Garabogaz () is a city subordinate to Turkmenbashy District,

Balkan province Balkan Region ( tk, Balkan welaýaty, Балкан велаяты) is the westernmost of the five regions of Turkmenistan. Clockwise from north it borders Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan (north); two provinces of Turkmenistan (east), Iran (south), ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the s ...

, on the shore of 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 A ...

. Until 2002, the municipality had the status of a town and was named ''Bekdaş'' .

Etymology

The city takes its name from the nearby Garabogaz gulf. Atanyyazow explains that the name originally applied to the narrow strait which connects the gulf to the Caspian Sea. Because water in the strait, termed a "throat" ( tk, bogaz), was darker than the water on either side, it was termed "dark" or "black" ( tk, gara), hence ''garabogaz''. Over time the name was applied to the gulf itself and ultimately to the city. The original name, Bekdash ( tk, Bekdaş) is taken from the name of a small hill nearby, on which a television antenna has been installed. The origin of ''bek'' is obscure; ''daş'' means "stone, rock" and Atanyyazov suggests it refers to the pebbles found in the area.

Overview

The settlement occupies the northern tapering of a ridge before it becomes a narrow spit. These together divide the

Garabogazköl The Garabogazköl (also spelt Kara-Bogaz-Gol; "Black Strait Lake"), or Garabogazköl Aylagy ("Black Strait Lake Bay"), is a shallow, highly-saline water-filled depression in the northwestern corner of Turkmenistan. It forms a lagoon of the Caspian ...

lagoon from the

, with a small inlet channel to the south of the town. It has abundant and varied mineral resources from the highly saline lagoon. It is one of few places in the world where naturally deposited

sodium sulfate Sodium sulfate (also known as sodium sulphate or sulfate of soda) is the inorganic compound with formula Na2SO4 as well as several related hydrates. All forms are white solids that are highly soluble in water. With an annual production of 6 mil ...

exists in commercially exploitable quantities.

Economy

Garabogaz is the site of one of Turkmenistan's three

urea Urea, also known as carbamide, is an organic compound with chemical formula . This amide has two amino groups (–) joined by a carbonyl functional group (–C(=O)–). It is thus the simplest amide of carbamic acid. Urea serves an important ...

(carbamide) plants. The $1.3 billion Garabogaz 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 ...

and GAP İnşaat (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 ...

), 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. The plant operates a loading terminal for shipping urea via the Caspian. A mineral salt extraction plant dating to the Soviet period is located 15 km northeast of the city. It was constructed over a period of ten years, between 1963 and 1973. It produces sodium sulfate as well as epsomite and Glauber's salt. It has a reported capacity to produce 400,000 tonnes of sodium sulfate per year, but in 1998 produced an estimated 55,000 tonnes, and in 2018, 26,000 tonnes.

Transport

The city lies on the P-18 highway connecting the city of Turkmenbashy with the border of Kazakhstan at Temir Baba. This road is planned for an upgrade or replacement according to press reports, since the section of highway between Garabogaz and the border is mostly unpaved. Garabogaz is served by a freight rail line. Plans were announced in 2018 to renovate the small municipal airport, which does not offer regular passenger service. Garabogaz offers the only gasoline station between Turkmenbashy and the border with Kazakhstan.

Exile village

It serves as a spot of supervised exile in Turkmen law.

Gulgeldy Annaniyazov Gulgeldy Annaniyazov is an activist from Turkmenistan. He was initially arrested in 1995 for organizing a peaceful protest. After four years, he was released under a presidential pardon and fled to Kazakhstan and eventually Norway. Following the d ...

is one person held there, since 2019.

History

Prior to 1932 the town lay in what is now

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 ...

References

{{Turkmenistan-geo-stub Populated places in Balkan Region