of Ashgabat in Turkmen Russian and English Asgabat saherindaki halkara yolagcy awtomenzili Archived from the original on September 13 2014 Retrieved September 5 2021 Zakaz taksi onlajn Taksi hyzmatlaryny onlayn usulynda sargyt etmek 23 Yanwar 2021 Novye Toyota Corolla popolnili taksopark Ashhabada 25 09 2019 Na ulicah Ashhabada poyavyatsya novenkie taksi Toyota Corolla 2019 TURKMENISTAN Obshie svedeniya o strane V Ashhabade zapustili novyj servis zakaza taksi Onlayn taksi Onlayn taksi novyj servis po vyzovu taksi v Ashhabade Awtoulag gov tm Retrieved March 16 2022 TMCELL TMCELL nachinaet podklyuchenie abonetov k seti LTE tmcell tm Archived from the original on December 6 2017 Retrieved January 17 2022 O nas AGTS Ashhabadskaya gorodskaya telefonnaya set Bolumler Gazetler TDNG Onlajn TV KE Turkmentelekom Na turkmenskom televidenii poyavitsya shestoj kanal Internet gazeta Turkmenistan Ru V Turkmenii v oktyabre 2011 goda 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January 30 2019 Archived from the original on January 31 2019 Budet izmenena sistema finansirovaniya Akademii nauk Turkmenistana Turkmenistan zolotoj vek in Russian January 29 2019 Financing of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan to be chnaged sic state news agency of Turkmenistan Turkmenistan today January 29 2019 Niyazov s influence in Turkmenistan falls with golden statue Centralasianewswire com Archived from the original on July 16 2011 Retrieved November 24 2013 The Monument Of The Constitution Archived October 29 2013 at the Wayback Machine Turkmenistan builds largest indoor Ferris wheel May 24 2012 Retrieved August 2 2017 Most fountain pools in a public place June 2008 Retrieved August 2 2017 Ashgabat in Guinness book PDF Archived from the original PDF on September 4 2015 Retrieved December 6 2013 Largest architectural star record set in Turkmenistan November 14 2011 Retrieved August 2 2017 Weddenig palace Archived September 23 2013 at the Wayback Machine Monument symbol of 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metjidinin acylys dabarasyndan fotoreportaz in Turkmen Turkmenportal com September 30 2018 Pravoslavie v Turkmenistane Prihody in Russian May 7 2013 U S Department of State May 2020 TURKMENISTAN 2019 INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT PDF U S Department of State Polimeks website Olympic Complex Retrieved July 25 2020 5 billion from the Treasury spent on the Olympic village in Ashgabat Chronicles of Turkmenistan December 8 2016 Retrieved July 25 2020 Prezident Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov posetil stolichnyj golf klub in Russian Gosudarstvennoe informacionnoe agentstvo Turkmenistana TDH Turkmenistan segodnya February 24 2019 Prezident Turkmenistana dal start sportivnoj zhizni Ashhabadskogo golf kluba in Russian MINISTERSTVO STROITELSTVA I ARHITEKTURY TURKMENISTANA October 17 2017 Ashhabadskij golf klub novoe slovo v razvitii otechestvennoj sportivnoj i rekreacionnoj industrii Turkmenistan zolotoj vek in Russian October 17 2017 Pervyj golf klub v Turkmenistane gotovitsya prinyat gostej in Russian ORIENT INFORMACIONNOE AGENTSTVO MEDIA TURKMEN October 16 2017 Nicklaus designing course in Turkmenistan Golf Channel December 14 2016 Let Them Play Golf Destitute Turkmen Get Designer Golf Course RFE RL October 21 2017 Jack Nicklaus Is Building His Newest Golf Course in Turkmenistan EB GOLF MEDIA LLC December 14 2016 a b Kostroma is looking for a twin city in Turkmenistan orient tm Orient July 15 2020 Archived from the original on November 12 2020 Retrieved November 12 2020 State visit of President of Turkmenistan to the Republic of Kazakhstan mfa gov tm Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan April 18 2017 Retrieved November 12 2020 Sources Edit E M Pospelov Ye M Pospelov Imena gorodov vchera i segodnya 1917 1992 Toponimicheskij slovar City Names Yesterday and Today 1917 1992 Toponymic Dictionary Moskva Russkie slovari 1993 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Asgabat Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Ashgabat Official website Retrieved from https 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