Ashgabat

From OpenStreetMap Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
VTE
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
Wikidata

Aşgabat
latitude: 37.9382, longitude: 58.2355
boundary: 7328329, label: 1811650017
Browse map of Ashgabat 37°56′17.52″ N, 58°14′07.80″ E
Edit map
External links:
Use this template for your locality

Ashgabat is a city in Turkmenistan at latitude 37°56′17.52″ North, longitude 58°14′07.80″ East.

It is the capital city of Turkmenistan. Ashgabat, though a city, enjoys the status of a province (welaýat) and is not administratively part of Ahal Province, which surrounds it.

Note on imagery

Since Turkmenistan is undergoing constant redevelopment of urban areas and expansion of its national road network, choice of imagery is important. In general OSM's Bing imagery is to be avoided if newer alternatives are available, particularly when mapping Ashgabat. Mappers should also use available Mapillary and OpenStreetCam ground-level imagery, which local mappers have been collecting since 2016.

Boroughs of Ashgabat

Map depicting revised borough boundaries of the city of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, as of 6 August 2018.
Map depicting the boroughs of the city of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, and their respective borders as of 6 January 2018.

As of January 5, 2018, Ashgabat includes four boroughs (uly etraplar):

  1. Bagtyýarlyk etraby (formerly President Niyazov/Lenin District, later expanded to include former Ruhabat District plus new territory)
  2. Berkararlyk etraby (formerly Azatlyk, Sovetskiy District)
  3. Büzmeýin etraby (formerly Arçabil, expanded to include former Abadan and Ruhabat boroughs; Arçabil already included former Çandybil)
  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 that 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. In August 2018, 1,376 hectares of Büzmeýin borough were transferred to Bagtyýarlyk borough.[1]

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).[2]

Each borough is headed by a presidentially appointed häkim (mayor).

Please refer to the links in the section "Laws and Decrees Related to the City of Ashgabat", below, for the chronology and further details.

Microdistricts of Ashgabat

Ashgabat perpetuates the Soviet classification of administrative subdivisions as "microdistricts" (Russian: микрорайон, Turkmen: kiçi etrap, plural kiçi etraplar). The following formal microdistricts are found in Ashgabat (all in the downtown area):

  • 1 through 11 Etrap
  • 30 Etrap
  • Howdan A[3][4]
  • Howdan B
  • Howdan W
  • Parahat 1 through 7[5]

Certain of these are further subdivided, such as Parahat 3/1 and 3/2. Buildings are uniquely numbered within these subdivisions.

Quarters (Turkmen: kwartal, Russian: квартал) also exist, within which buildings are uniquely numbered. Quarters are numbered, e.g., "534 kwartal".

In 2019 the Turkmen government revealed plans to construct a massive residential and business zone north of downtown Ashgabat, to be called "Ashgabat City" (Turkmen: Aşgabat-Siti). The project is to cover 744 hectares and to include "over 200 buildings, 180 of which will be residential buildings of 12 to 35 stories. The district, where four secondary schools and the same number of kindergartens will be, is designed to house over 107 thousand people" in 17,836 apartments.[6][7][8]

Neighborhoods of Ashgabat

Former Towns, Villages, and Dacha Communities

Historical map showing new boundaries of Ashgabat as of 27 May 2013, following annexation of Ruhabat District and town of Abadan, previously part of Ahal Province. Abadan (today's Büzmeýin) lost its status as a town and all villages in Ruhabat District lost their status as well, becoming neighborhoods of Ashgabat.

Within the Ashgabat city limits are found inhabited areas previously classified as cities, towns, villages, and dacha communities, but which since 2010 have been annexed and incorporated into the municipality of Ashgabat. These are best described today as neighborhoods, for they feature no autonomous administrative structures, despite continued reference to them in the vernacular as "villages". The Ashgabat mayor's office refers to them formally as "residential complexes" (Turkmen: ýaşaýyş toplumy, Russian: жилой комплекс). Each is subordinate to and dependent upon one of the four Ashgabat boroughs described above.

These include:

  • Arçabil (former Firuza, called Pöwrize in Turkmen, currently site of presidential residence compound, formally disincorporated in 2015)
  • Arzuw
  • Bagtyýarlyk (former Ruhabat, not to be confused with Bagtyýarlyk etraby)
  • Bagyr
  • Bekrewe (previously called Bikrova)
  • Berzeňňi (also called Berzengi, this former dacha community was largely depopulated in 2017)
  • Büzmeýin (former town, not to be confused with Büzmeýin etraby, and previously called Abadan)
  • Çoganly (partly a residential development, partly a former dacha community)
    • including the new Çoganly Ýaşaýyş Toplumy development
  • Garadamak (formerly the Kara-Damak state farm, совхоз Кара-Дамак)
Second historical map, also dated 27 May 2013, depicting the then-new boundaries of the city of Ashgabat following annexation of territory previously in Ahal Province.
Ashgabat in 1974, as shown in Soviet General Staff map J-40-081.
  • Garadaşaýak
  • Giňdiwar
  • Gökje
  • Gurtly (previously spelled Kurtly)
    • including the new Gurtly Ýaşaýyş Toplumy development
  • Gülzada obasy
  • Gypjak (previously spelled Kipçak and pronounced Kipchak)
  • Hellew
  • Herrikgala
  • Jülge
  • Köşi (former aul that pre-existed Ashgabat)
  • Şor (previously called Şors, Russian: Шорс)
  • Täze Zaman (both communities)
  • Ýalkym
  • Ýanbaş
  • Ýasmansalyk

