Altyn Asyr is a city in

Tejen District Tejen District is a district of Ahal Province in Turkmenistan. It covers an area of 12,000 km2 with an estimated 180,000 people in 2022. The main city is Tejen, located near the Hanhowuz Reservoir. The main highway is the M37 highway (Turkmeni ...

Ahal Province Ahal Region (; from , also ) is one of five provinces of Turkmenistan. It is in the south-center of the country, bordering Iran and Afghanistan along the Kopet Dag Range. Its area is and population 886,845 (2022 census).''Statistical Yearbook ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

. Its main economic activity is cotton farming.

Etymology

The words ''altyn asyr'' mean "golden age" in Turkmen. The phrase is used to describe the post-Soviet era of Turkmen independence, particularly during the reign of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Saparmurat Niyazov Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov (19 February 1940 – 21 December 2006) was a Turkmenistani politician who led Turkmenistan from 1985 until his death in 2006. He was the Secretary (title), first secretary of the Communist Party of Turkmenist ...

History

The municipality was founded on the basis of the Soviet-era cotton-producing "Tejen"

state farm State Farm Insurance is a group of mutual insurance companies throughout the United States with corporate headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois. Founded in 1922, it is the largest property and casualty insurance, property, casualty and auto i ...

. Following independence, state and

collective farms Collective farming and communal farming are various types of "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member-o ...

were redesignated villages and towns. The Tejen State Farm was designated a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and initially named Bereket ("fertile"). In 2000 it was renamed Altyn Asyr ("Golden Age") and made the administrative center of a new district of the same name formed from parts of Sarahs District,

, and

Kaka District Kaka District is a district of Ahal Province, Turkmenistan. In ancient times the area was a fertile agricultural plain to the north of the Kopet Dag mountain range. A number of important Bronze Age sites exist in the area, such as Ulug Depe and Ab ...

. On 28 April 2016 Altyn Asyr was further upgraded, to city-in-a-district status, by parliamentary decree. The Altyn Asyr District was abolished by act of Parliament on 5 January 2018 and its territory was transferred to Tejen, Kaka, and Sarahs Districts. The city of Altyn Asyr was reassigned to Tejen District.

People associated with Altyn Asyr

A director of the former state farm, Chary Hanamov (, ), wrote a memoir of his life and times. Hanamov was recognized as a

Hero of Socialist Labor The Hero of Socialist Labour () was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It represented the highest degree of distinction in the USSR and was awarded for exceptional achievements in Soviet ...

in 1976. Hanamov's son, Nurmuhammet Hanamow, served as independent Turkmenistan's

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and subsequently went into exile as an opposition leader.

Transportation

Altyn Asyr is located between Turkmenistan's main east–west motor route, the M37 highway, and the P-7 highway that links

Tejen Tejen (older spellings: Tedzhen, Tejend, Tejent) is an oasis city in the Karakum Desert, in Ahal Province of Turkmenistan. It lies along the M37 highway, between Dushak and Mary, by road southeast of Ashgabat. It has a population of approxima ...

and

Sarahs Sarahs (, also written Saraghs, Serahs, Sarakhs, Saragt, or Serakhs, the last a backformation of ) is an oasis city in Ahal Province, Turkmenistan, and the administrative center of Sarahs district (). It is located at latitude 36°31' North; long ...

Appearance in motion picture

In 1969 the "Tejen" state farm was the subject of cinematography.

References

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