Kerki is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

in and capital of

Kerki District Kerki District (formerly Atamyrat District) (1999–2017) is a district of Lebap Province in Turkmenistan. The administrative center of the district is the town of Kerki Kerki is a city in and capital of Kerki District, Lebap Province, ...

Lebap Province Lebap Region ( tk, Lebap welaýaty/Лебап велаяты from the Persian language, Persian ''Lab-e āb'') is one of the regions of Turkmenistan. It is in the northeast of the country, bordering Afghanistan, Uzbekistan along the Amu Darya ...

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 sout ...

. It was formerly known as Zamm and, between 1999 and 2017, as Atamyrat.

Geography

It is situated on a

plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

on the left bank of the

Amu Darya The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...

river. Nearby towns and villages include

Mukry Mukry is a town in Köýtendag District, Lebap Province, Turkmenistan. It is located near Kerki and Amu Dar'ya. Etymology Mukry is the name of a Turkmen tribe. The town was named Akgumdänajy ( Акгумдәнаҗы) at some point but the name ...

(3.3 nm), Amydarýa (2.1 nm), Surhy (3.1 nm) and Kerkichi (2.2 nm).

Etymology

According to Atanyyazow, the name Kerki is most likely of Persian origin, from ''ker'' ("fortress") and ''kuh'' ("mountain"), meaning "fortress on a mountain". However, Muqaddasī and de Goeje assert it is a Turkified pronunciation of the

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

name Karkuh (کرکوه), meaning "deaf mountain". The ancient name, Zamm, is of obscure origin. On 29 December 1999, by Parliamentary Resolution HM-60, the city and district of Kerki were renamed Atamyrat in honor of Atamyrat Nyýazow, father of Saparmurat Niyazov, who had worked in Kerki as a teacher before being killed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. On 25 November 2017, by Parliamentary Resolution No. 679-V, Atamyrat was changed back to Kerki for both the city and the district.

Architecture

The city centre comprises multiple single-storeyed brick buildings from the tsarist era.

Transportation

Air

The town is served by the new Kerki Airport, which replaced a defunct municipal airport in 2021.

Road

Kerki lies on the P-36 and P-39 highways, which both lead northwest to Turkmenabat, one on each side of the Amu Darya. Nearby junctions connect to the P-89, which leads north to the border with Uzbekistan at Tallymerjen, and the P-37, which leads southeast to the border with Uzbekistan at Kelif. In the opposite direction the P-36 also continues south to a junction with the Kerki-Ymamnazar ýoly, which in turn leads to the border with Afghanistan at

Ymamnazar Ymamnazar (also Ymam Nazar, Imamnazar) is a remote settlement in Turkmenistan's Lebap province. It is situated immediately adjacent to Turkmenistan's southern border with Afghanistan, opposite to Aqina. The nearest city in Turkmenistan is Kerki. ...

. In February 2013, a

road bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

connecting the city with Kerkichi was commissioned;Президенты Украины и Туркмении открыли мост через Амударью и заложили новый аэропорт
/ref> it replaced an old pontoon bridge.

Rail

In 1999, the rail line from

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 ...

to Kerki was finished, linking Kerki to the Turkmen railway network without having to detour into neighbouring

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 co ...

. In late 2016, a railway line was built south to

on the border with

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and further to

Aqina Aqina ( prs, اقينه; ps, اقينه), also known as Aqina Port, is a border checkpoint and border crossing in the northern Faryab Province of Afghanistan. It has a train station by the same name, which serves as the second rail service betwe ...

, turning Kerki into a railway hub.

Sights

Astana Baba Mausoleum is managed by the Kerki city museum, and consists of a minaret and tomb built in the 11th century. Allamberdar Mausoleum is also part of the Kerki city museum. This 11th-century building represents

Seljuk Seljuk or Saljuq (سلجوق) may refer to: * Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia * Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities * Seljuk (warlord) (di ...

architecture of northern Khorasan.

References

External links

Satellite map at Maplandia.com
Populated places in Lebap Region {{Turkmenistan-geo-stub