Balkan Region ( tk, Balkan welaýaty, Балкан велаяты) is the westernmost of the five
regions of Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan is divided into five regions or ''welaýatlar'' (singular '' welaýat'') and one capital city (''şäher'') with provincial legal status. They are Ahal, Balkan, Dashoguz, Lebap and Mary, plus the capital city of Ashgabat. Each provi ...
. Clockwise from north it borders
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
,
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...
(north); two provinces of Turkmenistan (east),
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
(south), and the
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...
(west). The capital city is
Balkanabat, formerly known as Nebit Dag. The region's boundaries are identical to those of the former ''Krasnovodsk Oblast' '', a Soviet-era province of the
Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic
The Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (, ; russian: Туркменская Советская Социалистическая Республика, ''Turkmenskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika''), also commonly known as Turkmenistan o ...
. This oblast was liquidated and restored repeatedly in the 20th century, concluding with its abolition in 1988. However, the administrative boundaries of the region were restored in 1991 when Balkan Region was established.
The province covers 139,270 square kilometers and counts 553,500 residents (2005 estimate). A large minority of these are
nomadic herding families.
[''Statistical Yearbook of Turkmenistan 2000-2004'', National Institute of State Statistics and Information of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, 2005.] Its population density of 3.97 persons per square kilometer is the lowest in Turkmenistan.
Other cities include:
Bereket
Bereket, formerly Gazanjyk or ''Kazandzhik'' (russian: Казанджик or tk, Газанҗык gɑˈzɑnd͡ʒik), is a city in Balkan Province in western Turkmenistan. Bereket is the administrative centre of Bereket District.
Bereket is lo ...
,
Türkmenbaşy,
Gumdag
Gumdag (romanized Russian Kum Dag) is a town in Balkan Province, Turkmenistan. It is located 43 km southeast of the city of Balkanabat. To the south-east of the town, lies the Boyadag Mud Volcano.
Etymology
The name is derived from two words in ...
,
Serdar Serdar may refer to
* Serdar (given name)
* Serdar (surname)
* SERDAR, a stabilized remote-controlled Ukrainian weapon station
* Serdar (city) in Turkmenistan, the capital of Serdar District
* Serdar (Ottoman rank), a military and noble rank of t ...
,
Hazar,
Etrek, and
Esenguly
Esenguly (formerly Hasan-Kuly, Gasan-Kuli) is a city in and administrative center of Esenguly District, Balkan Province, Turkmenistan. In 1989 its population was 5,823.
Etymology
The name is of obscure origin. A clan of that name, part of the Yo ...
.
Balkan Region has significant hydrocarbon reserves, which in 2019 accounted for 13.9% of Turkmenistan's
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
production and 93.1% of its
petroleum
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...
production.
It also generated 15.4% of the country's
electric power
Electric power is the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt, one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with other SI units: thousands, millions and billions o ...
.
Due to the very low water supply,
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
is negligible, and only 4.5% of Turkmenistan's
arable land
Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the ...
s are within the province.
Off its Caspian shores, the Balkan Region includes the island of
Ogurja Ada
, image_name = Ogurchinsky_caspian.jpg
, image_caption = 19th-century Russian map of Ogurchinskiy Island
, image_size =
, map_image = Caspian5OGU.png
, map_caption = Location of Ogurja Ada in the Caspian Sea
, location = Ca ...
, the most important island in Turkmenistan and one of the largest in the Caspian Sea.
Etymology
![Loading terminal Garabogaz urea plant Turkmenistan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Loading_terminal_Garabogaz_urea_plant_Turkmenistan.jpg)
One conjecture holds that Balkan comes from ''Bal akan'' meaning “where the honey flows”, possibly relating to the locally rich petroleum sources. However, Atanyyazow explains,
This name is derived from the Balkan word meaning "mountain" in ancient Turkic languages (Khasanov, p. 47) - compare the Balkan mountains in Bulgaria. In the Turkic language, it is also used to mean "mountain", "mountain-top mountains" (1 Uretsko-Russian. Sl. M, 1931, p. 110). In the dictionaries of Budagovyts and Gadlovyts, it also occurs in the same sense. This ancient name, which existed in the early 11th century, is interpreted by local elders as "honey flowing"...
