Gazetteer of Ashgabat Street Names

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This gazetteer of the names of streets in central Ashgabat is intended both to shed light on the history of Ashgabat as reflected in its streets and to acquaint the reader with the origins of many common Turkmen toponyms. It should assist cartographers in orienting themselves in the city when they encounter historical or legacy names and signage.

The four-digit numbers were assigned in lieu of street names during the administration of President Niyazov and while still periodically encountered on signage are considered obsolete.

The gazetteer was compiled by Allan Mustard during 2017-2018 with much help from Tylla Muradova, who translated many Turkmen texts in support of this effort. Numerous online references were consulted, as well as the Turkmen-language Toponym Dictionary of Turkmenistan, which can be downloaded from archive.org. The vast majority of street names were collected by Ann and Allan Mustard during exploration of Ashgabat 2015-2017 for updating the OpenStreetMap atlas of Turkmenistan.

In the table below, the name in bold is the main word in a street name, either current or historic. The second column lists examples of the name in current use. The third column lists former names of the street, which in some cases are still in vernacular use, particularly among members of generations who came of age during the Soviet period and taxi drivers. Russian names have been transliterated into Latin letters using the U.S. Board of Geographic Names transliteration scheme.

1 May - Ahal

1 Maý (Perwomaýsk) 1 Maý 3-nji (2084) geçelgesi Pervomayskiy 3-y proyezd
1 Maý 4-nji (2047/1) geçelgesi Pervomayskiy 4-y proyezd
The first of May is Labor Day in much of the world, particularly in those countries heavily influenced at various times by socialist and communist regimes. Thus in most of the USSR one major thoroughfare in each city was named after the first of May, which in Russia is Pervoye maya and is often shortened in the vernacular to pervomaysk. The Ashgabat street now known as Görogly was First of May Street (Pervomayskaya ulitsa) in the Soviet period and is still commonly referred to by that name. The side streets listed above branch off that street.
Abadançylyk 10 ýyl Abadançylyk (1945) şaýoly Moskovskiy prospekt
Most Soviet cities had a street named for the capital city of the USSR, Moscow. In 2001, ten years after becoming independent, this street was renamed “Ten Years of Prosperity” in Turkmen.
Ablyýew Ablyýew (Angarsk, 2101) köçesi Angarskaya ulitsa

Angarsk köçesi

Ata Ablyýew (1925-2002) was a gyjak musician from Ahal Province.

The former (Soviet) name, Angarsk, honors a city in Siberia on the Angara River.

Agalyýew Allaberdi Agalyýew (2041) köçesi Below köçesi,

ulitsa Belova

Allaberdi Agalyýew was a Soviet Turkmen hero of World War II who earned the Hero of the Soviet Union medal, the USSR’s highest military honor. The reference to someone named Belov is obscure.
Agöýli Agöýli (Magtymguly) köçesi Magtymguly köçesi
Agöýli is a grandson of the mythical Oguz Han, and third son of Oguz Han’s eldest son, Gün (Sun). See also Magtymguly.
Ahal Ahal köçesi
Ahal refers to the dominant Turkmen tribe, the Ahal Teke, and is the name of Ahal welaýat (province) as well as the Ahal Teke horse breed. The meaning is obscure, but the Hungarian Turkologist Ármin Vámbéry speculated that ahal comes from ak “white” + the suffix al. Khiva historians Munis and Agehi wrote that the name means “saline drainage ditch” since the Ahal territory at the time consisted mostly of marshy areas suitable for rice production. The name originally referred to an oasis located between Gyzylarbat and Govshut (Gowşut), and a fortress in the Gökdepe district.

Ahmedow - Altynýap

Ahmedow Weli Ahmedow 1-nji (Warşawa, 2012/1) geçelgesi 1-y Varshavskiy proyezd
Weli Ahmedow 2-nji (Çaryew, Warşawa, 2012/2)

geçelgesi

2-y Varshavskiy proyezd,

Çaryew geçelgesi

Weli Ahmedow 3-nji (Warşawa, 2012/3) geçelgesi 3-y Varshavskiy proyezd
Weli Ahmedow 4-nji (Warşawa, 2012/4) geçelgesi 4-y Varshavskiy proyezd
Weli Ahmedow (Warşawa, 2012) köçesi Varshavskaya ulitsa
Weli Ahmedow (b. 1918) is a Turkmen composer. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1953, and from 1954 to 1956 was artistic director of the Turkmen Philharmonic.

One of the streets was briefly named Çaryew, possibly in honor of Gurbandurdy Çaryew (1941-2011), a native of Baýramaly who worked in theater and the arts first in Ashgabat, then in 1985 moved to Bashkortostan, Russia.

It was common in Soviet cities for streets to be named after the capitals of “fraternal socialist” countries, hence the naming of these streets after the city of Warsaw during the Soviet period.

Akbugdaý Akbugdaý (1918/1) geçelgesi
Akbugdaý köçesi
Turkmen ak “white” + bugdaý “wheat”. Turkmen scientists assert that white wheat was first bred in Annau (Änew), the former capital of Ahal Province.
Alamyşow Amandurdy Alamyşow Nadsonowskiý köçesi,

Sendetskiy pereulok

Semyon Nadson (1862-1887) was a Russian poet. Vasiliy Sendetskiy (1838-1907) was a Russian military officer, who among other assignments commanded Russian Army divisions in Turkmenistan between the mid-1890s and 1901. Amandurdy Alamyşow was a Soviet Turkmen poet and writer most active in the first half of the 20th century.
Allanurow Hydyr Allanurow (Karaganda, 2087/4) köçesi Karagandinskaya ulitsa, Kladbishchenskaya ulitsa
Hydyr Allanurow (1922-) was a Soviet Turkmen composer and People’s Artist of the USSR. He began to work at the Opera and Ballet Theater of Turkmenistan in 1941, then he was promoted to principal director/conductor and occupied that position for 30 years straight.

Karaganda is a city in Kazakhstan. Russian kladbishche “cemetery” refers to the Khitrovka Cemetery to which this street leads and is the root of the pre-Revolutionary name.

Altaý Altaý (2117) köçesi
Altay is a region of Russia in western Siberia. The name’s meaning is subject to dispute but the most likely explanation is a corruption of the generic Turkic roots altyn “gold” + ay “moon”.
Altynýap Altynýap
Turkmen altyn “gold, fertile, plentiful” + ýap “ditch”.

Amanow - Annaýew

Amanow Andižan Amanow (2089) köçesi
Bazar Amanow (Işçi, 1982/4) köçesi Işçi köçesi, 1982/4 köçe
Bazar Amanow 1-nji (Glinka, 2111/5) geçelgesi Glinka köçesi, 2111/5 köçe,

ulitsa Glinki

Bazar Amanow 2-nji (Çaýkowskiý (2111/6)

geçelgesi

Çaýkowskiý kocesi, 2111/6 köçe,

ulitsa Chaykovskogo

Bazar Amanow 3-nji (Mendeleýew, 2111/7)

geçelgesi

Mendeleýew köçesi, 2111/7 köçe,

ulitsa Mendeleyeva

Bazar Amanow (1908-1981) was Soviet Turkmen actor and playwright. Turkmen işçi “worker”. The reference to Andižan Amanow is obscure.

Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857) was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition within his own country, and is often regarded as the fountainhead of Russian classical music. Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was Russia’s most famous romantic composer. Dmitry Mendeleyev (1834-1907) was a Russian chemist and inventor. He formulated the Periodic Law, created a farsighted version of the periodic table of elements, and used it to correct the properties of some already discovered elements and also to predict the properties of eight elements yet to be discovered.

Amy Derýa 1-nji Amy Derýa (Suworow) geçelgesi Suvorovskaya ulitsa
2-nji Amy Derýa (Garagum) geçelgesi Hudaýnazarow (2113) köçesi

Garagum köçesi

Karakumskaya ulitsa

Amy Derýa (2024) köçesi
The Amu Darya (in Turkmen Amy Derýa) is one of the two major rivers crossing Central Asia. It rises in the mountains of the Tien Shan and crosses the deserts of Central Asia to the Aral Sea. Amu (Turkmen Amy) derives from the ancient name Amul for the city later called Chardzhou (Charjew) and today called Turkmenabat. The Persian word derya means river and was borrowed by Turkic speakers.

See also Hudaýnazarow, Jeýhun and Suworow.

Andalyp Nurmuhammet Andalyp (1958) köçesi Prospekt Mira,

ulitsa Nurmukhameda,

ulitsa Druzhby Narodov

Nurmuhammet Andalyp (1660-1740) was a historian, translator, writer, and philosopher claimed by both the Turkmen and the Uzbeks. His dessans include Leýli we Mejnun (many verses of which have become folks songs), Ýusup we Zuleýha, Babaröwşen, and Zeýnelarap. His most famous poem is Oguznama. In his great lyric work Çigir, Andalyp showcased the hard work and miserable earnings of the rural worker. The street named for him bears signs spelling his name in various ways, including Andalyb, Andalyp, and Andalip. During the Soviet period the street was named “Peace Prospect” (Prospekt Mira).

When renamed after independence, the section of this street south of Atamyrat Nyýazow köçesi was briefly designated Nurmuhamed köçesi (ulitsa Nurmukhameda), and the section north of Anna Muhammedow köçesi was called Friendship of Peoples (Druzhby Narodov).

Andižan Andižan geçelgesi Andizhanskiy proyezd
Andijan (Andizhan) is a city in Uzbekistan in the Fergana Valley believed to date to the 7th or 8th century as a Silk Route oasis. This alley’s name is one of the few remaining in Ashgabat that date to the pre-Revolutionary period. The northern section of today’s Jelaletdin Rumy köçesi was named Andižan köçesi (Andizhanskaya ulitsa) until 2015.
Ankara Ankara (1946) köçesi
Ankara is the capital city of the Republic of Turkey.
Annagulyýewa Annagül Annagulyýewa

(Hojaw Annadurdyýew, 2026) köçesi

Hojaw Annadurdyýew köçesi,

ulitsa Kalinina,

ulitsa Bogolyubova

Annagül Annagulyýewa (1923-2009) was the first Turkmen operatic soprano. She was also an actress, People’s Artist of the USSR, and wife of Alty Garliýew.

Hojaw Annadurdyýew (1909-1976) was a tenor and music director who was named a People’s Artist of the Turkmen SSR in 1952. He was born in Dorgan, Kaahka district. His most notable roles were as Tahyr in the opera Zöhre we Tahyr. His other performances include the operas Abadan and Aýna. Later in his career he branched into directing.

Mikhail Kalinin (1875-1946) was an old Bolshevik who served as head of state of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and later of the Soviet Union from 1919 to 1946. He was a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

The pre-Revolutionary name, ulitsa Bogolyubova (“love of God”), paid homage to an early governor of Transcaspia, General Andrey Bogolyubov (1841-1909).

Annanow Baba Annanow (1916) köçesi Respublikanskaya ulitsa
Baba Annanow köçesi
Baba Annanow (1934-1991) was a Soviet Turkmen actor, film director, screen writer, author, People’s Artist of the USSR. Russian respublika “republic” (borrowed from the Latin res publica) referred to the official status of Turkmenistan as a union republic of the USSR.
Annaýew Aba Annaýew (2060) köçesi ulitsa Ostrovskogo, Grodekovskaya ulitsa
Aba Annaýew, great uncle of Turkmenistan's former President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, was a horse breeder.

The street was previously named after Aleksandr Ostrovsky (1823-1886), a Russian playwright whose works became a milestone in development of Russian theater.

Prior to that the street was named Grodekovskaya ulitsa in honor of Lieutenant General Nikolay Grodekov (1843-1913), who among other assignments served as governor general of Turkestan from 1906 to 1908. Prior to that, Grodekov participated in the 1873 Khiva campaign, for which he was decorated for bravery, and which he described in an 1883 memoir. He served under Skobolev in Fergana, and later under Governor-General Kaufman. During this latter period Grodekov, accompanied by only two local djigits, conducted a very dangerous two-thousand verst (over 1,300-mile) reconnaissance on horseback of northern Afghanistan and northeastern Persia. He described that adventure in an 1879 memoir, Through Afghanistan , which was published in English, French and German as well as the original Russian. In 1880 he commanded the vanguard of Skobolev’s assault on the Ahal Teke, and later was chief of staff of the Transcaspian military command. He was promoted to major general in 1881 and decorated for his role in the siege and storming of Gökdepe. He described this campaign in a monumental four-volume work, The War in Turkmenia, Skobolev’s March in 1880-1881, which was published in 1883 and 1884. In 1883 he was appointed military governor and commander of troops in Syr Darya province, and in 1890 was promoted to lieutenant general. In 1893 Grodekov ordered and participated personally in translation into Russian of the works of the medieval Uzbek attorney Burhanuddin al-Marginani.

In the imperial period this street marked the western boundary of the city of Ashgabat.

Ar Togrul Gazy - Aşyrow

Ar Togrul Gazy Ar Togrul Gazy

(Karbyşew, 1989) koçesi

ulitsa Karbysheva
In Turkey and the West he is known as Ertuğrul Gazi (1191-1281), father of Osman, who founded the Ottoman Empire.

The name of this street in the Soviet period was ulitsa Karbysheva in honor of Soviet Lieutenant General Dmitriy Karbyshev (1890-1945), who was taken prisoner by the Nazis during WWII and martyred at the Mauthausen concentration camp by having cold water poured over him during freezing weather until he died from exposure. Karbyshev was considered in the USSR to be the most outstanding example of courage in the face of the enemy during WWII. An obelisk memorial to him once stood on the campus of School No. 36 in Ashgabat.

Arçabil Arçabil (1939) şaýoly Novofiryuzinskoye shosse
Turkmen arça “juniper” + bil “waist, belt”, i.e., “a belt of juniper trees.” Archabil is the name of a now depopulated former village southwest of downtown Ashgabat, which has been repurposed as the presidential estate residence. This boulevard leads westward in that direction.

The village was previously called Firyuza, hence the previous name of this street, which translates as “New Firyuza Highway”. Residents were evicted beginning in the 1990s, with eviction completed by no later than 2010. The village was formally abolished as an administrative structure in 2015, though road signs in Ashgabat continue to point to it. The Arçabil presidential estate was included in the city of Ashgabat when the city boundary was expanded in 2013.

Aşgabat 9 Köşi (Aşgabat, 2078/4) geçelgesi
Aşgabat (2082) köçesi
Aşgabat köçesi
Aşgabat (Ashgabat) is the name of the capital of Turkmenistan. The name is believed to derive from Persian roots eshq “love” + ābād “populated place, town”.
Astana Astana (Alma Ata, 2095) köçesi Alma Atinskaya köçesi,

Alma Atinskaya ulitsa

Astana is the capital of Kazakhstan. Alma Ata (Almaty) is a major city in Kazakhstan, and was once its capital. Kazakh alma “apple” + ata “father”. The apple, a member of the botanical rose family, is believed to have originated in Kazakhstan, where wild varieties continue to be collected for their germplasm.
Asudalyk Asudalyk (Žitnikowa, 2010) köçesi ulitsa Zhitnikova, Torgovaya ulitsa
Turkmen asudalyk “peace, prosperity”.

Regarding previous names for this street, Yakov Zhitnikov was commissar for food and head of the Ashgabat city Communist Party organization during the Revolution. He was executed by firing squad on July 22, 1918, as one of the “Nine Ashgabat Commissars” north of the railroad track about 19 kilometers east of Ashgabat. See also Teliýa and Öwezow. Torgovaya is the Russian adjective for “trade, commerce”.

Aşyrmyradow Aşyrmyradow (1958/3) köçesi
Given the proximity of this street to the Ashgabat railroad station, it is likely named in honor of Mämmet Aşyrmyradow, who in 1959 was recognized as a Hero of Soviet Labor for his work as a locomotive engineer based out of the Ashgabat Railroad Depot. He was also a deputy of the Turkmen SSR Supreme Soviet in the 1960s.
Aşyrow Çary Aşyrow (2105/7) köçesi
Çary Aşyrow (1910-2003) was a Turkmen writer and poet.

Ata - Aýly Agşam

Ata Hydyr Ata (Taşkent) köçesi Tashkentskaya ulitsa
Hydyr Ata is a mythological figure, a protector of the oppressed.

The former name of this street, Tashkentskaya ulitsa, was one of the few remaining pre-Revolutionary street names until it was superseded in 2015. Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan, and the name derives from generic Turkic roots tash“stone” + kent “city”.

Atatürk Atatürk (1972) köçesi Yambashskaya ulitsa
Atatürk (Turkish ata “father” + türk “Turk”, i.e., father of the Turks) was the family name General Mustafa Kemal, leader of Turkish independence and first president of Turkey, adopted when he required citizens of the Republic of Turkey to westernize by assuming family names (until then, family names were unknown in Turkish culture).

Yambash refers to a river in Russia’s Altay region. It may also be a misspelling of Ýanbaş, which is a village near Bagyr.

