Kazandzhik
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Bereket, formerly Gazanjyk or ''Kazandzhik'' (russian: Казанджик or tk, Газанҗык gɑˈzɑnd͡ʒik), 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
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), and ...
in western
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 ...
. Bereket is the administrative centre of Bereket District. Bereket is located in an oasis in the foothills of the Kopetdag Mountains and on the edge of the
Karakum Desert The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara-Gum ( tk, Garagum, ; rus, Караку́мы, Karakumy, kərɐˈkumɨ), is a desert in Central Asia. Its name in Turkic languages means "black sand": "" means sand; "" is a contraction of : "d ...
. Bereket is a strategic
junction Junction may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Junction'' (film), a 2012 American film * Jjunction, a 2002 Indian film * Junction (album), a 1976 album by Andrew Cyrille * Junction (EP), by Basement Jaxx, 2002 * Junction (manga), or ''Hot ...
of the Trans-Caspian Railway (
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 ...
-
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 ...
-
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 ...
-
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 ...
) and North-South Transnational Railway (
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
-Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-
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 ...
-
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...
. The city has a large locomotive repair depot and a modern railway station. The city is located approximately west of the Turkmen capital 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 ...
and east 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 Asia ...
port of Turkmenbashy. The largest cities nearby are
Balkanabat , other_name = Neftedag Nebit-Dag , image_skyline = , image_flag = , image_seal = , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Turkmenist ...
to the west, and Serdar to the east. The estimated population of the city is 24,500 as of March 2015.


Etymology

''Gazanjyk'' is probably derived from the Turkic language word ''gazan'' or ''kazan'' (meaning a large cooking pot used throughout Central Asia, roughly equivalent to a cauldron) and ''-jyk'', a suffix to denote "small in size". The name can be translated into English as "small cauldron". Atanyyazow notes that Gazanjyk is the name of a spring near the city, and it was named after its shape. On 29 December 1999, by Parliamentary Resolution XM-66, the city and district (''etrap'') of Gazanjyk were renamed Bereket. ''Bereket'' means in the
Turkmen language Turkmen (, , , or , , , ), sometimes referred to as "Turkmen Turkic" or "Turkmen Turkish", is a Turkic language spoken by the Turkmens of Central Asia, mainly of Turkmenistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. It has an estimated 5 million native speakers ...
''abundance'' or ''prosperity''. The word ''bereket'' is borrowed from 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 ...
word ''Barakat'' (برکت), which in turn is borrowed from the Arabic ''Barakah'' (برکة).


History

Since ancient times the area where city is now located was known as an important junction on the
Silk Road The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...
that connected
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
with the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
and
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
.
Aleksey Kuropatkin Aleksey Nikolayevich Kuropatkin (russian: Алексе́й Никола́евич Куропа́ткин; March 29, 1848January 16, 1925) served as the Russian Imperial Minister of War from January 1898 to February 1904 and as a field command ...
, the
Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...
commander of the Turkestan Rifle Brigade, who led an 18-day march in 1880–1881 across of Karakum Desert, wrote in his memoirs, After the conquest of Transcaspian Oblast the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
started to build the Trans-Caspian railway including towns and settlements along the route. Gazanjyk, as an urban settlement, was founded in 1895 to serve as an important junction on the railway. Between 1916 and 1924 Gazanjyk and the surrounding area were the scene of furious battles between Russian Imperial forces, and after 1918 the Soviet Red Army, and local nationalist Muslims of the
Basmachi movement The Basmachi movement (russian: Басмачество, ''Basmachestvo'', derived from Uzbek: "Basmachi" meaning "bandits") was an uprising against Russian Imperial and Soviet rule by the Muslim peoples of Central Asia. The movement's roots l ...
. During Soviet period the 61631st Army garrison was built on the outskirts of the city. In 1988 it was the station of the 231st tank regiment, the 160th motorized rifle regiment and the 405th artillery regiment. The December 2000 Turkmenistan earthquake (7.0 on the moment magnitude scale) devastated the city centre.


Geography

See satellite image of Bereket. The city is located on the westernmost foothills of the Kopetdag mountains, called Kyurendag, on the edge of the Karakum deserts. he maximum height of the Kyurendag ridge is . The vegetation of the ridge is quite poor and is represented primarily by species of desert flora: sagebrush, semi-desert and dry
steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslands, ...
and rocky outcroppings. Soils are grey soils. One can occasionally find juniper trees, single or large groups of ''tamarisk'' and small shrubs. Wildlife in recent years has become greatly impoverished. Ungulates are few in number. ''Argali'' sheep are seen occasionally, as are bezoar goats,
wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...
, and gazelles. Predators include
wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...
,
jackals Jackals are medium-sized canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word "jackal" has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-backed ...
, foxes, and hyenas. Among birds klik are rarely seen and stone curlews and jacks very rarely. Reptile species are represented by the steppe tortoise, monitor lizard, boa, agam, etc. The major source of water for irrigation is the Karakum Canal, which runs dry near Bereket and delivers water to points west via a pipeline.