Administrative subdivisions
Districts
Balkan Province (''Balkan welaýaty'') is subdivided into 6
districts
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
(''etrap'', plural ''etraplar''):
[ This document is reproduced online at https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Districts_in_Turkmenistan.]
#
Bereket
Bereket, formerly Gazanjyk or ''Kazandzhik'' (russian: Казанджик or tk, Газанҗык gɑˈzɑnd͡ʒik), is a city in Balkan Province in western Turkmenistan. Bereket is the administrative centre of Bereket District.
Bereket is lo ...
(previously Gazanjyk)
#
Esenguly
Esenguly (formerly Hasan-Kuly, Gasan-Kuli) is a city in and administrative center of Esenguly District, Balkan Province, Turkmenistan. In 1989 its population was 5,823.
Etymology
The name is of obscure origin. A clan of that name, part of the Yo ...
(previously Hasan-Kuli)
#
Etrek (previously Gyzyletrek)
#
Gyzylarbat
Gyzylarbat (formerly Serdar and Kyzyl-Arvat or Gyzylarbat and Farāva) is a city subordinate to a district in Turkmenistan, located north-west of the capital, Ashgabat on the M37 highway to the Caspian Sea. The population of Gyzylarbat is 50,000 ...
(from 1999 to 2022 called Serdar)#
Gyzylarbat
Gyzylarbat (formerly Serdar and Kyzyl-Arvat or Gyzylarbat and Farāva) is a city subordinate to a district in Turkmenistan, located north-west of the capital, Ashgabat on the M37 highway to the Caspian Sea. The population of Gyzylarbat is 50,000 ...
(from 1999 to 2022 called Serdar)
#
Magtymguly (previously Garry Gala)
#
Türkmenbaşy
In addition, part of the city of Turkmenbashy is subdivided into a borough with district status and thus a
presidentially appointed mayor.
* City Boroughs of
Türkmenbaşy City:
#
Awaza etraby
The former Kenar Borough (''Kenar etraby'') of the city of Turkmenbashy was abolished effective 9 November 2022.
[According to ''Türkmenistanyň dolandyryş-çäk birlikleriniň Sanawy'' Turkmenbashy until November 2022 was divided into the city of Turkmenbashy proper and the Awaza borough, which consists of the Awaza National Resort Zone plus an administrative center and bedroom community a short distance away as well as the city airport. However, parliamentary and presidential decrees established Kenar borough (''Kenar etraby'') and that name is attested in these statutes, though it was omitted from the official list of administrative subdivisions. The portion of the city of Turkmenbashy not in Awaza borough was thus referred to as the Kenar borough (''Kenar etraby''), after the former village of Kenar that was annexed by Turkmenbashy city.]
Municipalities
As of January 1, 2017, the province included 10 cities (города or ''şäherler''), 13 towns (посёлки or ''şäherçeler''), 33 rural or village councils (сельские советы or ''geňeşlikler''), and 112 villages (села, сельские населенные пункты or ''obalar'').
Two cities, Gumdag and Hazar, were downgraded to town status in November 2022, reducing the number of cities to eight and increasing the number of towns by two. The town of Garagöl was annexed by the town of Hazar, bringing the number of towns to 14.
In the list below, cities with
"district status" are bolded:
![Yangy-Kala-canyon-Balkan-province-Turkmenistan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Yangy-Kala-canyon-Balkan-province-Turkmenistan.jpg)
:*
Balkanabat (formerly Nebit-Dag)
:*
Bereket
Bereket, formerly Gazanjyk or ''Kazandzhik'' (russian: Казанджик or tk, Газанҗык gɑˈzɑnd͡ʒik), is a city in Balkan Province in western Turkmenistan. Bereket is the administrative centre of Bereket District.
Bereket is lo ...
(formerly Gazanjyk ( russian: Казанджик or Газанджык))
:*
Esenguly
Esenguly (formerly Hasan-Kuly, Gasan-Kuli) is a city in and administrative center of Esenguly District, Balkan Province, Turkmenistan. In 1989 its population was 5,823.
Etymology
The name is of obscure origin. A clan of that name, part of the Yo ...
(formerly Hasan Kuli) ( russian: Гасан-Кули)
:*
Etrek (formerly Gyzyletrek)
:*
Garabogaz
Garabogaz () is a city subordinate to Turkmenbashy District, Balkan province, Turkmenistan, on the shore of the Caspian Sea. Until 2002, the municipality had the status of a town and was named ''Bekdaş'' .