Ataýew S. Ataýew (2099) köçesi Baykalskaya ulitsa
Seýitniýaz Ataýew (1924-) is a Turkmen writer and publicist and Magtymguly Prize honoree. He was born in Annau (Änew). During WWII he commanded first a platoon, then a company, and finally a battalion. As commander of a reconnaissance unit he regularly went behind enemy lines. At war’s end he was head of his regiment’s intelligence unit. After the war he translated several literary classics into Turkmen, and produced Turkmen neologisms to cover modern socio-economic and scientific concepts. He also participated in compilation of Russian-Turkmen and Turkmen-Russian dictionaries.

Baykalskaya refers to Lake Baykal in Siberia, the largest body of fresh water by volume in the world.

Atdanow Atdanow (Şatlyk) köçesi Şatlyk köçesi
Annaberdi Atdanow was a Turkmen singer, most noted for his performance in the motion picture Keçpelek (Hard Fate). Şatlyk is a city in Mary province. The Turkmen word şatlyk means “joy, happiness”. See Şatlyk.
Awrabat Awrabat köçesi
Of obscure origin.
Aýlaw Aýlaw ýoly
Turkmen aýlaw “ring”. This is the northern bypass route that encircles or rings the northern part of Ashgabat. This road is also referred to in some documents as Garagum şaýoly, a reference to the Karakum Desert.
Aýly Agşam Aýly Agşam (Inženernaýa) köçesi Inzhenernaya ulitsa
Turkmen “moon” + ly “with” + agşam “evening”, roughly translated as “moonlit evening”. The former Russian name means “engineer”.

Azady - Berdiýew

Azady Azady geçelgesi
Döwletmämed Azady (2011) köçesi General’skaya ulitsa,

Levashovskaya ulitsa,

ulitsa Engel’sa,

ulitsa Makhtumkuly

Döwletmämed Azady (Engels, 2011) köçesi
Döwletmämed Azady (1694-1760) was a Turkmen poet and the father of Magtymguly Pyragy. A statue of him stands in Ylham Park.

Azady is actually two streets, one leading west from an intersection with Puşkin köçesi and the other leading east from half a block south of that intersection.

During the Soviet period the western half of the street was named in honor of Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), German philosopher, social scientist, journalist, and businessman, who founded Marxist theory together with Karl Marx. In 1848, he co-authored The Communist Manifesto with Marx. This portion of the street was called General’skaya ulitsa before the Russian Revolution, an obvious homage to the generals of the Russian Army garrison in Ashgabat.

The pre-Revolutionary name of the eastern half of Azady, Levashovskaya, apparently refers to the village of Levashovo, near St. Petersburg. During the Soviet period it was renamed ulitsa Makhtumkuly in honor of Turkmen poet Magtymguly Pyragy (see Magtymguly). It should not be confused with the current Magtymguly şaýoly in Ashgabat, which was named ulitsa Svobody (Freedom Street) during the Soviet period.

Azatlyk Azatlyk köçesi
Turkmen azatlyk, “freedom, liberty”
Azymow Pygam Azymow (Akademik Petrow, 2013) köçesi ulitsa Akademika Petrova,

Bagirskaya ulitsa

Pygam Azymow (1915-?), Soviet Turkmen scientist and linguist, was awarded Order of Lenin, Order of October Revolution, and the Red Banner of Labor.

Academician Mikhail Platonovich Petrov (1906-1978) was a Soviet botanist and geographer. He was elected to the Turkmen SSR Academy of Sciences in 1951 and from 1970 to 1978 was vice president of the USSR Geographic Society. He spent most of his career in Turkmenistan, but retired to and died in Leningrad.

Turkmen bagyr “liver” is the name of a village west of Ashgabat. The Russian spelling of this village name in Latin transliteration was Bagir.

Babaýew Hiwali Babaýew (1980) köçesi Karakumskaya ulitsa
Hiwali Babaýew (1902-1941) was a Soviet Turkmen political figure from Gazanjik (today called Bereket). In May 1937 he was named acting second secretary of the Turkmen Communist Party, from October 1937 to July 1938 was chair of the Central Executive Committee of the Turkmen SSR, and from then until his death in August 1941 was chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Turkmen SSR.

The original name of this street was Karakumskaya ulitsa / Garagum köçesi, Turkmen gara “black” + gum “sand”, the name of the desert just outside the city.

Bagtly Zaman Bagtly Zaman (Uniwersitet, 2066) köçesi Universitetskaya ulitsa
Turkmen bagtly “fortunate, lucky” + zaman “time”.
Bagtyýarlyk Bagtyýarlyk (2002/5) köçesi
Turkmen bagtyýarlyk, “happiness”.
Balakaýew Körhan Balakaýew (1956) köçesi Donskaya ulitsa
Körhan Balakaýew 2 (1956/3) geçelgesi 2-y Donskoy proyezd
Körhan Balakaýew 5 (1956/6) geçelgesi 5-y Donskoy proyezd
The reference to Körhan Balakaýew is obscure. The Don River is a major waterway in European Russia that flows into the Sea of Azov, and lends its name to the Don Cossacks.
Bäşimow Rejep Bäşimow (Lermontow, 2025) köçesi ulitsa Lermontova,

Vnovoprovedennaya ulitsa

The reference to Rejep Bäşimow is obscure.

Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841), military officer, author, painter, and poet, is considered Russia’s second greatest poet after Pushkin and to have laid the groundwork for the Russian psychological novel.

The original name of this street, Vnovoprovedennaya ulitsa, literally means “newly led through” or “newly conducted” and may have been a temporary marker pending assignment of a more permanent name.

Bäşiýew Geldi Bäşiýew (Halturin, 1982) köçesi ulitsa Khalturina,

Halturin köçesi

Geldi Bäşiýew (1938- ) was born in Deşt village of Bäherden district. He graduated from Turkmen State University in 1962, having majored in Turkmen language and literature. A poet, he worked as a radio announcer to earn a living. He is a Meritorious Worker of Culture of Turkmenistan. A 1996 book titled Çynarym (“My Plane Tree”) contains most of his poetry.

Stepan Khalturin (1857-1882) was a Russian revolutionary, member of Narodnaya Volya, and was responsible for an attempted assassination of Alexander II of Russia.

Batyrow Ş. Batyrow köçesi
Şaja Batyrow (Bessarabskaýa, 2056) köçesi Bessarabskaya ulitsa
Şaja Batyrow (Gorkiý, 2056) köçesi ulitsa Gor’kogo
Şaja Batyrow was a Soviet Turkmen scientist, and president of the Turkmen SSR Academy of Sciences 1959-1965. This street was previously considered two separate thoroughfares.

The former street name Bessarabskaya, which was applied to the portion of this street south of Görogly köçesi, refers to Bessarabia, a region in Moldova.

The section north of Görogly köçesi was previously named Gorkiý in honor of Soviet Russian author and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate Maxim Gorky, the pen name of Aleksey Peshkov. See also Gorkiý.

Baýram Han Baýram Han (Repin, 1936) köçesi ulitsa Repina
Baýram Han köçesi
Bayram Han (circa 1501-1561) was an ethnic Turkmen who served as commander-in-chief of the Mughal Empire’s army under Emperors Humayun and Akbar.

Ilya Repin (1844-1930) was a Russian realist painter. He was the most renowned Russian artist of the 19th century. He played a major role in bringing Russian art into the mainstream of European culture. His major works include Barge Haulers on the Volga (1873), Religious Procession in Kursk Province (1883) and Reply of the Zaporozhye Cossacks (1880–91).

Baýryýew Çary Baýryýew (Mežlauk, 2050) köçesi ulitsa Mezhlauka,

Chardzhuyskaya ulitsa

Çary Baýryýew was a legendary military physician and rector of the Turkmen Medical Institute.

The Soviet-era name honored one or all Mezhlauk brothers, ethnic Latvian Communists. Valery Mezhlauk (Latvian: Valērijs Mežlauks, 1893-1938) was a high Soviet government official who was executed during Stalin’s Great Terror. He was posthumously rehabilitated in 1956. His brother, Martyn Mezhlauk (Mārtiņš Mežlauks, 1895-1918), was a Bolshevik revolutionary who was captured by White Russian forces and executed. Most probably, however, the street was named in honor of Ivan Mezhlauk (Jānis Mežlauks, 30 September 1891 – 25 April 1938), who was the first person appointed first secretary of the Turkmen Communist Party as well as president of Turkmenistan in 1924. He was also shot during Stalin's Great Terror.

The original pre-Revolutionary name of the street honored the city of Charjew (Chardzhou), now named Turkmenabat.

Bekrewe Bekrewe (2072) köçesi Bikrovinskaya ulitsa
Bekrewe (Agzybirlik, 2072) kocesi Agzybirlik köçesi, ulitsa Pavlova
Bekrewe (Atabaýew, 2068) köçesi Atabaýew köçesi, Samarkandskaya ulitsa
Bekrewe geçelgesi Bikrovinskiy proyezd
Bekrewe şaýoly Bikrovinskoye shosse
Previously, the village called Bekrewe was known as Giňöý (Turkmen giň “broad, large, spaсious” + öý “house”). The meaning of bekrewe is uncertain, but it is possibly derived from Persian bekr “bare place” + ab “water”, meaning “spring in a bare place,” since this village is the site of a spring with much water in it. The terminal “e” in the word is used in Persian to form a noun. The street and highway lead to the village of Bekrewe (Russian: Bikrova), which has been annexed by the city of Ashgabat and now has the status of an Ashgabat neighborhood.

Before 2017, this name was attached only to the portion of the street south of Görogly. In that year, Agzybirlik (Turkmen agzybirlik “unanimity”) and Atabaýew were widened and connected to create a major thoroughfare leading north to Gurban Soltan Eje. Those streets were renamed Bekrewe. Haji Mamiýewyç Atabaýew (1898-1938) was an ethnic Nohur Communist revolutionary. He was People’s Commissar for Crop Production of the Turkmen SSR 1930-1937, in addition to serving as a Communist Party functionary. He was arrested in 1937 and shot in 1938.

Samarkand is a major city in Uzbekistan and historically was the seat of a khanate. Pavlov is a common Russian last name; in whose honor that street was originally named is obscure.

Berdiýew Aga Berdiýew (2087) köçesi Grazhdanskaya ulitsa, ulitsa Ashkhabadskikh Podpol’shikov Bol’shevikov
Aga Berdiýew (Ýerewan) geçelgesi Yerevanskiy proyezd
Aga Berdiýew was a Soviet Turkmen espionage agent during WWII.

The Russian word grazhdanskaya means “civil, citizen”. This street was previously named in honor of “Ashgabat Underground Bolsheviks”. Yerevan is the capital of Armenia.

Berdyýew - Binagärlik

Berdyýew Tagan Berdyýew (1994) köçesi Komarovskaya ulitsa, Tyuremnaya ulitsa
Tagan Berdyýew (1911-1985), doctor of pedagogy, was a Soviet Turkmen educator and member of the Turkmen Academy of Sciences. He joined the Communist Party in 1940 and was Turkmen Minister of Education 1940-1946, then deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of Turkmenistan 1946-1951. He wrote over 60 works on pedagogy and history.

The previous name of this street south of today’s Magtymguly paid homage to Lieutenant General Aleksandr Komarov (1830-1904), who in 1883 was placed in command of the Transcaspian Governate. His major accomplishment was subjugation of the Mary Teke with the help of Major Magtymguly Han, son of the late Nurberdi Han, who following the Battle of Gökdepe had joined the Russian Army. In 1885 Komarov defeated British forces on the Afghan border in the Panjdeh Incident. Komarov was decorated for both of these actions. He was granted a retirement promotion to full general of infantry.

The section of this street north of Magtymguly originally formed part of Tyuremnaya ulitsa (Russian tyurma “prison”), which led northward to the city prison at the intersection with Zhandarmskaya (Gendarme) Street, today’s Aga Berdiýew köçesi.

Bereket Bereket köçesi
Turkmen bereket, “abundance, plenty”.
Bereketli Bereketli geçelgesi Petrozawodsk geçelgesi,

Petrozavodskiy proyezd

Turkmen bereketli “bountiful, abundant”. See Petrozawodsk.
Berkarar Berkarar (2004) köçesi Osipenko köçesi, ulitsa Osipenko
Turkmen berkarar, “steadfast”. The previous name of this street, ulitsa Osipenko, paid homage to a heroic Soviet Ukrainian aviatrix of WWII, Polina Osipenko.
Berzeňňi Berzeňňi köçesi

Berzeňňi (1923) ýoly

ulitsa Berzengi

1923 köçe

This is the site of a mineral water wellspring. Berzeňňi (Russian: Berzengi) is the name of the person who dug that well. The name was later given to a nearby settlement, which still later was incorporated into the city of Ashgabat. The spring still exists, and is located at the entrance to the Berzeňňi Sanatorium.
Bilim Bilim (Prosweşçeniýa, 2062) köçesi ulitsa Prosveshcheniya,

ulitsa Poltoratskogo

Turkmen bilim, “education, enlightenment”, a direct translation of the former Russian name. The Soviet government renamed the city of Ashgabat Poltoratsk from 1919 to 1927 in honor of a local revolutionary, Pavel Gerasimovich Poltoratskiy (1888?-1918), who was executed by White Russian forces in Mary on July 21, 1918.
Binagärlik Binagärlik (Omsk) köçesi Omskaya ulitsa
Turkmen binagärlik, “architecture”. The Institute of Architecture is nearby. The former name, Omskaya ulitsa, refers to the Russian city of Omsk.

Bitarap - Borodin

Bitarap Türkmenistan Bitarap Türkmenistan (2002) şaýoly ulitsa Podvoyskogo, Artilleriyskaya ulitsa

ulitsa Gogolya, Gogolevskaya ulitsa

Zyulfagarovskaya ulitsa, ulitsa Nezavisimosti,

Khauzkhanskaya ulitsa

Turkmen bitarap Türkmenistan, “neutral Turkmenistan”.

This is really three streets that have been given a common name. The former Soviet Russian name of the portion of the street south of Presidential Palace Square honored Nikolay Podvoyskiy (1880-1948), an old Bolshevik who was exiled to Europe and Siberia, and served as Lenin’s military commissar in the first Bolshevik government of the Soviet Union.

The pre-Revolutionary name of this street south of Presidential Palace Square, Artilleriyskaya ulitsa (Artillery Street), acknowledged the street’s utility in connecting Russian Imperial military encampments south of the city center to the downtown area. Briefly in the 1990s this portion of the street was named ulitsa Nezavisimosti (Independence Street) before receiving designation as Bitarap Türkmenistan.

On February 18, 1902, the section of Bitarap north of Garaşsyzlyk meýdani to today’s Magtymguly was renamed by order of the oblast’ leadership in honor of Ukrainian writer Nikolay Gogol’ (1809-1852). Prior to that it was called Zyulfagarovskaya ulitsa, likely referring to Zulfiqar, the legendary sword of Ali ibn Abi Talib, which is said to have been given to him by the Prophet Muhammad. This section of the street led originally to the Muslim portion of the Khitrovka Cemetery.

After independence this part of the street north of Magtymguly was briefly renamed Hauzhan (Khauzkhanskaya ulitsa) after the town of Hauz Han in Ahal Province.

Borisow Borisow geçelgesi Borisovskiy pereulok,

3-y Vostochnyy pereulok

Origin of the name Borisov is obscure. The pre-Revolutionary name, Third Eastern Alley, is a strong hint that this was the eastern edge of the city at the time the alley was laid out. An early map of Ashgabat shows little to the east of it but a cotton ginning plant and “Mechanical Factory No. 57”.
Borodin Borodin geçelgesi Borodinskiy pereulok, Khilkovskaya ulitsa, ulitsa Zhukovskogo
The name celebrates either General Kutuzov’s victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Borodino in 1812 or the Russian composer Aleksandr Borodin (1833-1887), Russian romantic composer of Georgian origin, physician, and chemist; composer among other works of In the Steppes of Central Asia.

The aristocratic Khilkov family was prominent in Russian (particularly military) history, but which family member is honored by the naming of this street prior to the Revolution is uncertain. One possibility is Mikhail Khilkov (1834-1909), who was the Russian Empire’s minister of railways 1895-1905, since construction of the Kushkinskaya Railway through Ashgabat and onward to Mary and then today’s Serhetabad (then known as Kushki) was a major impetus for conquest of this part of Central Asia. The rail line was used to resupply Russian Imperial troops who prevented Britain from expanding northward out of Afghanistan during the Great Game.

In whose honor the street was later named ulitsa Zhukovskogo is unclear, but a leading candidate is noted Russian Orientalist Valentin Alekseyevich Zhukovskiy, who in addition to his research of ancient Persia in 1890 led an archeological expedition to Transcaspia that resulted in publication of Antiquities of the Transcaspian Region. Ruins of Old Merv as well as articles in scientific periodicals of the time.

See also Pomma.