Urban renewal projects

Several parts of the city consist of brownfield urban renewal projects, which have involved demolition of existing traditional single-family housing and construction of white-marble clad high-rise apartment buildings. They are designated as "lines" (Turkmen: nobatdaky, Russian: очередь), and include:

  • 11th Line (2012) straddling 10 ýyl Abadançylyk şaýoly
  • 12th Line (2014) straddling Atamyrat Nyýazow şaýoly between Bitarap Türkmenistan şaýoly and Görogly köçesi
  • 13th Line (2015) straddling Oguzhan köçesi west of Garaşsyzlyk şaýoly
  • 14th Line (2017) former Leningrad kolkhoz neighborhood between Oguzhan köçesi and Bitarap Türkmenistan şaýoly
  • 15th Line (2017) former Gaža (Gazha) and Wosmuşka (Vosmushka) neighborhoods
  • 16th Line (2020) straddling the extension of Magtymguly şaýoly between Tähran köçesi and Köşi köçesi
  • 17th Line (2021-) proposed development on the shores of Golden Lake (Turkmen: Altyn köl)[9]
  • 18th Line (2021-) proposed further redevelopment of Köşi neighborhood[9]

Other neighborhoods

Other existent neighborhoods of Ashgabat known by convention but without formal administrative recognition include (coordinates provided below are approximately centered in these neighborhoods):

  • Bedew (37.9399, 58.4332) (in Turkmen, bedew means "steed, wondrous horse", and likely is associated with the nearby hippodrome)
  • Hitrowka (Khitrovka, Russian: Хитровка) (38.0708, 58.3989) (possibly named after the Khitrov Market in Moscow)
  • Olimpiýa şäherçesi (Olympic Village) (38.0708, 58.3989)

Demolished neighborhoods

Legacy neighborhoods demolished as part of urban redevelopment include (coordinates provided below are approximately centered in the prior locations of these legacy neighborhoods):

  • Budennyý kolhoz (Колхоз имени Буденного) (37.9218, 58.3832) (The territory of Budennyy kolhoz or if transliterated from Russian Budennyy kolkhoz started behind Magtymguly Turkmen State University and stretched as far as the territory of today's Olympic Stadium. It included the neighborhood at the southeast corner of Andalyp and Atamyrat Nyýazow.) Semyon Mikhaylovich Budennyy, a three-time Hero of the Soviet Union and military commander in both the Russian Civil War and WWII, visited Ashgabat April 21, 1926.[10]
  • Çyrçyk (Chyrchyk) (37.9204, 58.42628)
  • Gaža (Gazha) (37.9412, 58.3498)
  • Kosmos (37.958, 58.3435) (named for the demolished Kosmos movie theater)
  • Leningrad kolhoz (Колхоз "Ленинград") (37.9194, 58.3652) (named for the Soviet-era collective farm "Leningrad")
  • Şaňhaý (Shanghai) (37.9655, 58.3884) (before demolition, a densely populated shantytown that in popular imagination resembled a crowded Asian neighborhood, hence "Shanghai")
  • Woroşilow kolhoz (Колхоз имени Ворошилова) (37.9423, 58.4124) (Woroşilow kolhoz or if transliterated from Russian Voroshilov kolkhoz was situated north of the railroad line, starting from Andalyp and stretching eastward.)
  • Wosmuşka (Восьмушка, Vosmushka) (37.928, 58.3597) (named for the demolished 8th of March movie theater)

The former dacha community of Ruhabat, demolished in 2014, was approximately centered on 38.0708, 58.3989. The dacha community previously located east of Garadamak (37.9598, 58.4534) was demolished between 2014 and 2017, and was bulldozed flat as of 2018.

Points of interest

Banks

Banks in Ashgabat fall into four categories:

  • international financial institutions
  • domestic banks
  • foreign banks offering retail (consumer) services
  • foreign banks offering institutional services

International Financial Institutions (IFI)

  • Asian Development Bank (ADB)
  • European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
  • World Bank

Domestic Banks

Foreign Retail Banks

  • Iran Saderat Bank
  • National Bank of Pakistan
  • Türkmen-Türk Bank (Turkmen-Turkish Bank, a joint venture of Daýhan and Ziraat)

Foreign Banks Offering Institutional Services

  • Commerzbank
  • Deutsche Bank

Not all locations of bank branches or ATMs have been mapped in Ashgabat.