Etymology
The city takes its name fr ...
(formerly Bekdaş)
:*
Gyzylarbat
Gyzylarbat (formerly Serdar and Kyzyl-Arvat or Gyzylarbat and Farāva) is a city subordinate to a district in Turkmenistan, located north-west of the capital, Ashgabat on the M37 highway to the Caspian Sea. The population of Gyzylarbat is 50,000 ...
(from 1999 to 2022 called Serdar)
:*
Magtymguly (formerly Garrygala) ( russian: Кара Кала)
:*
Türkmenbaşy City (formerly Krasnovodsk)
Industry
From 2017 to 2019, Balkan Province produced these volumes of industrial products:
Turkmenistan's largest petroleum refinery is in the city of
Turkmenbashy ''(viz.)''.
The Balkan Cement Plant in Jebel was built in 2011 by
Turkish firm
Polimeks
Polimeks İnşaat ve Sanayi A.Ş. is a Turkish holding company based in Istanbul. Polimeks, established in 1995 and grew to become one of the world’s leading construction companies, in recent years transformed into a global investment holding ...
and has a design capacity of one million tons per year.
The Kiyanly Polymer Factory ( tk, Gyýanly Polimer Zawody), inaugurated October 17, 2018, features design capacity to produce 381 thousand tonnes of polyethylene and 81 thousand tonnes of polypropylene per year. Built at a cost of $3.4 billion by
LG International,
Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups:
* Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested
** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company
** Hyundai ...
Engineering,
Toyo Engineering, and Gap Inşaat (a subsidiary of
Çalık Holding
Çalık Holding is a Turkish company that has been operating in the energy, construction, mining, textile, finance, and telecom sectors since the 1980s. Founder and chairman Ahmet Çalık began his business career in the textile industry, foundi ...
), the plant
cracks methane and ethane for production of polymers. In the first ten months of 2019, however, the factory produced only 67,900 tonnes of polyethylene and 12,700 tonnes of polypropylene.
The $1.3 billion Garabogaz urea (carbamide) plant, built by
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the predecessor of Mitsubishi Mo ...
and GAP İnşaat, was inaugurated on September 18, 2018, with a design capacity of 1.16 million tonnes of urea per year. Between January and October 2019, the Garabogaz plant produced approximately 392,000 tonnes of urea, of which 261,000 tonnes was exported.
Three factories produce
iodine
Iodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid at standard conditions that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...
in Turkmenistan, all in Balkan Province: one each in
Balkanabat,
Hazar, and
Bereket
Bereket, formerly Gazanjyk or ''Kazandzhik'' (russian: Казанджик or tk, Газанҗык gɑˈzɑnd͡ʒik), is a city in Balkan Province in western Turkmenistan. Bereket is the administrative centre of Bereket District.
Bereket is lo ...
. The Bereket plant is designed to produce 150 tonnes per year of iodine. Following planned renovations and upgrades, the Balkanabat and Hazar plants will have design capacities of 250 tonnes and 300 tonnes of iodine, respectively, plus 2400 tonnes and 4500 tonnes of
bromine
Bromine is a chemical element with the symbol Br and atomic number 35. It is the third-lightest element in group 17 of the periodic table (halogens) and is a volatile red-brown liquid at room temperature that evaporates readily to form a simila ...
, respectively, per year.
Total production of iodine in 2019 was 681.4 tonnes.
Transportation
The
M37 highway begins at the
Turkmenbashi International Seaport
The Türkmenbaşy International Seaport is the main passenger harbour and cargo port in Türkmenbaşy, Turkmenistan.
It is located in the eastern part of the Caspian Sea. Regular lines serve routes to Baku (Azerbaijan), Aktau (Kazakhstan) and A ...
and leads eastward 1200 kilometers in the direction of
Ashgabat
Ashgabat or Asgabat ( tk, Aşgabat, ; fa, عشقآباد, translit='Ešqābād, formerly named Poltoratsk ( rus, Полтора́цк, p=pəltɐˈratsk) between 1919 and 1927), is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies ...