Buhara - Çyrçyk

Buhara Buhara (2017) köçesi Bukharskaya ulitsa
Bukhara is a city in Uzbekistan and prior to the Russian conquest of Central Asia was seat of an independent khanate. This short street is one of five in Ashgabat that retain their pre-Revolutionary names.
Burunow Garaja Burunow (1997) köçesi Krupskaya ulitsa, Samurskaya ulitsa
Garaja Burunow (1896-1965) was a Turkmen poet.

In the Soviet period the street’s name honored Nadezhda Krupskaya (1869-1939), the wife of Vladimir Lenin, in her own right a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and politician. Samurskiy refers to a region in Dagestan.

Çandybil Çandybil şaýoly
This is the name of the land and impregnable fortress of Görogly. Etymology is uncertain but possibly comes from Turkmen çandy or çangla “dusty” + bil “mountain, ridge, mountainside”.
Çary Omar Çary köçesi
The reference to Omar Çary in the name of this Gurtly neighborhood street is obscure.
Çarygulyýew Atabaý Çarygulyýew köçesi Matrosow köçesi,

ulitsa Matrosov

Atabaý Çarygulyýew (1958-2009) was a Turkmen musician from Gämi. Matros means “sailor” in Russian. Its reference in a desert city is obscure.
Çerkez Çerkez köçesi
Turkmen and Russian çerkez, “Circassian”
Çernýahowský Çernýahowský köçesi
Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovskiy (1906-1945) was the youngest ever Soviet general of the army, twice Hero of the Soviet Union and commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front. He died from wounds received outside Königsberg (today’s Kaliningrad) at age 38.
Çernyşewsky Çernyşewsky köçesi ulitsa Shchorsa
Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky (1828-1889) was a Russian revolutionary democrat, materialist philosopher, critic, and socialist. His novel What Is To Be Done was highly influential. Briefly after independence this street was renamed in honor of Shchors (see Suhangulyýew).
Çeşme Çeşme
Çeşme (2033) köçesi
Turkmen çeşme “(water) spring, (water) source”.
Çyrçyk 4 Çyrçyk geçelgesi
Çyrçyk was once a village that preserved its rural character as the city of Ashgabat expanded to surround it. It was demolished in the early 2000s during urban renewal; the name is preserved solely by this side street. The name may refer to the eponymous town or river in Uzbekistan.

Çyraçylar - Derweze

Çyraçylar Çyraçylar köçesi
Turkmen çyraç “kerosene lamp” + çy “one who does” + lar “plural suffix”, i.e., lamp bearers. The reference is obscure.
Dabut Dabut köçesi
Of obscure origin, but most likely a misspelling of Davud, the Islamic spelling of David. Though David is considered a prophet in Islam as well as in Judaism and Christianity, in Turkic popular tradition he is also associated with the pre-Islamic god of metalworking (equivalent to the Greek Hephaestus or Roman Vulcan). The neighborhood in which this street is located, near the Ashgabat City Hippodrome, was built after the 1948 earthquake.
Dayahatyn Dayahatyn (Gaža, Wawilow, 2005) köçesi Gaža köçesi, Gazhinskaya ulitsa, ulitsa Vavilova
The Dayahatyn caravansaray roughly two hours outside Turkmenabat was once a major stopping point on the Silk Route as that point was the easiest place to ford the Amu Darya.

The earlier names of this street refer to the neighborhood in which it was located, Gazha (in Turkmen Gaža), and before that to the Soviet biologist, Nikolay Vavilov (1887-1943), widely considered one of the most brilliant scientists of the 20th century, but who was repressed by Stalin for disputing Communist ideology’s application to science. Stalin arranged for Vavilov, an agricultural researcher, to starve to death in prison, rather than having him shot. Vavilov was posthumously rehabilitated in 1955. This street likely received Vavilov’s name due to its proximity to both the Turkmen Agricultural University and the Botanical Garden. Before Gazha was demolished, other Soviet scientists’ names were featured on its streets, including Tsiolkovsky and Vil’yams; another major street in Gazha was named Tselinnaya in honor of the Virgin Lands campaign of the 1950s.

Gaža refers to calcium carbonate, or gypsum. Since there is a stratum of gypsum on the hill on which this post-earthquake neighborhood was built, the neighborhood was named Gaža (Gazha). The neighborhood was demolished between 2014 and 2017.

Demirçiler Demirçiler (1938) köçesi ulitsa Krasnykh Metallistov
Turkmen demir “iron” + çi “one who does or works” + ler “plural suffix”, i.e., ironworkers or blacksmiths. This is an approximate post-Soviet rendition of the Soviet Russian name for this thoroughfare, Street of the Red Metalworkers. The former factory “Krasnyye Metallisty” was located on what is now Nesimi köçesi (formerly Torgovaya ulitsa), 16, which was an outgrowth of a small blacksmith shop that produced mattocks, rakes, and other tools.
Demirgazyk Demirgazyk (2121) köçesi
Turkmen demir “iron” + gazyk “peg, stake”, i.e., “north” (the direction toward which a magnetized iron peg points).
Derweze Derweze (2109/5) köçesi
Turkmen derweze “city gate”. This is also the name of a village on the Ashgabat-Dashoguz highway, near the fire crater.

Derýaýew - Durdyýew

Derýaýew Hydyr Derýaýew (2052) köçesi ulitsa Dzerzhinskogo,

Margelanskaya ulitsa

Hydyr Derýaýew (1908-1988) was a Turkmen writer, poet, playwright, linguist, and university professor.

Feliks Edmundovich Dzerzhinskiy (1877–1926) was a Polish and Soviet Bolshevik revolutionary who headed the first Soviet secret police agency, the notorious NKVD, 1917-1926, and presided over mass summary executions during the Red Terror and the Russian Civil War. During the Soviet period a statue of Dzerzhinskiy stood in Victory Park east of this street, approximately where the soccer fields are now located.

The original name of the street, Margelanskaya ulitsa, refers to the city of Margilan in the Fergana Valley of present-day Uzbekistan, which according to legend was founded by Alexander the Great.

Dostluk Dostluk (1914) köçesi
Dostluk köçesi
Turkmen dostluk “friendship”.
Dowletow Ata Dowletow (Lomonosow, 1918) köçesi ulitsa Lomonosova
Ata Dowletow (Lomonosow) geçelgesi proyezd Lomonosova
Ata Dowletow (1912–1990) was a Soviet Turkmen film actor from Ashgabat. See Lomonosow.
Dowodow Dowodow (2087/2) köçesi
Niýaz Muradowyç Dowodow was a Turkmen painter.
Dunaýskiý Dunaýskiý geçelgesi Dunayskiy proyezd
Russian dunay “Danube”.
Durdy Gurban Durdy (2060/10) köçesi
Gurban Durdy (1917-1976) was a Soviet Turkmen veteran and hero of WWII, a junior sergeant who earned the Order of Lenin and Hero of the Soviet Union decorations.
Durdyýew Agahan Durdyýew (2105/13)
Ata Durdyýew (2051) köçesi
Agahan Durdyýew (2105/12) köçesi Gastello köçesi (variant Gostello)
Ýylgaý Durdyýew Harkow köçesi, Kharkovskaya ulitsa
Agahan Durdyýew (1904-1947) is considered the first Soviet Turkmen prose writer to have authored works in support of Communist ideals. Ata Durdyýew (1910-1981) was a Soviet Turkmen actor on stage and screen, whose awards included People’s Artist of the Turkmen SSR, People’s Artist of the USSR, Stalin Prize, and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. Captain Nikolay Gastello (1907-1941) was a Soviet military aviator. He died in combat in WWII and was posthumously made a Hero of the Soviet Union. Ýylgaý Durdyýew was a 20th-century Turkmen writer and poet, known mainly for being first to refer to then-Turkmen President Niyazov as arkadag (“protector”) in a 1992 poem, Ak atly Serdarym (“My Leader on a White Horse”).

Dursunowa - Garagum

Dursunowa Saçly Dursunowa köçesi ulitsa Lazo
Saçly Dursunowa was a female military paramedic during WWII whose heroism in retrieving wounded soldiers and treating them while under enemy fire demonstrated extraordinary heroism.

Sergey Lazo (1894-1920) was a Moldovan Communist who commanded Bolshevik forces on the Far Eastern front of the Russian Civil War. He was captured by Japanese troops on April 5, 1920, and is believed to have been shot and his body incinerated in the firebox of a steam locomotive. The rail station where this allegedly occurred is named after him.

Duşanbe 2 Duşanbe (2097/2) geçelgesi Dushanbinskaya ulitsa
Duşanbe (2097) köçesi
Dushanbe is the capital city of Tajikistan.
Dykma Serdar Dykma Serdar (Kramskoý) köçesi ulitsa Kramskogo
Öwezmyrat Dykma Serdar (1825-1884?) was a Teke Turkmen general and one of the commanders of the defense of Göktepe in 1881. He was amnestied after the Russian conquest of Turkestan and served in the Russian Imperial Army, rising to the rank of major. The previous name of this street honored Russian painter Ivan Kramskoy (1837-1887).
Emre Ýunus Emre (1951) köçesi ulitsa 70 let Oktyabrya
Yunus Emre (1238-1320) was a Turkish poet and Sufi mystic who greatly influenced Anatolian culture. His name, Yunus, is equivalent to the English name Jonas. He wrote in the Old Anatolian Turkish language, an early stage of modern Turkish.

The previous Soviet Russian name of the street celebrated 70 years since the Great October Revolution of 1917 put the Bolshevik Communist Party in power.

Erkinlik Erkinlik (2043/1) köçesi Türgenler köçesi
Turkmen erkinlik “freedom, liberty”. A second source refers to street number 2043/1 as having been renamed Türgenler köçesi, from Turkmen türgen athlete + ler plural.
Esgerler Esgerler (2029) köçesi ulitsa Rostovskaya,

ulitsa Sovetskikh Pogranichnikov

Esgerler (Rostow, 2029) köçesi
Esgerler (2029) kocesi (in Köşi) Lermontow köçesi,

ulitsa Lermontova

Turkmen esger “warrior” + ler “plural suffix”, i.e., “warriors”. The previous names honor the city of Rostov in Russia (most likely Rostov Velikiy, near Moscow), Soviet borderguards, and Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov (see Bäşimow).
Ezizow G Ezizow köçesi Kopetdagskaya ulitsa,

Sovkhoznaya ulitsa

Gurbannazar Ezizow (1971) köçesi
Gurbannazar Ezizow köçesi
Gurbannazar Ezizow (1940-1975) was a Soviet Turkmen poet. He was a contemporary and close friend of Nury Halmammedow, who put some of Ezizow’s verses to music. The previous names for this street refer to the Kopetdag Mountains south of Ashgabat (see Köpetdag), and to a state farm (sovkhoz) located nearby until the city expanded to absorb it.
Farap Farap (2105/10) köçesi Farapskaya ulitsa
Farap is a town just north of Turkmenabat, on the border with Uzbekistan.
Filatow Filatow (2111) köçesi ulitsa Filatova
Leonid Filatov (1946-2003) was an actor, writer, and screenwriter from Kazan. His father worked as a radio operator, and moved the family often. When Leonid was seven years old, his parents divorced. Leonid remained in Ashgabat with his mother. At age 15 the newspaper Komsomolets Turkmenistana published and paid him for a fable, his first published work.
Galkynyş Galkynyş (1995) köçesi ulitsa Atabayeva
Galkynyş köçesi
Galkynyş meýdany
Turkmen galkynyş “renaissance, rebirth”, a reference to the rebirth of Turkmen society and culture after independence in 1991. The prevous name of Galkynyş köçesi honored Gaýgysyz Atabaýew (1887-1938), a Soviet political figure. He was the first prime minister of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic. He was removed from office and executed during Stalin’s purges. The 1976 Ashgabat telephone directory lists S.A. Niyazov as residing in the 3rd mikrorayon (3 Etrap) at ulitsa Atabayeva, building 24, apartment 3, with telephone number 6-31-73.
Gämi Gämi (2105/11) köçesi
Turkmen gämi “ship”. This street name refers to the village of Gämi, an Ashgabat suburb roughly five kilometers east of the city center in Ahal welaýat.
Garadamak Garadamak köçesi Karadamakskaya ulitsa
Turkmen gara “black” + damak “neck, throat”. Garadamak was at one time a village just south of the Ashgabat city limits, located between present-day Garaşsyzlyk and Atatürk around Garadamak köçesi. The last remaining houses of this former village were demolished in 2017.
Garagala Garagala köçesi ulitsa Shchorsa
Calque from the Russian karakala, itself derived from Turkmen gara “black” + gala “fortress”. Gara in certain senses can also mean “old”. The reference is likely to Gara Gala (Garry Gala) district (etrap) in Balkan province, which was named in honor of the 1861 Battle of Garry Gala between the Turkmen and Persians.

Briefly after independence this street was named in honor of Shchors (see Suhangulyýew).

Garagum Garagum köçesi
Garagum şaýoly
Turkmen gara “black” + gum “sand”, which is the name of the major desert covering most of Turkmenistan’s territory.

Garaşsyzlyk - Garlyýew

Garaşsyzlyk Garaşsyzlyk (1986) şaýoly Sahy Jepbarow köçesi,

Sovetskaya ulitsa,

Nevtonovskaya ulitsa

Garaşsyzlyk köçesi
Garaşsyzlyk meýdany ploshchad’ Karla Marksa,

Skobolevskaya ploshchad’

Turkmen garaş- “dependence” + siz “without” + lyk “state of being”, i.e., “independence”. This refers to Turkmenistan’s attainment of political independence for the first time in history in 1991. A boulevard, street, and square in Ashgabat bear this name.

The boulevard now called Garaşsyzlyk şaýoly was called Sovetskaya (Soviet) during the Soviet period (Russian: sovet “council”, a reference to workers’ and peasants’ councils that theoretically legitimized the Bolshevik government). It was named Nevtonovskaya ulitsa before the Russian Revolution. Vladimir Fyodorovich Nevtonov was a relatively obscure Russian Imperial Army officer killed during the 1879 Battle of Gökdepe. His namesake and descendent later served with distinction in the Russian Army in the early 20th century before fighting the Communists during the Russian Revolution, then fleeing to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia after the Russian Civil War. This likely precipitated a change in the street’s name once the Bolsheviks took over.

For a brief period after independence this street was renamed in honor of Sahy Jepbarow (see Jepbarow).

Garaşsyzlyk meýdani (Independence Square) was named Karl Marx Square during the Soviet period (see Köşk).

During the imperial Russian period the square’s name honored Russian Lieutenant General Mikhail Skobelev (1843-1882), a Russian military commander famous for his heroism under fire, who was promoted to lieutenant general at age 34. He is remembered in Turkmenistan primarily for commanding Russian forces at the 1881 Battle of Gökdepe. Around 8,000 Turkmen soldiers and civilians, including women and children, were slaughtered while fleeing the battleground, along with an additional 6,500 who died inside the fortress. The massacre included all Turkmen males in the fortress who had not escaped, but Skobelev’s troops spared some 5,000 women and children and freed 600 Persian slaves. The defeat at Gökdepeand the ensuing carnage broke Turkmen resistance and decided the fate of Transcaspia, which was annexed to the Russian Empire. However, Skobelev was removed from his command because of public outcry over the massacre. He died of a heart attack at the age of 38.

Garlyýew Alty Garlyýew (Surikow) geçelgesi ulitsa Surikova
Alty Garlyýew (Surikow, 1932) köçesi
Alty Garlýyew köçesi
Garlyýew (2019) köçesi
Alty Garlyýew (1901-1973) was a Soviet Turkmen actor, film and stage director, and playwright. His motion picture rendition of Berdi Kerbabayew’s epic novel, Decisive Step, is considered the high point of Turkmen filmography. He is buried on the Alley of Glory in the Vatutin Cemetery.

Garyýew - Giň Göl

Garrýew B. Garrýew (Lahuti, 2037) köçesi ulitsa Lakhuti, 2037 köçe, Kushkinskaya ulitsa
Garrýew (Lahuti, 2037) köçesi
Garrýew köçesi
Baýmuhamed Garryýew (1914-1979?) from Gökje was a Soviet Turkmen educator, linguist, and literary scholar, who researched and translated much of the Görogly epic as well as compiled Turkmen proverbs and contributed to dictionaries.

The previous name of this street honored Abolqasem Lahouti (1887-1957), also transliterated as Abulqasim Lahuti and Abulqosim Lohuti, a Persian poet and political activist who was active in Iran during the Persian Constitutional Revolution and in Tajikistan in the early Soviet era.

Prior to December 28, 1962, the street was known as Kushkinskaya ulitsa, a reference to the branch of the Transcaspian Railway that was extended to Ashgabat in the 1880s, and which ultimately terminated in Kushka, the city today known as Serhetabad.

Garryýew Aga Garryýew (Sokolowskaýa, 2015) köçesi Sokolovskaya ulitsa

Sokolow köçesi

Sary Garyýew (2074) köçesi Batal’onnaya ulitsa
Sary Garyýew (2087/3) köçesi
Aga Garryýew (1909-1975) was a Soviet Turkmen historian from Gypjak. His major works extolled the virtues of Turkmen-Russian friendship and inclusion of Turkmenistan in the Russian sphere of influence.