Health care facilities

See also Turkmenistan: Health care facilities for nomenclature and tagging suggestions.

Ashgabat as of July 2018 featured 16 health clinics and had plans to construct five more in the near future.[13] Not all clinics or their branches are yet mapped. All hospitals in existence as of August 2018 were mapped as of that date. A new International Burn Center built by GAP Inşaat on the southwest corner of the intersection of Görogly and Bekrewe was opened October 10, 2020.[14]

A list of Ashgabat's hospitals in the Turkmen language as of 2016 can found here.

Recreational Facilities

In 2020, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov renamed the Gurtly Reservoir (Turkmen: Gurtly Suw Howdany) to Golden Lake (Turkmen: Altyn köl) and directed that resort facilities be constructed on its shoreline.[15] In 2023 President Serdar Berdimuhamedow ordered construction of a 4,000-seat cultural center.[16]

Public works projects

Flood control

In July 2020 construction began of flood and mudslide control lagoons south of Ashgabat's Köpetdag şaýoly.[17][18]

Institute for Seismically Resistant Construction

A new building is to be constructed for the Research Institute for Seismically Resistant Construction in Bekrewe, near the Technology Center. Floor space is projected at 12,000 square meters in a four-story building. The building is to include a museum devoted to the history of the institute and of the 1948 earthquake. Construction is expected to be completed by September 2021.[19]

Downtown Neighborhoods

Opposition press reported in December 2020 that buildings between Atamyrat Nyýazow şaýoly, Saparmyrat Türkmenbaşy şaýoly, Nurmuhammet Andalyb şaýoly, and Baba Jepbarow köçesi will be demolished to make room for new construction, and that residents of that area will receive housing yet to be constructed in the Parahat-7 microdistrict.[20]

Naming conventions

Please see :

Laws and decrees related to the city of Ashgabat (in Russian and Turkmen)

References

  1. “ПОСТАНОВЛЕНИЕ Меджлиса Туркменистана О вопросах административных территорий этрапов города Ашхабада”. 6 August 2018. 
  2. “Бердымухамедов открыл Золотое озеро – очередной грандиозный проект” (in Russian). Хроника Туркменистана. 16 June 2020. 
  3. According to local sources, howdan (English: pond) was made the name of these neighborhoods as they are located in a low spot in which runoff from the Kopetdag Mountains accumulated.
  4. The Howdan microdistricts are lettered in order A, B, and W because these Turkmen Latin letters correspond to the first three letters of the Turkmen Cyrillic alphabet, А, Б, В.
  5. Turkmen parahat means "peace" and is a translation of the original Russian name for these microdistricts, мир (mir).
  6. “В сейсмоопасном Ашхабаде построят 35-этажный небоскреб” (in Russian). Chronicles of Turkmenistan. 19 November 2019. 
  7. “Президенту Туркменистана показали грандиозный проект «Ашхабад-сити» (видео)” (in Russian). Chronicles of Turkmenistan. 22 June 2019. 
  8. “Президент Гурбангулы Бердымухамедов ознакомился с масштабным градостроительным проектом” (in Russian). Туркменистан сегодня. 20 June 2019. 
  9. 9.0 9.1 “Президент Туркменистана провёл совещание по подготовке к празднованию 140-летия Ашхабада и его развитию” (in Russian). «Туркменистан: золотой век». 24 February 2021. 
  10. Klychev, Anna-Muhamed (1976). “Ашхабад”. Ashgabat: Издательство "Туркменистан". 
  11. Prezident Bank was merged into Halk Bank in 2017.
  12. Garagum Bank was merged into Senagat Bank in 2017.
  13. “Благополучие народа--главная цель социально ориентированной политики”. Нейтральный Туркменистан. 18 July 2018. p. 1. 
  14. “INTERNATIONAL BURN AND AESTHETIC CENTERS ARE OPENED IN TURKMEN CAPITAL”. Turkmen Embassy in UAE. 
  15. “Президент Туркменистана переименовал Гуртлынское озеро в Золотое” (in Russian). turkmenportal.com. 16 June 2020. 
  16. “В Ашхабаде построят культурный центр на 4000 мест” (in Russian). Chronicles of Turkmenistan. 31 July 2023. 
  17. “В Туркменистане стартовало строительство селезащитных сооружений” (in Russian). Arzuw NEWS. 23 July 2020. 
  18. “Компания «Возрождение» начала строить селезащитные сооружения в Ашхабаде” (in Russian). Хроника Туркменистана. 23 July 2020. 
  19. “В Ашхабаде возводится новое здание НИИ сейсмостойкого строительства” (in Russian). Turkmenportal. March 11, 2020. 
  20. “Власти Ашхабада снова готовятся к сносу жилых домов” (in Russian). RFE/RL. 24 December 2020. 

See also