,
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
,
Türkmenabat
Türkmenabat ( tk, Türkmenabat, Түркменабат), formerly and since medieval times Chardzhou, (russian: Чарджоу, ''Chardzhou''; tk, Çärjew, links=no, ) ( fa, چهارجوی 'čahârjuy', meaning 'four brooks') and in ancient ti ...
, and the border with
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...
. A network of paved roads connects major population centers, including the P-15, P-16, P-17, P-18, and P-20 highways. Passenger and car ferry service is available between the seaport in
Turkmenbashy and
Baku
Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...
. A major airport is located in Turkmenbashy, and smaller airports are located in
Balkanabat,
Etrek,
Garabogaz
Garabogaz () is a city subordinate to Turkmenbashy District, Balkan province, Turkmenistan, on the shore of the Caspian Sea. Until 2002, the municipality had the status of a town and was named ''Bekdaş'' .
Etymology
The city takes its name fr ...
,
Hazar, and
Jebel
Jabal, Jabel, Jebel or Jibal may refer to:
People
* Jabal (name), a male Arabic given name
* Jabal (Bible), mentioned in the Hebrew Bible
Places
In Arabic, ''jabal'' or ''jebel'' (spelling variants of the same word) means 'mountain'.
* Dzhebel ...
. A military airfield is located at Ýangyja.
The
Trans-Caspian Railway
The Trans-Caspian Railway (also called the Central Asian Railway, russian: Среднеазиатская железная дорога) is a railway that follows the path of the Silk Road through much of western Central Asia. It was built by ...
begins in Turkmenbashy and extends eastward to Uzbekistan via Ashgabat, Mary, and Turkmenabat. The
International North–South Transport Corridor passes through Balkan Province and intersects the Trans-Caspian Railway at
Bereket
Bereket, formerly Gazanjyk or ''Kazandzhik'' (russian: Казанджик or tk, Газанҗык gɑˈzɑnd͡ʒik), is a city in Balkan Province in western Turkmenistan. Bereket is the administrative centre of Bereket District.
Bereket is lo ...
, which features a large locomotive depot and repair works.
In addition to the seaport at Turkmenbashy, smaller vessel-loading facilities are found at Garabogaz (urea) and Gyýanly (polymers). Turkmenbashi International Seaport operates oil-loading terminals at
Alaja,
Ekerem
Ekerem (russian: Окарем), is a small populated place in Balkan Province in western Turkmenistan on the Caspian Sea coast. It is the site of one of Turkmenistan's three oil loading terminals for seaborne shipment of liquid petroleum product ...
, and Kenar, and
Dragon Oil
Dragon Oil plc is an independent international oil and gas exploration, development and production business. It is based and registered in Dubai and its operations are primarily located in Turkmenistan. The company was listed on the Irish Stock Ex ...
loads oil at the port of
Hazar.
See also
*
Balkan newspaper
*
Cave of Dzhebel
*
Gyzylbaýyr
Gyzylbaýyr (formerly called Şarlawuk) is a village in far south-western Turkmenistan, in Etrek District, Balkan Province. It lies on the Atrek River not far from the border with Iran and is bisected by the P-15 highway between Serdar Serdar may ...
*
Hojagala
*
Jebel
Jabal, Jabel, Jebel or Jibal may refer to:
People
* Jabal (name), a male Arabic given name
* Jabal (Bible), mentioned in the Hebrew Bible
Places
In Arabic, ''jabal'' or ''jebel'' (spelling variants of the same word) means 'mountain'.
* Dzhebel ...
*
Ogurja Ada
, image_name = Ogurchinsky_caspian.jpg
, image_caption = 19th-century Russian map of Ogurchinskiy Island
, image_size =
, map_image = Caspian5OGU.png
, map_caption = Location of Ogurja Ada in the Caspian Sea
, location = Ca ...
*
Türkmenbaşy Gulf
The Türkmenbaşy Gulf or Türkmenbaşy Aýlagy or Türkmenbaşy Bay ( tk, Türkmenbaşy aýlagy, russian: залив Туркменбашы) is a bay of the Caspian Sea in the coast of Turkmenistan.
With the Türkmenbaşy Peninsula to the nort ...
*
Türkmenbaşy şäherçesi
OpenStreetMap Wiki: Balkan ProvinceOpenStreetMap Wiki: Districts in Turkmenistan
References
Links
Tourism in Balkan Province
{{Authority control
Regions of Turkmenistan