Sary Garyýew (1906-1986) was a Soviet Turkmen actor and WWII veteran, who was wounded in the Battle of Stalingrad. He earned the title People’s Artist of the Turkmen SSR. He is buried on the Alley of Glory in the Vatutin Cemetery.

To what or whom Sokolovskaya (Sokolow) refers is obscure, as Sokolov is a common Russian name. However, it is quite possible it derives directly from Russian sokol “falcon” with no further connotation.

Russian batal’on “battalion” is a nod to the Russian Imperial military garrison in old Ashgabat.

Gaýrat Gaýrat köçesi 1-nji Maý geçelgesi

Pervomayskiy proyezd

Turkmen gaýrat “courage, bravery”. The previous names in both Turkmen and Russian paid homage to May 1st, International Labor Day, in honor of the workers of the world.
Gaýyby Gaýyby (2039) köçesi Industrialnaýa köçesi, ulitsa Industrialnaya
Mahmyt Gaýyby (1735-1810) was a Turkmen poet and songwriter. The Russian word industrial’naya is an adjective meaning “industrial”.
Gazanjik Gazanjik (Kazandžik) geçelgesi Kazandzhikskaya ulitsa
Gazanjik (Kazandžik) köçesi
Gazanjik is a region of western Turkmenistan mainly inhabited by members of the Yomut tribe. The town previously called Gazanjik is now named Bereket.
Giň Göl Giň Göl köçesi
Turkmen giň “wide” + göl “lake”. This refers to a former village in the now abolished Ashgabat district (Aşgabat etraby) of Ahal Province, where a spring was located.

Gökdere - Gorkut Ata

Gökdere Gökdere (2080) köçesi Komsomol’skaya ulitsa,

Çuli köçesi

Gökdere (Magtymguly, 2082) köçesi ulitsa Magtymguly,

2082 köçe

Turkmen gök “blue, green” + dere “river”. Gökdere is a village in the foothills of the Kopetdag Mountains west of Ashgabat.

Russian komsomol is a contraction of kommunisticheskiy soyuz molodezhi, “communist union of youth”, which was the Soviet-era organ of the Communist Party for young adults considered not yet ready for full party membership.

Between the mid-1990s and 2015 the street was labeled Çuli köçesi, a reference to the valley and village west of Ashgabat.

Gökleň Gökleň köçesi
The Gökleň or Gokleng are a Turkmen tribe traditionally found in and around Garry Gala in south-central Turkmenistan, and along the Sumbar and Chandyr rivers.
Gönübek Amangeldi Gönübek (1926) köçesi ulitsa Bogdana Khmelnitskogo,

Kanalnaya ulitsa,

3-nji Baş Ýylyk köçesi,

ulitsa 3-y Pyatiletki

Amangeldi Göni, honored as Gönübek (bek or beg is an honorific similar to “sir”), was Nurberdi Han’s lieutenant and “right hand”. He was also a noted musician and veteran of the Battle of Gökdepe.

Previously it was named in honor of Bohdan Khmelnitsky (see Hmelnitskiý) and also called Kanalnaya (Russian kanal “canal”) as it led in the direction of the Garagum Canal. The last two names listed above refer in Turkmen and Russian to the third five-year plan of the Soviet Union. A command economy, the Soviet Union relied on central planning for all economic decisionmaking.

Gorkiý Gorkiý geçelgesi proyezd Gor’kogo,

Vnovoprovedennaya ulitsa

Şaja Batyrow (Gorkiý, 2056) köçesi ulitsa Gor’kogo, 2056 köçe
Maxim Gorky was the pen name of Aleksey Peshkov, a prominent Soviet Russian author and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate. The Turkmen State University was named after him in the Soviet period, and Şaja Batyrow köçesi bore Gorky’s name as well until 2015. See also Rejep Bäşimow köçesi.
Gorkut Ata Gorkut Ata (1963) köçesi Wasiliý Ýan köçesi,

ulitsa Vasiliya Yana

Gorkut Ata, whose image can be seen on the Turkmen 50-manat banknote, was a legendary 9th-century poet, composer, and author. Also known as Korkyt, his tales underpin national legends in both the Kipchak Turkic (Kazakh, Karakalpak) and Oguz Turkic (Turkish, Azeri, and Turkmen) national cultures. On his burial site near the Syr Darya in Kazakhstan, one finds a memorial erected in the 10th or 11th century, and a more recently founded museum.

Vasiliy Yan was the pen name of Soviet Russian writer Vasiliy Grigoryevich Yanchevetsky (1875-1954), who first visited Ashgabat in 1901 as a clerk in the service of the governor of Transcaspia. He studied local Central Asian languages and customs, and in 1902 traversed the Karakum Desert to Khiva to record the condition of water wells along the caravan route. He returned to Central Asia multiple times, and Central Asian themes figure prominently in his works.

Görogly - Gowşuthan

Görogly Görogly (2009) köçesi Pervomayskaya ulitsa,

ulitsa 1-go Maya,

ulitsa Shevchenko,

Tamanskaya ulitsa,

Inzhenernaya ulitsa

Görogly geçelgesi
The Epic of Görogly is a pan-Turkic epos dating to the 11th century that is prominent in the oral traditions of the Turkic peoples. The legend typically describes a hero who seeks to avenge a wrong. It was often put to music and played at sporting events as an inspiration to the competing athletes. The Epic of Görogly exists in many variants in a number of different Turkic languages.

Prior to this street’s renaming, west of the intersection with Bitarap Turkmenistan it was called First of May Street (Pervomaskaya ulitsa) in honor of the USSR’s Labor Day (since the USSR was a country ostensibly constituted to benefit workers and peasants). The pre-Revolutionary name west of Bitarap was Tamanskaya ulitsa, ultimately in honor of the Russian city of Taman, which figures prominently in Mikhail Lermontov’s magnum opus, the novel A Hero of Our Time.

East of Bitarap the street was named during the Soviet period ulitsa Shevchenko in honor of Ukrainian writer and poet Taras Shevchenko. A monument to Shevchenko still stands on this street. In the pre-Revolutionary period that section was named Inzhenernaya ulitsa, presumably in honor of the Russian Army engineers stationed in Ashgabat.

Gowşudow Ata Gowşudow (2028) köçesi Lazarevskaya ulitsa,

ulitsa Shaumyana

Gowşudow (2028) köçesi
Ata Gowşudow (1903-1953) was a Soviet Turkmen author.

During the Soviet period, the street was named in honor of Stepan Shahumyan (1878-1918), an Armenian Communist revolutionary known as the “Caucasian Lenin”. Shahumyan and his followers, known as the 26 Baku Commissars, fled Baku by crossing the Caspian Sea to Krasnovodsk (today Turkmenbashy). However, he and the rest of the commissars were captured and executed by anti-Bolshevik forces on September 20, 1918.

The pre-Revolutionary name of this street, Lazarevskaya ulitsa, almost certainly honored Russian Imperial Army Lieutenant General Ivan Lazarev (1820-1879), a highly decorated mustang, who following a valorous military career mainly in the Caucasus was appointed commander of the 1879 expedition against the Ahal Teke. Lazarev died unexpectedly almost immediately after taking command of his expeditionary force.

Gowşuthan Gowşuthan (2091/3) köçesi
Gowşut Han was a Mary Teke tribal leader of the 19th century. He requested reinforcements from other Turkmen tribes during the 1860-1861 Persian invasion of Mary, and commanded the unified forces during the defeat of the Persians. This victory released the Mary Teke tribe from dominance by the Persians as well as the Bukhara and Khiva khanates. He allied his tribe with the Ahal Teke led by Nurberdi Han until the 1870s.

Gullaýew - Gurbannepesow

Gullaýew Nazar Gullaýew (Owezberdi Kuliýew) köçesi Owezberdi Kuliýew köçesi,

Proletarskaya ulitsa,

1-y Vostochnyy pereulok

Nazar Gullaýew (1936-?) was a well known literary critic, scientist, playwright, poet, composer, actor, and translator of Arabic and Farsi, who devoted most of his life to study of Turkmen literature and history. He was born in the village of 2 Sugty, Murgab district, Mary province, into a farming family. In high school he directed the choir, the drama circle, and wrote poems and plays. His poetry was first published in 1954 in the district newspaper. He enrolled in the department of history and philology at Turkmen State University, and in 1968 defended his doctoral dissertation on the history of the plot of Leýli we Mejnun. He is mostly remembered for his studies of Turkmen literature and culture of the 7th-11th and 11th-17th centuries. A bust of him can be seen in Ylham Park.

See also Kuliýew.

Immediately after the Russian Revolution the street was named in honor of the proletariat (Proletarskaya ulitsa). The original name, First Eastern Alley, indicates that in the 1890s this was the far eastern edge of the city.

Günbatar Günbatar köçesi
Turkmen gün “day, sun” + batar “goes down” (cf. batmak “to go down”), i.e., “west”, as in the direction of the setting sun.
Gündogar Gündogar (1908) köçesi Vostochnaya ulitsa
Gündogar (2142) köçesi
Turkmen gün “day, sun” + dogar “rises” (cf. dogmak “to rise”), i.e., “east”, as in the direction of the rising sun. The Russian version of the street’s name bears the same meaning.
Güneş Güneş köçesi
Turkmen güneş “sunshine”
Günorta Günorta köçesi
Turkmen gün “day, sun” + orta “middle”, i.e., “south”, the direction of the sun at mid-day.
Gurban Soltan Eje Gurban Soltan Eje (2043) Vokzal’naya ulitsa,

Zheleznodorozhnaya ulitsa,

alleya Druzhby

Soltan Eje (1913-1948) was the mother of Saparmyrat Nyyazow (also spelled Saparmurat Niyazov), first president of Turkmenistan. The honorific Gurban means “martyr”, a reference to her tragic death in the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake. During Niyazov’s presidency the month of April was renamed in her honor.

The previous names of this thoroughfare referred to its proximity to the rail line, vokzal being Russian for railroad station and zheleznaya doroga “iron road” being Russian for railroad.

West of Atamyrat Nyýazow şaýoly this street was previously named alleya Druzhby, “Friendship Allee”.

Gurbannepesow Gurbannepesow (1971/2) köçesi
Kerim Gurbannepesow (1929-1988) from Gökdepe was a Soviet Turkmen poet, writer, and translator. In addition to publishing his own works, Gurbannepesow translated works from Russian, English, Italian, Bengali, Turkish, and Farsi into Turkmen, including those of Pushkin, Nekrasov, Rodari, Walt Whitman, Tagore, Nazim Hikmet, and Alyshir Navoy.

Gurbanow - Halk

Gurbanow Täşli Gurbanow (2073) kocesi
Täşli Gurbanow (1934-1984) was a Soviet Turkmen writer. He graduated from Turkmen State University in 1957 and traveled the country, studying and writing on what he saw. His short stories and novels include Spring Rain (1962), Golden Ring (1964), Yellow Flower (1967), and Skylark (1978). He also published a collection of poetry, Origins of Mukama, in 1973, as well as children’s books.
Gurluşyk Gurluşyk (1982/3) köçesi
Gurluşyk köçesi
Turkmen gurluşyk “construction”. In the Soviet period at least one street in every major city was named in honor of construction workers, as commemorated in Eldar Ryazanov’s iconic Soviet Russian motion picture, Irony of Fate.
Gypjak Gypjak (1941) köçesi Kipchakskaya ulitsa
Gypjak (Kipchak) is a town due west of Ashgabat and the site of the Gypjak (Kipchak) Mosque, where former President of Turkmenistan Niyazov is buried. The Kipchaks were a Turkic nomadic people who conquered large parts of the Eurasian steppe during the Turkic expansion of the 11th and 12th centuries together with the Cumans, and were in turn conquered during the Mongol invasions of the early 13th century. The Cuman-Kipchak confederation was a predecessor of the Kazakh Khanate, which gave rise to modern-day Kazakhstan. The Russians referred to the Kipchaks as Polovtsians.
Gyzyl Ýyldyz Gyzyl Ýyldyz köçesi
Turkmen gyzyl “red” + ýyldyz “star”.
Hajyýew Aýhan Hajyýew (2014) köçesi Şota Rustaweli (2014) köçesi
Aýhan Annamuhamedoviç Hajyýew (1924-?) was a Turkmen painter best known for his portraits, particularly his canonical 1947 portrait of the poet Magtymguly. From 1938 to 1942 he studied in the Shota Rustaveli Turkmen Art Institute in Ashgabat, and from 1944 to 1950 in the Surikov Art Institute in Moscow. Many of his works can be seen in the Museum of Fine Arts in Ashgabat. He was a member of the USSR Artists Union, a People’s Artist of the Turkmen SSR, laureate of the Magtymguly State Prize of the Turkmen SSR.

Shota Rustaveli (circa 1160-after circa 1220) was a medieval Georgian poet. He is considered to be the preeminent poet of the Georgian Golden Age and one of the greatest contributors to Georgian literature. Rustaveli is the author of The Knight in the Panther's Skin, which is considered to be a Georgian national epic poem.

Halaç Halaç köçesi
Halaç is a town and capital of Halaç district (etrap) in Lebap Province.
Halk Halk köçesi
Turkmen halk “people, populace”

Hally Bagşy - Jebel

Hally Bagşy Hally Bagşy (Tuhaçowskiý, 2079/8) köçesi ulitsa Tukhachevskogo
Hally Bagşy (1859-1943) was a Turkmen folk epic bard from Köşi, then an aul or village west of Ashgabat. His name was Hally; bagşy is a Turkmen word for a bard who sings the Turkic epics or dessanlar. He was a close friend of Mätäji, and is mainly remembered as a mentor of such noted musicians as Sahy Jepbarow, Oraz Sopy, and Orazberdi Gurbanmyrat.

Mikhail Tukhachevsky (1893-1937) was a Soviet military leader and theoretician from 1918 to 1937. He was shot in 1937 in one of the first executions of Stalin’s “Great Purge” of the Soviet military, and posthumously rehabilitated in 1957. Stalin’s “Great Purge” of the Soviet military’s leadership talent is considered one of the major reasons the Soviet Union suffered such grievous losses during World War II.

Halmämmedow Halmämmedow köçesi 1-y proyezd Kotovskogo
Nury Halmämmedow (1938-1983) was Soviet Turkmenistan’s most prominent composer of classical music. He lived on this street, and a monument to him is located at the west end of it. The previous name of this street commemorated Grigory Kotovsky (1881-1925), a Soviet military and political figure and participant in the Russian Civil War.
Halmyradow Juma Halmyradow (1985) köçesi
This street is named for Brigade Commander Juma Halmuradov (1901-1938), a Communist Party activist from Turkmenistan. A plaque commemorating him is affixed to the clinic on the east end of the street.
Hanmämmet Hanmämmet (Gagarin, 2098) köçesi ulitsa Gagarina, 2098 köçe
The reference to Hanmämmet of this street in Bekrewe is obscure. It may refer to Hanmämmet Allanur, a prominent pre-revolutionary gyjak musician, but this remains unattested.

Yuri Gagarin was the first Soviet cosmonaut and first human both launched into space and to orbit Earth.

Hansähedow Hansähedow (Lokomotiw, 2087/1) köçesi Lokomotivnaya ulitsa
Jepbar Hansähedow was a prominent dutarist. He earned the title of People’s Artist of the Turkmen SSR. The previous name of the street acknowledged proximity to the railway depot in Ashgabat.
Hatar 7 Hatar köçesi
Turkmen hatar “danger, risk”. Presumably this refers to Mahatma Gandhi’s “Seven Dangers to Human Virtue”.
Hazar Hazar (2111/1) köçesi
Turkmen Hazar “Caspian”, a reference to the Caspian Sea.
Hiwa Hiwa köçesi
Khiva is a city in Uzbekistan and until the Russian conquest of Central Asia was seat of a khanate. This street name dates to the pre-Revolutionary period.
Hmelnitskiý Bohdan Hmelnitskiý (1944) köçesi ulitsa Truda
Bohdan Hmelnitskiý geçelgesi
Zynoviy Bohdan Khmelnytsky (1595-1657) was a Ukrainian hetman of the Zaporozhye Host of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He is considered a heroic figure in Ukrainian history. The streets currently named Magrupy and Gönübek (viz.) were also previously named in his honor.

The previous name of this street honored labor (Russian trud “labor”).

Hudaýnazarow Berdinazar Hudaýnazarow (2113) köçesi Barhanly köçesi,

Barhannaýa köçesi,

Barkhannaya ulitsa

Berdinazar Hudaýnazarow (1927-2001) was a Turkmen folk writer. The section of this street east of Weli Ahmedow (former Varshavskaya) was previously called Barhanly, while the section west of Weli Ahmedow was known as Karakumskaya (Turkmen gara “black” + gum “sand”). That section was subsequently renamed 2-nji Amy Derýa geçelgesi.