Demographics

The city is divided into several neighbourhoods, called by the traditional name for a semi-nomadic village, ''aul''. The majority of the inhabitants are
Turkmen Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to: Peoples Historical ethnonym * Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages Ethnic groups * Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...
from the Yomud tribes, with a minority of Teke. Previously strong communities of Azeris, Armenians, Russians, Ukrainians and Persians are now reduced to several families. In the 1990s most of them migrated to larger cities for better economic opportunities. Many Russian families also emigrated to the
Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
.


Economy

The city is the semi-industrial and semi-agricultural centre of Bereket District. It is an important railway and automobile junction, the city has a large
railroad yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or u ...
and locomotive repair depot, a brick yard,
Turkmen carpet A Turkmen rug ( tk, Türkmen haly; or Turkmen carpet or Turkoman carpet) is a type of handmade floor-covering textile traditionally originating in Central Asia. It is useful to distinguish between the original Turkmen tribal rugs and the rugs pr ...
weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal th ...
factory, wheat and cotton processing and storage facilities. Animal husbandry (camels, cows, sheep) is another source of income. In September 2014 a poultry complex with production capacity of 8 million eggs and 1000 tons of poultry meat a year was constructed.


Finance

The State Commercial Bank Dayhanbank has a branch in Bereket.


Communication

The postal code for the city is 745130. The city has mobile coverage from the state-owned Altyn Asyr.


City and national transportation

The city has a small public transportation network. Several small buses run scheduled routes connecting the eastern and western parts of the city (some 5–6 km.) Bereket is an important railway junction and station for commercial and freight transportation on the Turkmenistan national railway system.


Role in transnational transportation

Bereket is a strategically important junction of the Trans-Caspian Railway (
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
and eastern
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 ...
) and North-South Transnational Railway (
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
-Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-
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 ...
-
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...
). The city has a large locomotive repair depot and a modern passenger railway station. The Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway link is part of the North–South Transport Corridor and is a long railway line connecting Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan with Iran and the
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...
. It links Uzen in Kazakhstan with Bereket– Etrek in Turkmenistan and ends at Gorgan in Iran's Golestan province. In Iran, the railway is linked to the national network making its way to the ports of the Persian Gulf. The project is estimated to have cost $620 million, which was jointly funded by the governments of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran. In May 2013, the Bereket – Uzen section of the North-South Transnational Railway was completed. In February 2014 long section between Bereket and Etrek was completed. Currently railway stations along the new railway are being constructed such as Däneata, Dövletýar, Bugdaýly, Balguýi,
Madaw Madaw or Madau is a village in Balkan Province in Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, ea ...
, Akjadepe. The Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway link was be officially inaugurated in October 2014. The city is located on the M37 Highway (Turkmenistan's section of the European route E60 which connects
Brest, France Brest (; ) is a port city in the Finistère department, Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of the peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French mi ...
to
Irkeshtam Erkeshtam, also Irkeshtam or Erkech-Tam ( ky, Эркеч-Там, Erkech-Tam, ), is a border crossing between Kyrgyzstan and Xinjiang, China, named after a village on the Kyrgyz side of the border in southern Osh Region. The border crossing is also ...
,
Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...
on the border with the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
).


Education, health, culture

The city has three public schools, kindergartens, a small hospital, and medical emergency centre. In 2012 several new buildings were constructed within the State Development Program including the mayor's office ('' häkimlik''), two schools, a hotel, cultural center, a hospital and a knitting factory. Until 2000, the city had a library, two open-air and one winter cinema. All are currently closed.


Climate

Bereket has a cool desert climate ( Köppen ''BWk''), with generally chilly winters and very hot summers. Rainfall is generally light and erratic, and occurs mainly in the winter and autumn months. In summer, day temperatures may reach between , and during nights fall to between . The air flow is windy, chilly in winters and dusty in summers.


Sightseeing

In its storage area, the Bereket Depot museum, has a relic Russian made class T locomotive ''ТЭ-189'' (built between 1857–1915). FD class steam locomotives ''ФД20-2526, ФД20–2494 (ФД20–1441)'' (built between 1931–1942), and Russian class E locomotives ''Эр796-88, Эм734–66 (Эм733–96), Эу705–41, Эм725–30, Э-13'' (built between 1912–1957). There are also several ''ТЭ1'' class locomotives, whose prototype was the famous US made ALCO RSD-1 locomotive.


Bereket Railway Station

Bereket Railway Station ( tk, Bereket demirýol menzili) is the main railway station in the city. It was built in 1885. The station is operated by the Türkmendemirýollary.


See also

* Bereket 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), and ...
* List of cities in Turkmenistan *


References

{{Cities of Turkmenistan
Populated places in Balkan Region Populated places established in 1895 Cities and towns built in the Soviet Union Populated places along the Silk Road 1895 establishments in the Russian Empire