Awaza (or Avaza) refers to both a tourist zone in and a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

(district headed by a presidentially appointed mayor) of the city of

Türkmenbaşy, Turkmenistan Türkmenbaşy ( Turkmen Cyrillic: Түркменбашы, Turkmen Arabic; توركمنباشی, also spelled Turkmenbashi, a back-formation of the Cyrillic Түркменбаши), formerly known as Krasnovodsk (russian: Красноводск), ...

. It is located on the eastern 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 ...

, 12 km west of downtown Türkmenbaşy. The Awaza District (borough) of Türkmenbaşy city was formed in July 2013. Awaza District, an area of 9660 hectares, includes the Awaza national tourist zone,

Turkmenbashi International Airport Turkmenbashi International Airport ( tk, Türkmenbaşy halkara howa menzili) is an international airport located in the city of Türkmenbaşy, Turkmenistan. It accepts both passenger and cargo flights. It opened in 1959 and is one of the five m ...

and a small residential area. The tourist zone was commissioned by President

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow Gurbanguly Mälikgulyýewiç Berdimuhamedow (born 29 June 1957), also known as Arkadag (Cyrillic: Аркадаг, "protector"), is a Turkmen politician who served as the second president of Turkmenistan from 2006 to 2022. A dentist by profe ...

, who sought to imitate

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates#Major cities, most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 ...

's development boom. Turkmenistan's foreign ministry has touted Awaza as a "Turkmen

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

" but foreign reports on the project have found that the accommodations are underutilized and hold little attraction apart from their sheer excess. Awaza is also used as a conference site, particularly for the annual Turkmenistan Gas Conference.

References

{{coord, 39, 57, 07.39, N, 52, 51, 30.96, E, type:landmark, display=title Balkan Region

See also

References