Only a short portion of the western section remains, following demolition of most of this neighborhood to accommodate a special street leading to the presidential airport terminal. The original name of the street was Barkhannaya, from Russian barkhan “sand dune”. The variant Barhanly is likely a backformation from the original Russian root barkhan + Turkmen -ly “with”. The neighborhood, now demolished, that was located east of Bitarap in this area was known colloquially as Shanghai. A luxury hotel, the Garagum Oteli, is to be constructed on this site,

Industriýalny Industriýalny geçelgesi
Russian industrial’nyy “industrial”. See also Gaýyby.
Internasional Internasional köçesi ulitsa Internatsionala
Russian internatsional’ “international”, a reference to the Communist International (Comintern)
Inženernaýa Inženernaýa (2008/5) köçesi
Russian inzhener “engineer” plus adjectival suffix
Ippodrom 1ji Ippodrom geçelgesi 1-y Ippodromnyy proyezd
2ji Ippodrom geçelgesi 2-y Ippodromnyy proyezd
Russian ippodrom borrowed from Greek, “hippodrome”. Prior to the 1948 earthquake, the city hippodrome and race track were located in this neighborhood.
Jallyýew 1-nji Artyk Jallyýew (Kuýbyşew, 1954) geçelgesi 3-y proyezd Perova, ulitsa Kuybysheva
2-nji Artyk Jallyýew (Perow, 2109/2) geçelgesi ulitsa Perova
3-nji Artyk Jallyyew (Perow, 2109/1) geçelgesi 1-y proyezd Perova
Artyk Jallyýew (2119) köçesi Severnaya ulitsa, Internasionalist Esgerler köçesi
Artyk Jallyýew köçesi
Artyk Jallyýew (1933-2001) was a Turkmen film actor. The Russian word sever means “north”. Turkmen “internasionalist esgerler” means “international warriors”.

Vasiliy Perov (1834-1882) was a Russian painter and one of the founding members of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions.

Valerian Kuybyshev (1888-1935) was a Bolshevik and Soviet political figure, and close ally of Stalin. From 1935 to 1991 the Russian city of Samara was named in his honor.

Jebel Jebel köçesi
Arabic jebel “mountain”. Jebel is a village on the outskirts of Balkanabat.

Jepbarow - Kämillik

Jepbarow Baba Jepbarow (1993) köçesi ulitsa Nogina
Jepbarow (1943) köçesi Vysokovol’tnaya ulitsa
Jepbarow köçesi
Jepbarow (1943) köçesi is probably named for Sahy Jepbarow (1905-1977) from the Gökdepe aul of Ýankala, a prominent Turkmen singer, dutarist, bard, composer, and music educator. He was recorded on phonographic albums in the 1930s. Jepbarow hailed from the same village as Mylly Täçmyradow and Täçmämed Suhankuliýew. In 1929 Jepbarow founded the first Folk Instruments Ensemble at the Drama Theater, and established ensembles in Gyzylarvat and Mary. Turkmen Radio still preserves 170 of his songs on phonographic records. He is buried on the Alley of Glory in Vatutin Cemetery.

Vysokovol’tnaya means “high voltage” in Russian, an acknowledgement of the Soviet penchant for industrialization and electrification.

It is unclear who Baba Jepbarow was. Since “baba” refers to one’s maternal grandfather, it may be a pseudonym for Sahy Jepbarow as a sign of respect for him.

Viktor Nogin (1878-1924) was a prominent Bolshevik in Moscow, holding many high positions in the Communist Party and in government. A weaver by profession, he helped restore the Russian textile industry after the Russian Revolution, which may account for having a street named after him in Ashgabat, a city originally oriented to weaving of cotton textiles.

Jeýhun Jeýhun (1912) köçesi ulitsa Kadnikova
Jeyhun is derived from a medieval Arabic name for the Amu Darya, Jayhoun, which is in turn derived from Gihon, the biblical name for one of the four rivers of the Garden of Eden.

The significance of Kadnikov, a town near Vologda, Russia, is obscure.

Jülge Jülge (2292/2) köçesi
Jülge köçesi
Jülge is a village northwest of Ashgabat.
Kaka Kaka köçesi
Turkmen kaka “father”. Kaka is a town, the seat of Kaka district, about 134 kilometers east of Ashgabat on the M37 highway.
Kakabaýew Kakabaýew (2064) köçesi ulitsa Tel’mana, 2064 köçe
The honoree of this street’s name is Sapardurdy D. Kakabaýew, a Soviet Turkmen historian mainly remembered for his study of collectivization of Soviet agriculture.

The previous name of the street honored Ernst Thälmann (see Telman).

Kämillik Kämillik (1955) köçesi 1955 köçe
Kämillik ýoly (Sirotnaýa Taslama) Sirotnaýa köçesi,

Taslama köçesi, Proyektnaya ulitsa

Turkmen kämillik “perfection”. Sirotnaýa derives from Russian sirota “orphan”. Taslama is the Turkmen word for “project”, a direct translation from the Russian Proyektnaya. See Taslama. The references are all obscure.

Kardiomerkeze - Kemine

Kardiomerkeze Kardiomerkeze gidýän (1970) köçesi
Greek kardia “heart” + Turkmen merkez “center”. This street leads to the cardiology hospital center.
Kaşgary Mahmyt Kaşgary (Belinsky, 2030) köçesi ulitsa Belinskogo, 2030 köçe
Mahmud ibn Hussayn ibn Muhammed al-Kashgari (1005-1102), in Turkmen rendered as Mahmyt Kaşgary, was an 11th-century Uyghur scholar and lexicographer of the Turkic languages from Kashgar. His works included dictionaries and comparative analyses of the Turkic languages of the period, including the first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic languages, the Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk (Compendium of the Languages of the Turks") published 1072-74.

The previous name of this street honored Vissarion Belinsky (1811–1848), a Russian literary critic and Westernizer.

Kaspiy Kaspiy (1969) köçesi 1969 köçe
Russian Kaspiy “Caspian”.
Kekilow Aman Kekilow (2068) köçesi 2068 köçe
Kekilow (2064) köçesi 2064 köçe
Kekilow geçelgesi
Kekilow köçesi
Aman Kekilow (1912-1974), doctor of pedagogy, was a Soviet Turkmen poet, educator, and researcher. He was born in and resided in Köşi. He was named People’s Writer of the Turkmen SSR (1967) and Meritorious Scientist of the Turkmen SSR. He wrote the lyrics for the first national anthem of the Turkmen SSR. He is buried on the Alley of Glory in Vatutin Cemetery.
Kekinow Şaly Kekinow (2078) köçesi 2078 köçe
Şaly Kekinow (attested on official street maps of Ashgabat) appears to be a misspelling of Şaly Kekilow (1906-1943), who was a Soviet Turkmen poet noted for writing about industrialization and collectivization. Kekilow died while serving in the military in WWII.
Kemine Kemine (2035) köçesi ulitsa Vseobucha,

Kozelkovskaya ulitsa

Kemine (2071) köçesi
Kemine köçesi
Mämmetweli Kemine (circa 1770–circa 1840) was a Turkmen satirical poet. He studied at the Islamic medresse in Bukhara. Some forty of his poems survive. His statue stands in Ylham Park.

In the Soviet period this street in downtown Ashgabat (north of and parallel to Magtymguly) was named ulitsa Vseobucha before being renamed in honor of Kemine. The term vseobuch is a contraction of vseobshchee obuchenie, equivalent to the western concept of “universal education”, and an indication of the Soviet emphasis on raising literacy.

The pre-Revolutionary name was Kozelkovskaya ulitsa, in honor of Major General Petr Kozelkov (?-1888), a Russian hero of the Battle of Gökdepe. His command was assigned to the storming of the fortress through holes blown in the fortress wall by artillery, and suffered the greatest losses of any Russian unit. A colonel at the time, Kozelkov was decorated for his valor with the Order of St. George, which normally went only to general officers.

Kerbabaýew - Köpetdag

Kerbabaýew Berdi Kerbabaýew (2020) köçesi Stavropol’skaya ulitsa
Berdi Kerbabaýew (1894-1974) was a Soviet Turkmen writer, awarded as People’s Writer of the Turkmen SSR (1967), and elected to the Academy of Sciences of the Turkmen SSR (1951). He participated in the Basmachi Movement. His three-volume novel, Decisive Step, written between 1940 and 1955, is considered the most important work of modern Turkmen fiction.

The pre-Revolutionary name of this street was Stavropol’skaya, in honor of the city of Stavropol’ in southern Russia.

Keýmir Kör Keýmir Kör köçesi Lemkulovskaya ulitsa
Keýmir Kör (1712-1800) was a legendary Ahal Teke Turkmen leader. Under his guidance, the Ahal Teke took control of the Kopetdag foothills in the first half of the 18th century. He was famous as a brave, generous, and kind person, ready to assist not only with weapons but with a kind word and sound advice. Kör means “blind” but in fact he was not blind. This nickname stuck to him after a childhood eye injury.

The former name is of obscure origin. It is possibly derived from the German or Norwegian last name Lehmkuhl.

Kollektor Kollektor köçesi
Russian kollektor “(mechanical) collector”. This street is near the Garagum Canal and thus the name may refer to a water collector.
Köpetdag Köpetdag köçesi

Köpetdag şaýoly

Persian koppeh “pile, heap” + Turkmen dag “mountain”, i.e., low mountains heaped one on the other. The Kopetdag mountain range rises on the frontier between Turkmenistan and Iran and extends about 650 kilometers (400 miles) along the border southeast of the Caspian Sea, stretching from near the Caspian Sea in the northwest to the Harirud River in the southeast. Its highest peak in Turkmenistan is southwest of Ashgabat and stands at 2,940 metres (9,646 ft). The highest Iranian summit is Mount Quchan (Kuh-e Quchan) at 3,191 metres (10,469 ft).

Kösaýew

Kösäýew 1ji geçelge Mäti Kösäýew köçesi Ulitsa Mezhdunarodnoy organizatsii pomoshchi revolyutsioneram (ulitsa MOPRa),

ulitsa 50 let Тurkmenskoy SSR,

ulitsa Kekilova,

Topograficheskaya ulitsa

Mäti Kösäýew (Mopra, 2023) köçesi
This is one of the most renamed streets in Ashgabat. Its current official name honors Professor Mäti Kösäýew (1906-1974), a literary scholar and Turkologist known primarily for his work on the writings of Magtymguly. He was sternly reprimanded in 1939 for “ideological myopia” and associating with individuals arrested during the Great Terror. He was arrested in 1952 and ultimately sentenced to 25 years in the GULag. As part of Khrushchev’s thaw, Kösäýew was released in 1956 and rehabilitated in 1958. He was fired in 1974 from the position of department chair for Turkmen literature of the Turkmen State University for referring in a children’s newspaper article to Berdi Kerbabayew as an “aksakal (white beard or elder) of Turania”, which was viewed by the Communist Party as a call for unification of the Turkic peoples of the USSR. The 1976 Ashgabat telephone directory lists M. Kosayev as residing on this street (50 let TSSR) at building number 81/2, with telephone number 5-15-65.

The most commonly applied name to this street is MOPRa, which is a contraction of the Russian phrase “International Organization for Aid to Revolutionaries” (Russian: ulitsa Mezhdunarodnoy organizatsii pomoshchi revolyutsioneram) and was the official street name from circa 1923 to 1974.

Additional previous names are “Fifty Years of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic” or its shorter version, “50 let TSSR” (1974-circa 1991), ulitsa Kekilova (exact dates unknown but attested on a circa-2000 map of the city, see Kekilow), and the original, pre-Revolutionary name, Topograficheskaya ulitsa (Topographic Street).

Köşi

Köşi Köşi 1-nji (Maksim Gorkiý, 2045) geçelgesi ulitsa Maksima Gor’kogo

2045 köçe

Köşi 2-nji (2047) geçelgesi 2047 köçe
Köşi 3-nji (Alyşir Nowaýy) geçelgesi ulitsa Alishira Novayi
Köşi 4-nji (Swerdlow) geçelgesi ulitsa Sverdlova
Köşi 5-nji (Mätäji, 2055) geçelgesi ulitsa Myatadzhi, Mätäji köçesi, 2055 köçe
Köşi 6-njy (Maýakowskiý) geçelgesi ulitsa Mayakovskogo
Köşi 7-nji (Maýakowskiý) geçelgesi proyezd Mayakovskogo
Köşi 8-nji (2078/3) geçelgesi 2078/3 köçe
Köşi 9-nji (2078/4) geçelgesi 2078/4 köçe
Köşi 9-nji (Aşgabat, 2059) geçelgesi Aşgabat köçesi, 2059 köçe
Köşi 10-nji (Aşgabat) geçelgesi Aşgabat köçesi
Köşi 11-nji (Puşkin, 2061) geçelgesi ulitsa Pushkina, 2061 köçe
Kösi 12-nji (Gagarin, 2063) geçelgesi ulitsa Gagarina, ulitsa Pushkina, 2063 köçe
Köşi 13-nji (2065, Mollanepes) geçelgesi ulitsa Mollanepesa, 2065 köçe
Köşi 14-nji (2067, Atabaýew) geçelgesi Sverdlovskaya ulitsa, 2067 köçe
Köşi 15-nji (Magtymguly, 2069) geçelgesi ulitsa Magtymguly, 2069 köçe
Köşi 16-njy (Kemine, 2071) geçelgesi ulitsa Kemine, 2071 geçelgesi
Köşi (2086) köçesi Taslama köçesi,

Proyektnaya ulitsa,

2086 köçe

Köşi Bagy
Köşi appears on early maps of the area as an aul or village located to the west of Ashgabat. Köşi was also the root of the name of a small river that flowed through this area, called in Russian the Kyoshinka. In 2014 it was annexed by the city of Ashgabat. Köşi Bagy means “Köşi garden”.

The meaning of Köşi is obscure, but the name itself is likely of Persian origin. The first prolonged syllable “kö” or “kü” is, probably, derived from the Persian word küh, which means “mountain”. The previous name of Köşi (2086) köçesi was Taslama in Turkmen and Proyektnaya in Russian, both of which mean “project”.

Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930) was a Soviet Russian poet, playwright, artist, and actor. He committed suicide in 1930. For background on the other former names of these streets, please see the main entries for these names.

Köşk - Kuliýew

Köşk Köşk (Karl Marks, 2001) köçesi ulitsa Karla Marksa,

Ofitserskaya ulitsa

Turkmen köşk “palace” refers to the Presidential Palace on this street. The Presidential Palace occupies space previously used for the headquarters of the Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR.

The former name honored Karl Marx (1818-1843), the German philosopher, economist and political theorist, whose Communist Manifesto, co-written with Friedrich Engels, and Das Kapital underpinned Communist Party ideology in the USSR.

In the pre-Revolutionary period, the street was named Ofitserskaya ulitsa (Officer Street), a reference to the officer corps of the Russian Army garrisoned here.

Kosmonawtlar Kosmonawtlar (2103) şaýoly ulitsa Kosmonavtov
Russian kosmonavt “cosmonaut”, itself derived from Ancient Greek kósmos, “universe” + naútēs “sailor”, suffixed with the Turkmen plural ending –lar. This street leads to the domestic terminal of Ashgabat International Airport.
Kotowskiý 2 Kotowskiý geçelgesi 2-y Kotovskiy proyezd
Grigory Kotovsky (1881-1925) was a Soviet military and political figure and participant in the Russian Civil War. See also Halmämmedow.
Krasin Krasin (2004/1) köçesi ulitsa Krasina
Leonid Krasin (1870-1926) was a Russian Social Democrat who joined the Bolshevik Communist party in 1904 and participated in the founding of the Soviet state. He served as chief of the Soviet diplomatic missions to France and to Great Britain, where he died. His ashes are in the Kremlin wall. Krasin is noted for being the initiator of efforts to preserve Lenin’s body through advanced embalming techniques in the belief that at some future date Soviet science would allow “great historical personalities” like Lenin to be resurrected.
Kukaýew Kukaýew (2081, Uspenskiý) köçesi ulitsa Uspenskogo,

Kuznechnaya ulitsa

Ivan Kukayev was one of the underground Bolsheviks active in the Transcaspian revolutionary movement. Viktor Uspenskiy (1879-1949) was a composer, musicologist, and ethnographer who studied Central Asian music. He co-authored with Viktor Belyayev a two-volume work, Turkmenskaya Muzika (Turkmen Music) that is the standard reference on this subject. A memorial plaque commemorating his visit to Turkmenistan in 1926-1927 once hung on the building of the Znaniye Society.

The pre-Revolutionary name of this street, Kuznechnaya ulitsa, derives from Russian kuznets “smith” as blacksmiths’ shops lined this street to service the steam locomotives of the nearby rail depot.

Kuliýew Kuliýew 1-ji geçelgesi
Kuliýew 2-ji geçelgesi
Kuliýew 3-ji geçelgesi
Nazar Gullaýew (Öwezberdi Kuliýew) köçesi Öwezberdi Kuliýew köçesi,

Proletarskaya ulitsa,

1-y Vostochnyy pereulok

This is an alternate spelling of Ashgabat native Öwezberdi Kulyýew. He organized the Red Guard in Turkmenistan, and fought the White Army and British Army during the Russian Civil War. A courageous fighter and military leader, in 1918 he was captured by White forces and handed over to the British, who are believed to have transported him to India and executed him there. See also Gullaýew.

Kulmämedow - Magryz

Kulmämedow Aman Kulmämedow köçesi
Aman Kulmämedow (1908-1977), also spelled Gulmämedow, was a People’s Artist of Turkmenistan who founded Turkmen theater.
Kulyýew Gylyç Kulyýew (1976) köçesi Toshkeprinskaya ulitsa,

ulitsa Oktyabrskoy revolyutsii

Gylyç Kulyýew köçesi
Kulyýew (2127) köçesi ulitsa Karry Kuliyeva,

Parkovaya ulitsa

Kulyýew köçesi
Gylyç Kulyýew (1913-1990) was a Soviet Turkmen writer and diplomat. He began work in 1943 at the USSR People's Commissariat (later Ministry) of Foreign Affairs. He was from 1957 to July 1960 Counselor of Embassy in Afghanistan, and from August 1960 to September 1962 Soviet Ambassador to Tunisia. He was a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Turkmen SSR. He received the title of People's Writer Turkmenistan. He is buried on the Alley of Glory in Vatutin Cemetery.

In the pre-Revolutionary period, this street was named Toshkeprinskaya for a Turkmen village, Toshkeprin (today rendered as Tashkeprin), in the Murgab River watershed. After the October Revolution the street was renamed ulitsa Oktyabrskoy revolyutsii.

Karry Kulyýew (also spelled Garry Gulyýew, and some signage in Ashgabat uses this alternate spelling) was one of the first Turkmen Bolsheviks and was instrumental in bringing the Communist Party to power in Turkmenistan during the Russian Civil War.

Park is the same word in both Russian and English.

Kullyýewa Maýa Kullyýewa (2016) köçesi Libkneht (2016) köçesi,

Kirpichnaya ulitsa

Maýa (Mamajan) Kullyýewa (1920-) of Büzmeýin is a lyric soprano opera singer and actress. She was the first Turkmen operatic soprano to perform European operatic works. She was designated a Meritorious Artist of the Turkmen SSR in 1943, People’s Artist of the Turkmen SSR in 1952, People’s Artist of the USSR in 1955 and Hero of Turkmenistan in 2008. She additionally was recognized with the Order of Lenin, Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and the Order of Honor. She appeared in four motion pictures between 1945 and 1993.

Karl Liebknecht (1871-1919) was a German socialist and a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany. Liebknecht and Luxemburg participated in the Socialist uprising in Berlin in January 1919, and following their capture were shot by Freikorps troops.

Kirpichnaya is a Russian adjective meaning “made from brick.”

Kürt Aşyrberdi Kürt (Krasnoýarsk, 2105/6) köçesi Krasnoyarskaya ulitsa
Aşyrberdi Kürt (1930-1997) from Bamy, near Bäherden, was a Turkmen satirical writer. Krasnoyarsk is a city in Siberia.
Lebap Lebap (2115) köçesi
Lebap is the easternmost province of Turkmenistan.
Lineýnaýa Lineýnaýa köçesi Lineynaya ulitsa
Russian lineynaya “linear” (street). In many Soviet cities and town, for lack of a better name, streets in some districts were simply named with an ordinal number (“first”, “second”, etc.) and “line”. This street may also refer to a military line regiment, since Ashgabat in its early days was a garrison town.
Lomonosow Lomonosow (1918/2) geçelgesi ulitsa Lomonosova
Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765) was a Russian polymath, scientist and writer, who made important contributions to literature, education, and science. Among his discoveries were the atmosphere of Venus and the Law of Mass Conservation in chemical reactions. His spheres of science were natural science, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, history, art, philology, optical devices and others. Lomonosov was also a poet and influenced the formation of the modern Russian literary language.
Magrupy Magrupy (Bohdan Hmelnitskiý, 1928) köçesi ulitsa Bogdana Khmelnitskogo
Magrupy köçesi
Gurbanaly Magrupy (1734-1810) was a Turkmen writer of the Magrupy clan, Yemreli tribe of Ahal region, who resided in Khiva and Urgench. His family was part of military nobility and his best written work is considered to be the heroic dessan Yusup and Ahmed, which was read widely in Central Asia. He also wrote the dessan Seýpelmelek-Methaljemal and the historical novel Dovletyar. It borrowed heavily from the history and epic traditions of Oguz Turkic tribes. He was a prominent figure in Ahal-Iranian and Ahal-Khivan relations.

See also Hmelnitskiý.

Magryz Magryz (Jülge) köçesi Jülge köçesi
Possibly a misspelling of Margyz, which is a large gorge in Gyzylarbat district. The origin of the word is obscure, but is probably a corruption of the phrase “Bar, gyz” [Go, girl]. According to legend, enemies laid siege to a village for a very long time. A wise elder recommended giving the remaining wheat to the cattle and making them attack the enemy. The enemy was about to leave with the thought, “Well, they are still very strong and have plenty of provisions if they feed their cattle wheat,” but, at that very moment a daughter of the village khan fired an arrow with a note about the poor condition of the people and food shortage. After that the enemy besieged the village, but, before that the villagers kicked the traitorous girl out of village, saying, “What can be expected from a girl betraying her own villagers? Go, girl [Bar, gyz]!” And after that, the area was first named Bargyz, which later was corrupted to Margyz (Turkmen margyz “snake/snaky girl”).

Turkmen jülge “gorge”.

Magtymguly - Mary

Magtymguly 15-nji Köşi (Magtymguly) geçelgesi Magtymguly geçelgesi
Agöýli (Magtymguly) köçesi Magtymguly köçesi
Magtymguly (1957/9) köçesi
Magtymguly (2033) şaýoly Mervskiy prospekt,

Kuropatkinskiy prospekt,

prospekt Svobody,

prospekt Stalina

Magtymguly (2069) köçesi
Magtymguly köçesi
Magtymguly Pyragy (1724-1807) was a Turkmen spiritual leader and philosophical poet of the Gökleň tribe who made significant efforts to secure independence and autonomy for his people in the 18th century. He is considered the greatest Turkmen poet, though he wrote in Arabic, Persian, and Chagatai, not in Turkmen.

The original name of Magtymguly şaýoly was Mervskiy prospekt because the street led eastward to the city of Merv (modern Mary). It was subsequently changed to Kuropatkinskiy prospekt to honor Russian General Aleksey Kuropatkin (1848-1925), who is credited with the victory over the Teke armies at the Battle of Gökdepe and from 1890 to 1898 was governor of the Transcaspian governate, effectively viceroy of Turkestan. He was Russia’s minister of war from 1898 to 1904, and was blamed for major Russian defeats in the Russo-Japanese War.

During the Soviet period the street was named prospekt Svobody (Freedom Prospect) except for a period between 1953 and 1961 when it was renamed in honor of Iosif Stalin.

Mäne Mäne baba (2036) köçesi Kolsow köçesi, 2036 köçei

ulitsa Koltsova,

Voskresenskaya ulitsa,

ultisa Zhukovskogo

Myane baba (Turkmen Mäne baba) was the Sufi Sheikh Abu said Abul Khayra Mehney (967-1049), a prominent representative of Islamic mysticism. His mausoleum is in Kaka district (etrap) of Ahal province, 200 kilometers east of Ashgabat, near the Altyn Depe Bronze Age archeological site.

Aleksey Koltsov (1809-1842) was a Russian poet from Voronezh, sometimes referred to as Russia’s counterpart to Scotland’s Robert Burns. Voskresenskaya derives from Russian voskresen’ye “resurrection”, possibly associated with a nearby church in the pre-revolutionary period. The Zhukovskiy in whose honor the street was named earlier may have been Valentin Alekseyevich Zhukovskiy, a professor of Persian languages at the St. Petersburg University who in 1890 came to Transcaspia by order of the Imperial Archeological Commission. In 1894 he published “Antiquities of the Transcaspian Region: The Ruins of Ancient Merv”. This possible connection is, however, as yet unattested.

Manyş Manyş (Nowgorod) köçesi Novgorodskaya ulitsa
Manyş is a toponym referring to a village and spring south of Änew (Annau). It is of obscure origin. Novgorod is a city in northern Russia, between Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Mary Mary köçesi
Mary (pronounced mah-REE) is the name of the province just east of Ahal province, as well as its capital city. The Mary Teke form one of the major tribes of Turkmenistan. The name derives from variants of the original Greek name assigned by Alexander the Great, Achaemenid Satrapy of Margiana, later Alexandria (Margiana) and Antiochia in Margiana, then still later, Merv.

Maslahat - Nahimow

Maslahat Maslahat (1937) köçesi Arçabil şaýolunyň günortasydaky bulwar
Turkmen maslahat “advice, recommendation” and also the name of the national council, Halk Maslahaty. This street passes behind the Maslahat Köşgi (Maslahat Palace). The original name for this street simply means in Turkmen “boulevard south of Archabil Avenue”.
Mätäji 5-nji Köşi (Mätäji, 2055) geçelgesi Mätäji köçesi
Mätäji was the pseudonym of Annaglyç (1822-1884), a native of Köşi, who grew grapes and studied Central Asian poetry, which he used as inspiration to compose his own poetry. His lyrics entered the repertoires of epic bards (bagşy in Turkmen) and were preserved exclusively orally until 40 of them were recorded in the Soviet period.
Medeniýet Medeniýet (Reutow, 2027) köçesi ulitsa Reutova,

Meshchanskaya ulitsa

Turkmen medeniýet “culture” from Arabic medeniyet “civilization, culture”.

Reutov is a town just outside Moscow, Russia. The pre-Revolutionary name, Meshchanskaya ulitsa, derives from Russian meshchanstvo, literally the class of people living in a city, but with the connotation of narrow-minded self-interest, roughly translated into English as “philistine”.

Medisinskiý Medisinskiý geçelgesi Meditsinskaya ulitsa
Russian meditsinskiy “medical”.
Mekan Mekan koçesi
Turkmen mekan “land, country”.
Mekdep Mekdep köçesi
Turkmen mekdep “school”.
Meredow Amandurdy Meredow (2091) köçesi Zagorodnaya ulitsa
Amandurdy Meredow is a Turkmen sculptor and People’s Artist of Turkmenistan. The earlier name of this street, Zagorodnaya ulitsa, means “suburban” in Russian (literally, za “beyond” + gorod “city” + “adjectival suffix”).
Miçurin Miçurin (2079/2) köçesi
Ivan Michurin (1855-1935) was a Russian botanist who championed selection to improve crops. His methods were in turn promoted by Trofim Lysenko as part of the political campaign against genetics and science-based agriculture that became known as Lysenkoism and Michurinism.
Mir Mir 1ji geçelgesi 1-y proyezd Mira
Mir 2ji geçelgesi 2-y proyezd Mira
Russian mir “peace”. The street now known as Andalyb was named Peace Prospect (prospekt Mira) during the Soviet period. These two side streets branched off of it. The districts (rayon, etrap) of Ashgabat known as Mir have been renamed Parahat (the Turkmen word for peace) in the post-Soviet period.
Miras Miras köçesi Lenin köçesi

Ulitsa Lenina

Turkmen miras “heritage”. Bolshevik revolutionary Vladimir Il’yich Ulyanov’s nom de guerre was Lenin, a pseudonym he kept after taking control of Russia in 1917 and then creating the USSR, which he headed until his death in 1924.
Mollagara Mollagara (2105/14) köçesi
Mollagara is a town with a health resort in Balkan Province, near Balkanabat.
Mollanepes Köşi 13-nji (2063, Mollanepes) geçelgesi
Mollanepes (2003) köçesi Absheronskaya ulitsa
Mollanepes köçesi
Mollanepes Kadyrberdy ogly (1810-1862) was a Turkmen poet and musician as well as a teacher and skilled jeweler. His poetry consists mainly of love lyrics. Mollanepes is the author of the lyric poem I Have Arrived and the dessan Zöhre we Tahyr.

Before the Russian Revolution Mollanepes Street in downtown Ashgabat (east of Atamyrat Nyýazow) was named Absheron after a region in Azerbaijan.

Mugallymlar Mugallymlar köçesi Uchitel’skaya ulitsa
Turkmen mugallym “teacher” + -lar “plural ending”. Russian uchitel’ “teacher”
Muhadow 1 Weli Muhadow (Pekin) geçelgesi 1-y Pekinskiy proyezd
2 Weli Muhadow (Pekin) geçelgesi 2-y Pekinskiy proyezd
Weli Muhadow (Pekin, 2085) köçesi Pekinskaya ulitsa
Weli Muhadow (1916-2005) was a Turkmen composer best known for writing the national anthem of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic. In the Soviet period cities commonly had streets named after capital cities of “fraternal socialist countries,” hence the pre-independence naming of these streets after the capital of China.
Muhamedow Anna Muhammedow (2109) köçesi Sevastopol’skaya ulitsa
Anna Muhammedow (1900-1937) was acting general secretary of the Turkmen Communist Party for two days, April 15-17, 1937. He was arrested the following October. He is presumed to have been shot during the Great Terror. The original name for this street honored the Crimean city of Sevastopol.
Muhy Bagşy Muhy Bagşy (Morozow, 2099/1) köçesi Morozow (2099/1) köçesi,

ulitsa Morozova

Of uncertain derivation, but most likely a tribute to Junior Sergeant Pavel Petrovich Morozov (1920-1943), a Russian from Ashgabat, who was posthumously awarded the Hero of Soviet Union medal for his exploits while crossing the Dniepr River to retake Kyiv in WWII.
Myradow Sahat Myradow (Razin, 1922) köçesi ulitsa Stepana Razina
Sahat Myradow (1932- 2011) was a Soviet Turkmen politician, and Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Turkmen SSR and later of the Mejlis (parliament) of independent Turkmenistan.

The previous name of this street honored Stepan “Stenka” Razin (1630-1671), a Don Cossack who led the largest peasant revolt in pre-Petrine Russia. Razin is celebrated in multiple motion pictures, stage productions, songs, and poems.

Naberežnyý Naberežnyý köçesi Naberezhnaya ulitsa
Russian na “on” + berezhnyy cf. bereg “shoreline, coastline”, i.e., a road or street that parallels the shore of a body of water.
Nahimow Nahimow köçesi
Admiral Pavel Nakhimov (1802-1855) was a Russian naval officer. He died of a bullet wound received while inspecting defenses of Sevastopol during the Crimean War.

Nowaýy - Nesiller

Nowaýy 3 Köşi (Alyşir Nawoýy, 2049) geçelgesi
Nowaýy (2022) köçesi ulitsa Navoya,

Krymskaya ulitsa

Ali-Shir Nava'i (1441-1501) was a Turkic poet, writer, politician, linguist, mystic, and painter. Nava'i believed that Chagatai and other Turkic languages were superior to Persian for literary purposes, an uncommon view at the time, and defended this belief in his work titled The Comparison of the Two Languages. He emphasized his belief in the richness, precision, and malleability of Turkic vocabulary as opposed to Persian. Because of his distinguished Chagatai poetry, Nava'i is considered by many throughout the Turkic-speaking world to be the founder of early Turkic literature.

The original name of this street, Krymskaya, derives from the Russian word for Crimea, Krym.

Nebit Dag Nebit Dag köçesi
Turkmen nebit “petroleum, oil” + dag “mountain”. Nebit is a cognate of the English word naphtha and the Russian word neft’. The city of Balkanabat in Balkan Province was previously known as Nebit Dag.
Nepesow Gaip Nepesow (Timakow, 2058) köçesi ulitsa Timakova
Gaip Nepesow köçesi
Gaip Nepesow was a Soviet Turkmen historian. His works include The Soviet Victory in Northern Turkmenistan (1917-1936) published in 1950.

Academician Vladimir Timakov (1905-1977) was a Soviet microbiologist and epidemiologist. In 1934 he came to Ashgabat to teach at the Turkmen Medical Institute, and from 1941 to 1945 was people’s commissar for health of the Turkmen SSR. During WWII Timakov oversaw preparation of vaccines for immunizing Soviet troops on the front lines, making a great contribution to the war effort.

Nesimi Nesimi (1940) köçesi Söwda köçesi,

Torgovaya ulitsa

Nesimi (Torgowaýa, 1940) köçesi
Imadaddin Nasimi (circa 1369 -1417), also known as ‘Alī ‘Imādu d-Dīn Nasīmī, was a 14th-century Azerbaijani or Turkmen Ḥurūfī poet. Known mostly by his pen name of Nesîmî, he composed one divan in Azerbaijani, one in Persian, and a number of poems in Arabic. He is considered one of the greatest Turkic mystical poets of the late 14th and early 15th centuries and one of the most prominent early divan masters in Turkic literary history. His statue stands in Ylham Park.

The previous name for this street, Torgovaya, is the Russian word for commerce or trade. Söwda is the Turkmen equivalent.

Nesiller Nessiller (1942) köçesi
Turkmen nesil “generation, descendents” + ler “plural suffix”.

Nobat Bagşy - Nusaý

Nobat Bagşy Nobat Bagşy (Leningrad, 2079) köçesi Leningradskaya ulitsa
Meşhur Nobat bagşy Amansähet ogly (1900-1938) from Tagtabazar district, Mary province, was a Turkmen folk epic bard. Bagşy is a Turkmen word for a bard who sings the Turkic epics or dessanlar. He was trained in the dutar by his father, Amansahet bagşy, but learned as well to play instruments from neighboring countries as well. In 1925 he met V.A. Uspenskiy, who invited him to study at the Turkmen State Music College. Nobat also sang on USSR state radio. In 1935 he was invited to Moscow to record his songs on phonographic records together with People’s Artist of Turkmenistan Pürli Sary.

Leningrad was the Soviet-era name of the city of St. Petersburg. Lenin was the nom de guerre of Vladimir Ul’yanov, founder of the USSR, and is taken from the Lena River. The suffix -grad is a variant of the Slavic root meaning “town, city”.

Nowgorod Nowgorod (2005) köçesi Novgorodskaya ulitsa
Novgorod is a city in northern Russia, between Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Nurberdi Han Nurberdi Han (Lewitan) köçesi ulitsa Levitana
Nurberdihan köçesi
Nurberdi Han (1820-1880) was leader of the Ahal Teke tribe. Originally from Gökdepe, he was the first Han of Ahal from 1850 until his death. In the 1870s he became Han of both the Ahal and the Mary tribes. He was the last Turkmen military leader to defeat the Russian Imperial Army in battle.

The former name of this street honored Isaac Levitan (1860-1900), a Russian painter of variously the realist, impressionist and peredvizhniki schools.

Nurymow Çary Nurymow (2007) köçesi ulitsa Frunze,

Shtabnaya ulitsa

Çary Nurymow (1941–1993) was a prominent Soviet Turkmen composer. He is buried on the Alley of Glory in the Vatutin Cemetery.

In the Soviet period the street was named in honor of Mikhail Frunze (1885-1925), an ethnic Romanian Old Bolshevik and Communist revolutionary born in Pishpek (today’s Bishkek). After Frunze defeated Admiral Kolchak and the White Army in Omsk, Leon Trotsky as head of the Red Army gave overall command of the Eastern Front to him on July 19, 1919. Frunze went on to rid his native Turkestan of Basmachi insurgents and of White troops. He captured Khiva in February and Bukhara in September 1920. During the Soviet period, Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, was named Frunze.

This street prior to the Russian Revolution was named Shtabnaya (“Staff”), a reference to the military staff of the local garrison.

Nusaý Nusaý (1910) köçesi
Nusaý is a variant spelling of Nissa, the ancient capital of the Parthian Empire, ruins of which lie to the west of downtown Ashgabat near Bagyr.

Nyýazow - Ostrowskiý

Nyýazow 4 Atamyrat Nyýazow geçelgesi
Atamyrat Niýazow köçesi ulitsa Gagarina
Atamyrat Nyýazow (2038) şaýoly ulitsa Chekhova,

Markovskaya ulitsa,

ulitsa Khudayberdiyeva

Atamyrat Nyýazow 1-nji geçelgesi
Atamyrat Nyýazow (1912-1942) was the father of Saparmyrat Nyýazow (spelled in the West Saparmurad Niyazov), who was first secretary of the Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR when the Soviet Union dissolved, and who became the first president of independent Turkmenistan in 1991. Atamyrat Nyýazow was killed in action while serving in the Soviet Army during WWII and was buried in a mass grave in Northern Ossetia.

This thoroughfare actually consists of three streets. The Soviet-period name for Atamyrat Nyýazow şaýoly south of Magtymguly şaýoly to the intersection with Garaşsyzlyk honored Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), the famous Russian playwright and author who earned his living as a physician. Prior to the Russian Revolution, that portion of the street was called Markovskaya ulitsa. The reference is obscure.

In the 1960s the street north of Magtymguly şaýoly was named in honor of Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968), Soviet cosmonaut, who in 1961 was the first human in outer space and the first to orbit Earth.

East of Garaşsyzlyk the street was for some time named ulitsa Khudayberdiyeva in honor of Ýazguly Hudaýberdiýew (1922-1966), a WWII veteran, Communist, and Soviet Turkmen political figure from Erkisadyk village. At the time of his tragic death in an automobile accident near Tashkent on November 16, 1966, he was head of the ideological bureau of the Turkmen Communist Party’s Central Committee, effectively the second-ranking member of the Turkmen Communist Party. He is buried on the Alley of Glory in the Vatutin Cemetery.

Oguzhan 1nji Oguzhan geçelgesi
Oguzhan (1957) köçesi ulitsa Aytakova
Oguzhan (also Oguz Han) is the mythical progenitor of all Turkic nations. According to the myth, he had six sons, each of whom gave rise to a Turkic nation. From his first, heavenly wife came the three elder sons: Gün (sun), Aý (moon), and Ýyldyz (star). From the second, earthly wife came Gök (sky), Dag (mountain), and Deniz (sea).

The former name of Oguzhan köçesi honored Nedirbaý Aýtakow (1894-1938), a Soviet Turkmen social activist, party worker, and government official. He joined the Communist Party in 1922. He was arrested in 1937, accused of espionage and conspiracy to separate Turkmenistan from the USSR, and shot on October 28, 1938. He was posthumously rehabilitated in 1956.

Orazmamethan Orazmamethan köçesi
Orazmämmet Han was a prominent figure in the 1879 Battle of Gökdepe. He was from the Gara Gonur/Gonur/Beg/Togtamysh/Teke tribe. He was a trusted counselor of Berdimyrat Han during the Gokdepe battle, and temporarily commanded the Turkmen warriors after the death of Berdimyrat Han until Nurberdi Han arrived from Mary.
Ostrowskiý Ostrowskiý (2053) köçesi
Aleksandr Ostrovsky (1823-1886) was a Russian playwright whose works became a milestone in development of Russian theater. The street currently named Aba Annaýew was previously named after him as well.

Öwezow - Puşkin

Öwezow Öwezow (2058/4) köçesi ulitsa 9 Ashkhabadskikh komissarov
Daňatar Öwezow (1911-1966) from Mary was a Soviet Turkmen composer. He graduated from Tashkent Technical School of Pedagogy and between 1930 and 1935 lectured in Tashkent. He then studied composition at Leningrad State Conservatory. From 1941 to 1948 he was principal conductor of the Turkmen Opera and Ballet Theater. His compositions are considered precursors of modern Turkmen music. His most famous works include the operas Şasenem we Garyp(1943) and Leýla we Mejnun (1946). In 1961, he was named People's Artist of the Turkmen SSR, and in 1966 he was awarded the Magtymguly State Award of Turkmenistan. He is buried on the Alley of Glory in the Vatutin Cemetery.

The street was earlier named in honor of nine Bolshevik commissars who were captured by White Russian forces in July 1918 and executed by firing squad roughly 19 kilometers east of Ashgabat. An obelisk monument on the execution site commemorates their deaths, though the inscription on it has been removed.

Özgeriş Özgeriş köçesi Tolbuhina köçesi,

ulitsa Tolbukhina

Turkmen özgeriş “evolution, development”. Fedor Ivanovich Tolbukhin (1894-1949) was a Soviet military officer and WWII commander. Between February and September 1943, he was promoted from one-star to four-star general. One year later he was promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union. His decorations include one Hero of the USSR and three Orders of Lenin.
Parahatçylyk Parahatçylyk köçesi
Turkmen parahat “peace” + çylyk “state of being”, i.e., “peacefulness”.
Petrozawodsk Bereketli 1-nji geçelgesi Petrozawodsk 1-nji geçelgesi

Petrozavodskiy 1-y proyezd

Bereketli 2-nji geçelgesi Petrozawodsk 2-nji geçelgesi, Petrozavodskiy 2-y proyezd
Petrozawodsk köçesi ulitsa Petrozavodska
Petrozavodsk (“Peter’s Factory” in Russian) is the capital of Karelia, a province of the Russian Federation taken as war reparations by the Soviet Union from Finland after WWII. See Bereketli.
Polatly Polatly (Parahat) köçesi Parahat köçesi
Turkmen polat “steel” + -ly “with”. The previous name derives from Turkmen parahat “peace”.
Pomma Nurberdi Pomma (2008) köçesi Borodinskaya ulitsa
Nurberdi Pomma (1909-1972) was a Soviet Turkmen writer. He joined the Communist Party in 1943 and edited the satirical magazine Tokmak from 1954 to 1958.

See also Borodin.

Puşkin 11-nji Köşi (2061, Puşkin) geçelgesi
11-nji Kosi (Puşkin, 2059) köçesi
Puşkin (1984) köçesi
Aleksandr Pushkin (1799-1837) is Russia’s most famous and celebrated poet. Puşkin köçesi in downtown Ashgabat, on which the U.S. Embassy is located, is one of five streets in Ashgabat that retain their pre-Revolutionary names.

Razin - Şeýdaýy

Razin 2-nji Razin geçelgesi
Sahat Myradow (Razin, 1922) köçesi ulitsa Stepana Razina
Stepan “Stenka” Razin (1630-1671) was a Don Cossack who led the largest peasant revolt in pre-Petrine Russia. Razin is celebrated in multiple motion pictures, stage productions, songs, and poems.
Rejepow Pena Rejepow (2092) köçesi 2092 köçe
Senior Sergeant Pena Rejepow (1918-2007) was born in Kurban-Mamed aul, now in Bereket district (etrap) of Balkan province. He served in the Soviet Army from 1939 to 1945 and fought in Germany with such distinction he was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union decoration. After the war he joined the Turkmen SSR Academy of Sciences.
Rumy Jelaletdin Rumy (Andižan, 2054) köçesi Andizhanskaya ulitsa, Andijan köçesi
Jelaletdin Rumy (Kakand, 2054) köçesi Kokandskaya ulitsa, Kakand köçesi
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, and more popularly simply as Rumi (1207-1273), was a 13th-century Persian Sunni Muslim poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages and transposed into various formats. Rumi's works are written mostly in Persian, but occasionally he also used Turkish, Arabic, and Greek in his verse. His poetry has influenced Persian literature, as well as Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Azerbaijani, Chagatai, Urdu and Pashto. The city maps published in 2015 name this street Jalaletdin Rumy, but the authoritative list maintained by the city architect spells it Jelaletdin Rumy.

The previous names of these two streets referred to the cities of Andijan and Kokand in Uzbekistan, and until the new name was adopted in 2015 they were among the few remaining pre-Revolutionary street names in Ashgabat.

Şabende Şabende köçesi
Abdylla Şabende (1720-1800) was a Turkmen poet from Köneurgenç, Dashoguz province. Şabende was his pen name. He studied at a medresse in Khiva and authored the lyrical poems and dessans Şabehram, Gül we Bulbul, and Hojambedihan.
Sahra Sahra köçesi
Turkmen Sahra is a region in the northeast of Iran near the Caspian Sea, bordering Turkmenistan, the majority of whose inhabitants are ethnic Turkmen. The most important cities of Turkmen Sahra are Gonbad, Aqqala, Kalaleh, Maraveh Tappeh, Gomishan and Bandar Torkaman. There were, according to Ethnologue, over 2 million Turkmen in Turkmen Sahra in 1997.
Şahymerdan Şahymerdan (Dostluk) köçesi) Dostluk köçesi
Şahymerdan is a hero in Turkmen classical literature.

The previous name of this street derives from Turkmen dostluk “friendship”.

Salyh Ata Salyh (Çelýabinsk, 1962) köçesi Chelyabinskaya ulitsa
Ata Salyh (1908-1964) of Murgap was a Turkmen folk poet. He was born in the village of Şorden near Mary into a poor peasant family. He lost his eyesight at age three. In 1919 he began writing poetry, with works devoted mainly to contemporary themes. He glorified the Communist Party in verse with The Bolshevik is Invincible, Friends! (1920), Collective Farms (1932), and No Loss of a Gram (1936). He fought against reactionary influences with Stop! (1935), and opposed international reaction with Red Flag Over the World (1935). Several of his poems are dedicated to Lenin and Stalin, as well as to friendship of the Soviet people and to Taras Shevchenko.

Chelyabinsk is a city in Siberia.

Salyr Oraz Salyr (Kirow, 2077) köçesi ulitsa Kirova
Oraz Salyr Mäti ogly (1876-1940) was a Turkmen folk bard from Sarahs district of the Ahal province. He war born into a bagşy family, and his father, Mäti, was his first mentor. He started out playing the reedpipe, then shifted to dutar. He was first recorded on a phonograph in 1903. In 1925 V.A. Uspenskiy invited him to move to Ashgabat. In 1935 he traveled to Moscow, where his songs were recorded on phonograph disks. In 1939 he was awarded the title of People’s BagşyMusician of Turkmenistan.

Sergey Kirov (1886-1934) was a Soviet Russian revolutionary whose assassination in 1934 served as the excuse for Iosif Stalin to begin the mass repressions known as the “Great Terror”.

Saparow Ata Saparow köçesi
Ata Saparow was a noted Turkmen jeweler.
Şarlawuk Şarlauk
Şarlawuk
Şarlawuk-1
Turkmen şarlawuk “waterfall”. This is also the name of a town in Balkan Province on the Atrek River.
Saryýew Pürli Saryýew (Transport, 2075) köçesi Transportnaya ulitsa
Pürli Saryýew (1900–1971) was a prominent Turkmen dutar player. The Russian word transport (a loan word from English) refers to the nearby railroad station.
Şatlyk Şatlyk (1916/7) köçesi
Atdanow (Şatlyk) köçesi Şatlyk köçesi
Şatlyk köçesi
Turkmen şatlyk “joy, happiness”. Şatlyk is also a city in Mary province.
Saýat Saýat (2105/9) köçesi ulitsa Sayatskaya
Saýat is a town and the capital of Saýat district (etrap) in Lebap Province.
Serdar Serdar köçesi
Turkmen serdar “leader, chief”.
Şeýdaýy Şeýdaýy (Tolstoý, 1924) köçesi ulitsa Tolstogo
Şeýdaýy (1730-1800) was a Turkmen poet of the Salyr tribe. Şeýdaýy was his pen-name, which means “on the way to light.” The main themes in his works are love, patriotism, and bravery.

The street previously was named in honor of Count Leo Tolstoy, Russian writer, journalist, and philosopher, and author of War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and numerous other books, widely considered the father of the modern novel.

Seýdi - Swerdlow

Seýdi Seýdi (2005) köçesi Soyuznaya ulitsa,

Dagestanskaya ulitsa,

Yablochnaya ulitsa

Seýdi köçesi
Seýitnazar Seýdi (1760-1828), an Ersari tribe member from Karabekewul district of Lebap, was a Turkmen warrior as well as a poet who wrote of patriotism and heroism. He is mainly known for his epistolary poetry and love lyrics. During a battle between the Turkmen of the Goklen tribe and Persians, he was taken captive and killed.

Before the Russian Revolution this was Dagestan Street, a nod to the province in the North Caucasus across the Caspian.

After the Revolution it was renamed Union Street (Soyuznaya ulitsa) in homage to the Soviet Union. A short section on the western end of today’s Seýdi köçesi tracks a street in the former Gazha neighborhood previously named Yablochnaya, from Russian yabloko “apple”.

Seýidow Mämmet Seýidow (2105/5) geçelgesi Yunatov proyezd
Mämmet Seýidow (1925-?) was a Soviet Turkmen poet from Durun, near Baharly.

Aleksandr Yunatov (1910-1967) was a Soviet geobotanist who studied the flora of Central Asia and Mongolia.

Seýilgäh Seýilgäh (Bomako, 1934) köçesi
Turkmen seýilgäh “park”. The street forms the western boundary of the 100 Fountains Park created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Ashgabat.

The previous name, Bomako, referred to the capital of Mali, Bamako, with which Ashgabat became a sister city in 1974.

Seýitliýew Gara Seýitliýew (Krasnowodsk, 2031) köçesi Krasnovodskaya ulitsa
Gara Seýitliýew (1915-1971) was a Turkmen poet. His is buried on the Alley of Glory in the Vatutin Cemetery.

Krasnovodsk (Russian krasnyy “red” + voda “water”) was the former name of the city of Turkmenbasy.

Seýtakow Seýtakow köçesi Ovrazhnaya ulitsa
Beki Seýtakow (1914-1979) was an influential Turkmen writer and publicist. In 1969 he was elected as a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Turkmen SSR.

The former name derives from Russian ovrag “ravine”.

Smolensk Smolensk (1938/7) köçesi Smolenskaya ulitsa
Smolensk is a city in western Russia between Moscow and the border with Belarus.
Steklozawodskaýa Steklozawodskaýa (2033/1) köçesi Steklozavodskaya ulitsa
Russian steklo “glass” + zavod “factory” + -skaya “adjectival ending”. Until 2017 this street led to the Ashgabat glass factory, which has been relocated to the north suburbs.
Stepnaýa Stepnaýa köçesi
Russian step’ “prairie, steppe” + -naya “adjectival ending”. This is one of five streets retaining pre-Revolutionary names.
Suhangulyýew Täçmämmet Suhangulyýew (Şors, 1930) köçesi ulitsa Shchorsa
Täçmämmet Suhangulyýew was a noted dutar musician and composer of folk music. He was a member of the Turkmen Union of Composers in the Soviet period.

The previous name of this street honored Mykola Shchors (1895-1919), a Red Army commander, member of the Russian Communist Party, who was renowned for his personal courage during the Russian Civil War. A dacha community north of the Garagum Canal is also named Shchors, or in Turkmen Şor.

Şükür Bagşy Şükür Bagşy köçesi
Şükür Bagşy (Çapaýew, 2093) köçesi ulitsa Chapayeva
Şükür bagşy (1831-1928) of Gökdepe district was a Turkmen folk bard. Bagşy is a Turkmen word for a bard who sings the Turkic epics or dessanlar. According to legend, Şükür’s brother was taken captive in Iran, and when the Turkmen Han proposed to assemble an army to march on Iran to liberate the brother, Şükür courageously decided to approach the Persian shah, Muhammedar Khan, alone, taking with him not a blade, but a dutar. Şükür challenged the shah’s court musician, Gulam, to a musical duel, with the promise being that if Şükür won, his brother would be freed. His virtuosity captivated the listeners, but Muhammedar Khan declared Gulam the winner. The audience’s reaction, however, forced the Khan to rethink his position, and Şükür returned home with his brother. Russian musicologist V.A. Uspenskiy met Şükür early in the 20th century during an expedition to Turkmenia.

Vasiliy Chapayev (1887-1919) was a Sovet Russian military hero of WWI and the Russian Civil War. He entered WWI as a sergeant and by 1918 was commanding a division, a responsibility normally borne by a two-star general. Following his death in 1919 he became the subject of no fewer than 12 motion pictures, 8 books, and 4 songs.

Sumbar Sumbar (2111/2) köçesi
The Sumbar (also Sari-su, Sara-su and Ṣáríṣú) is a fast flowing river in southern Turkmenistan and northern Iran. It a tributary of the Atrek. The name Sari-su means “yellow water” in Turkic languages, but is applied to a number of other rivers as well.
Suworow 1-nji Amy Derýa (Suworow) geçelgesi
Alexander Suvorov (1729 or 1730-1800) was a Russian military leader, considered a national hero. He was the Count of Rymnik, Count of the Holy Roman Empire, Prince of Italy, and the last Generalissimo of the Russian Empire.

See also Amy Derýa.

Swerdlow Köşi 14-nji (2065, Swerdlow) geçelgesi Sverdlovskiy proyezd
Ýagtyýol (Swerdlowsk, 2105/8) köçesi Sverdlovskaya ulitsa
Yakov Sverdlov (1885-1919) was a Bolshevik party administrator and chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. He first met Lenin in April 1917 and was subsequently trusted as the chairman of the Central Committee Secretariat. Sverdlov was elected chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in November, becoming thereby de jure head of state of the Russian SFSR until his death. He played important roles in the decision in January 1918 to end the Russian Constituent Assembly and the subsequent signing on 3 March of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. During the Soviet period, the city of Yekaterinburg was renamed Sverdlovsk in his honor. See also Ýagtyýol.

Syr Derýa - Türkmensahra

Syr Derýa Syr Derýa köçesi Syrdariynskaya ulitsa
The Syr Darya originates in the Tian Shan Mountains in Kyrgyzstan and eastern Uzbekistan and flows for 2,212 kilometers (1,374 miles) west and north-west through Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan to the northern remnants of the Aral Sea. In antiquity it was known as the Jaxartes and Seyhun, the latter name derived from the biblical name of Pishon, one of the four rivers flowing from the Garden of Eden.
Täçmyradow Täçmyradow (1950) köçesi Ferganskaya ulitsa
Mylly Täçmyradow (1886-1960) of Gökdepe was a Turkmen composer of works for the dutar. He studied under Kel Bagşi. In 1930 he began performing with the Folk Instrument Ensemble of Turkmen Radio. He is buried on the Alley of Glory in the Vatutin Cemetery.

The former name honored the Fergana Valley.

Tähran Tähran (2070) köçesi
Teheran, spelled Tähran in Turkmen, is the capital of Iran.
Tahyrow Tahyrow (1974) köçesi
Aýdogdy Tahyrow (1907-1943) was a Turkmen collective farm chairman who during WWII commanded a rifle company in the 87th Turkmen Rifle Brigade. His position near Bol’shiye Dubovitsy in Leningrad oblast’ was overrun though he personally killed 47 German soldiers in the battle. He was taken prisoner, placed before a radio trasmitter, and ordered to urge his comrades to surrender. Instead he called on them to fight to the last man, for which the Nazis tortured him to death.
Täjir Täjir (DOSAAF) geçelgesi ulitsa DOSAAF
Turkmen täjir “merchant”. The street is near a shopping center belonging to the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

The former name, DOSAAF, refers to the Volunteer Society for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation, and Navy, a Soviet paramilitary sports organization intended to maintain military readiness.

Taňrygulyýew Kaýum Taňrygulyýew (Pokrowskiý, 1964) köçesi Pokrovskaya ulitsa
Kaýum Taňrygulyýew (1930-2014) was a Turkmen poet, philologist, and children’s author.

Russian pokrov “intercession” usually relates to a church or other Christian religious institution, as it refers to the Intercession of the Virgin Mary.

Taýlyýew Täşli Taýlyýew (Wozrojdeniýa, 2034) köçesi ulitsa Vozrozhdeniya, Mariinskaya ulitsa
Täşli Taýlyýew was Turkmenistan’s chess champion in 1938, and he is known to have taught chess at collective farms.

Russian vozrozhdeniye “resurrection, rebirth” is typically associated with Christian churches, where it refers to the resurrection of Jesus. However, its significance in this case is the rebirth of society under Soviet rule, following overthrow of the tsarist regime in the Russian Civil W

Mariinskaya likely refers to the female given name Mariya (Mary), but the precise reference (which Mary) is obscure.

Tbilisi Tbilisi (2073/6) köçesi
Tbilisi is the capital city of the Repubic of Georgia.
Teliýa Teliýa (2026/3) köçesi ulitsa Telliya
Teliýa (2032) köçesi
Vissarion Teliya was a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party and one of nine Communist commissars who attempted to put down a counterrevolution against the Bolsheviks in Ashgabat in 1918. On July 23, 1918, the nine, including Teliya, were hauled by freight train to a point 19 kilometers east of Ashgabat, beyond the Annau rail station, and executed by firing squad. A monument marks the spot on the north side of the tracks. In Russian, a second letter “l” was added to the Cyrillic spelling of his name.
Telman Telman 1-ji geçelgesi
Kakabaýew (2064) köçesi ulitsa Tel’mana
Telman 2-ji geçelgesi
Ernst Thälmann (1886-1944) was a German Communist involved in the international communist movement. He was put to death in the Buchenwald concentration camp during WWII. The spelling “Telman” is a backformation from the Russian transliteration of his last name, Tel’man.
Torgowaýa 1 Torgowaýa geçelgesi
Nesimi (Torgowaýa, 1940) köçesi
Torgowaýa köçesi
Russian torgovaya “trade, commerce”.
Tula Tula (1938/8) köçesi ulitsa Tul’skaya
Tula is a city in Russia, famous for its samovars and armaments industry.
Türkmenbaşy Beýik Saparmyrat Türkmenbaşy (1966) şaýoly Prospekt Lenina, ulitsa Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsii, prospekt Annenkova, Gaudanskoye shosse
Türkmenbaşy köçesi
Turkmen türkmen “Turkmen” + baş “head”, i.e., “leader of the Turkmen”, the name Saparmurat Niyazov (Saparmyrat Nyýazow) assumed during his presidency of independent Turkmenistan. The full name of the street means “The Great Saparmurat Head of the Turkmen”.

Previous names of Turkmenbaşy şaýoly from 1881 were in honor of Mikhail Annenkov, who brought the Transcaspian Railway to Ashgabat (this street runs south from the Ashgabat railway station); the October Revolution of 1917; and Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution and ultimately the Soviet Union until his death. A portion of the street was also designated Gaudanskoye shosse (Howdan Highway), Turkmen howdan “pond”.

Türkmenistan Türkmenistan köçesi
This street is obviously named for the country of Turkmenistan.
Türkmensahra Türkmensahra
Turkmen Sahra is a region in the northeast of Iran near the Caspian Sea, bordering Turkmenistan, the majority of whose inhabitants are ethnic Turkmen. The most important cities of Turkmen Sahra are Gonbad, Aqqala, Kalaleh, Maraveh Tappeh, Gomishan and Bandar Torkaman. There were, according to Ethnologue, over 2 million Turkmen in Turkmen Sahra in 1997.

Tuzin - Watutin

Tuzin Boris Tuzin (1992) köçesi Stekol’naya ulitsa,

Tyuremnaya ulitsa

Boris Tuzin (1893-1918) from near Minsk joined the Russian Army in 1914 and the Communist Party in 1915. When the October Revolution occurred he was assigned to the Kushka garrison. In December 1917 he was elected chairman of the Ashgabat Council of People’s Commissars, i.e., the senior official of the city. He raised troops and took command of the unified Transcaspian Red Guard on the Bukhara front. In June 1918 he departed for Krasnovodsk (today’s Turkmenbashy) to connect with the Baku commisars and arrange bread deliveries, but was captured by British and White forces and imprisoned on Petrov Island, where he died.

An earlier name for this street, Stekol’naya (“glass”) refers to the location here of the first glass factory in Ashgabat. The original name of this street was Tyuremnaya (“prison”) as the prison was located on it.

Üçgün Üçgün (Ýaşlar, Molodýožnaýa) köçesi Molodezhnaya ulitsa,

Ýaşlar köçesi

Turkmen üç “three” + gün “day”. The previous names both mean “youth”; the Turkmen word ýaşlar “youths” is a rough translation of the Russian word molodëzh.
Ural Ural geçelgesi
The Ural region and mountains of Russia are situated due north of Turkmenistan.
Uşakow Uşakow koçesi
Fyodor Ushakov (1745-1817) was a Russian admiral who commanded vessels and fleets against the Turks.
Uzboý Uzboý köçesi Magtymguly (Köşi) köçesi
The Uzboy River was a distributary of the Amu Darya, which flowed through the northwestern part of the Karakum Desert through Dehistan until the 17th century, when it abruptly dried up. Now a dry river channel and a center for archaeological excavations, the Uzboy flowed some 750 kilometres from a branch in the Amu Darya River via Sarykamysh Lake to the Caspian Sea.

See also Magtymguly.

Watan Watan 1 geçelgesi
Watan 2 geçelgesi
Watan 3 geçelgesi
Watan 4 geçelgesi
Watan köçesi
Turkmen watan “homeland”.
Watutin Watutin 1-nji geçelgesi 1-y proyezd Vatutina
Watutin 2-nji (2073/6) geçelgesi 2-y proyezd Vatutina
Nikolai Vatutin (1901-1944) was a Soviet military commander during World War II. Vatutin was responsible for many Red Army operations in Ukraine as commander of the Southwestern Front, the Voronezh Front during the Battle of Kursk and the 1st Ukrainian Front during the liberation of Kiev. He was ambushed and mortally wounded in February 1944 by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Vatutin Cemetery is named for him.

Winogradnyý - Ýasawy

Winogradnyý Winogradnyý 1 geçelgesi Vinogradnyy 1-y proyezd
Winogradnyý 2 geçelgesi Vinogradnyy 2-y proyezd
Winogradnyý 4 geçelgesi Vinogradnyy 4-y proyezd
Winogradnyý 5 geçelgesi Vinogradnyy 5-y proyezd
Russian vinograd “grape” + -nyy “adjectival suffix”.
Woronež Woronež (1938/6) köçesi Voronezhskaya ulitsa
Voronezh is a Russian city on the Voronezh River, a tributary of the Don River. It is significant in history as the river port at which Peter the Great experimented with ship building before launching the first Russian Navy.
Ýagtyýol Ýagtyýol (Swerdlowsk, 2105/8) köçesi Sverdlovskaya ulitsa
Turkmen ýagty “luminous” + ýol “road, path”

See Swerdlowsk.

Ýalkym Ýalkym köçesi
Turkmen ýalkym “light, brightness”.
Ýalta Ýalta köçesi
Yalta is a city on the Crimean Peninsula. It was the site of the Yalta Conference among Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin in WWII.
Ýangyn Ýangyn geçelgesi
Turkmen ýangyn “fire”.
Ýasawy Hoja Ahmet Ýasawy (1920) köçesi
Hoja Ahmet Ýasawy (2105) köçesi ulitsa Griboyedova,

(far east end:) ulitsa Domostroiteley,

ulitsa Dobrolyubova

Khawaja Ahmad Yassawi or Ahmed Yesevi (1093-1166) was a Turkic poet and Sufi, an early mystic who exerted a powerful influence on the development of Sufi orders throughout the Turkic-speaking world. Yasavi is currently the earliest known Turkic poet who composed poetry in Middle Turkic. Ahmed Yesevi was a pioneer of popular mysticism, and founded the first Turkic Sufi order, the Yasawiyya or Yeseviye, which very quickly spread over Turkic-speaking areas. He was a Hanafi scholar.

Aleksandr Griboyedov (1795-1829) was a Russian diplomat, playwright, poet, and composer. He is recognized as homo unius libri, a writer of one book, whose fame rests on the comedy in verse Woe from Wit. He was Russia's ambassador to Persia, where he and all the embassy staff were massacred by an angry mob as a result of the rampant anti-Russian sentiment that existed through Russia's imposing of the Treaty of Gulistan (1813) and Treaty of Turkmenchay (1828), which had forcefully ratified Persia's cession of its northern territories comprising Transcaucasia and parts of the North Caucasus. Griboyedov had played a pivotal role in the ratification of the latter treaty.

The far eastern end of this street, east of Baba Annanow, was called at various times ulitsa Domostroiteley (House Builders Street) and ulitsa Dobrolyubova. Nikolay Dobrolyubov (1836-1861) was a Russian literary critic and revolutionary democrat.

Ýaşlar - Zynhary

Ýaşlar Ýaşlar (1953) köçesi
Ýaşlar köçesi
Turkmen ýaşlar “youths”.
Ýaşlyk Ýaşlyk geçelgesi
Turkmen ýaşlyk “youth, the state of being young”.
Ýaşulular Ýaşulular köçesi Hasanowskaýa köçesi,

Khasanovskaya ulitsa

Ýaşuly is an elder or old man; ýaşulular refers to elders as a group, as in the Yaşulular Maslahaty, the Elders Council. Cf. Turkmen yaşamak “to live”, i.e., one who has lived a long time. Hasanov (Khasanov) is a relatively common Turkic last name, and it is unclear in whose honor this street was once named.
Ýaşyl Tug Ýaşyl Tug (2083) köçesi ulitsa Sovetskikh Sokolov
Turkmen ýaşyl tug “green banner”, a reference to the green flag of Turkmenistan. The previous name translates as “Street of the Soviet Falcons”, as it is located on the southern edge of the airport.
Ýeňiş Ýeňiş (1957/10) köçesi
Turkmen ýeňiş “victory”.
Ylýasow Ylýasow (Prokofýew) köçesi ulitsa Prokofiyeva
Orazgeldi Ylýasow (1933-) is a Turkmen folk singer and musician. He is an outstanding Turkmen bard, one of the trainees of the famous bard Sahy Jepbarow. Ylýasow was also known as Sygan bagşy among the people.

The previous name of the street refers to the Soviet Russian composer Sergey Prokofiev.

Ýük Terminaly Ýük Terminaly köçesi
Turkmen ýük “cargo” + terminal “terminal”. This road leads to the airport cargo terminal.
Ýunatow Ýunatow köçesi
Aleksandr Yunatov (1910-1967) was a Soviet botanist and geographer who researched the vegetation of Central Asia.
Zähmet Zähmet (1944) köçesi
Zähmet (2111/8) köçesi
Zähmet geçelgesi
Zähmet köçesi
Turkmen zähmet “labor, work”.
Zarpçi Zarpçi köçesi
Turkmen zarpçi “shockworker”, a direct translation of the Russian udarnik in the sense of udarnik truda.
Zelili Zelili geçelgesi
Zelili köçesi
Zelili was the pen name of Turkmen poet Gurbandurdy Mametdöwlet-ogly (1780-1848?).
Zynhary Zynhary köçesi
Zynhary was the pen name of Turkmen poet Abdurahim (1791-1880).