Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

Ashgabat is the capital and largest city of Turkmenistan, a country in Central Asia. The city is famous for its control over vast natural gas deposits—Turkmenistan has the fifth largest proven reserves of natural gas in the world—located in the Karakum Desert just north of the city. The city developed from a Turkic village founded in 1818 and served as a fortress for the Soviet Republic. Until its independence in 1991, Turkmenistan was known as the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic, or Turkmen SSR, an incorporated republic of the Soviet Union.

Landscape

Ashgabat is located in the south-central region of Turkmenistan, just north of the Iranian border. The Kopet-Dag mountain range runs across the border between Turkmenistan and Iran, and the capital is situated in the foothills below the highest peaks of the mountains. The Caspian Sea lies to the west, while the country of Afghanistan is to the east. North of Ashgabat is the Karakum (also spelled Kara-Kum) Desert, the basin that provides the oil deposits that fund the city's economy.

Most of Turkmenistan is made up of arid land; approximately 70 percent of the country is covered by the Karakum Desert. Ashgabat lies in a prime location between the southern point of the desert and the mountain range. Due to this location, the city is considered an oasis. Nonetheless, the city lies in a fault zone, leaving it at risk for earthquakes. In fact, a devastating earthquake in 1948 killed nearly two-thirds of the population.

A relatively new and small capital—Ashgabat was not fully established as a city until the late nineteenth century—Ashgabat boasts more modern construction than its Eurasian counterparts and is home to a presidential palace built during the late twentieth century. Much of the more modern and recently developed parts of the city were largely planned by former President Saparmurat Niyazov (1940–2006).

Ashgabat, like most of the southwestern portion of Turkmenistan, has a subtropical desert climate, characterized by mild winters and hot summers. The arid climate keeps humidity low, and rainfall is light and irregular; Ashgabat averages 21.6 centimeters (8.5 inches) of rainfall annually. January is the coldest month, with an average low temperature of nearly –1 degrees Celsius (30 degrees Fahrenheit) and an average high of 7 degrees Celsius (45 degrees Fahrenheit). The average low temperature in July, the hottest month, is 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) and the average high is 38 degrees Celsius (101 degrees Fahrenheit). It is not unusual for daytime temperatures in the desert to reach 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) during the summer.

Climate change has affected Ashgabat. As of 2023, the city was experiencing the effects of higher temperatures, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, frequent heat waves, droughts, floods, and storms.

People

Of the approximately 5.6 million people living in Turkmenistan, an estimated 902,000 reside in Ashgabat (as of 2023). The population has risen steadily over the years, from 412,200 in 1991, the year of Turkmenistan's independence, to 605,000 in 1999.

The population of Ashgabat is predominantly of Turkmen descent, with Russians and Armenians forming the two largest minorities as of the 2012 census. Other minority populations include Uzbeks, Kazakhs, and Azeris (from Azerbaijan). Turkmen is the country's official language, while Russian and Uzbek are frequently spoken as well. The majority of the population is Sunni, which makes up the largest denomination of Islam, while a small percentage of the population is Eastern Orthodox. The national currency is the Turkmenistani manat.

The standard of living for many Ashgabat residents is relatively low, and a large portion of the population lives below the poverty line (more than 30 percent of the population of Turkmenistan is considered impoverished). This is often attributed to the fact that Niyazov, the former president, spent much of the nation's revenue on city renovations, particularly in the capital. In addition, most businesses, including those in the financial industry, remain state-owned and run.

Economy

Though mainly an administrative and government center, Ashgabat is home to a variety of industries. These include the manufacture of equipment related to the fuel industry, such as oil drills, pumps, and engines, as well as light industries that manufacture glass and processed foods. Ashgabat is also well known for its textile production. The hand-woven carpets made there, known as Bukhara carpets, are famous and sold internationally. In fact, Turkmenistan has consistently been one of the top producers of cotton in the world. Other agricultural crops include melons, wheat, and cattle.

Ashgabat is rich in natural resources such as gas, oil, and coal. Turkmenistan is estimated to have the world's fifth largest natural gas reserves. The sale of oil to companies based in other nations makes up the largest source of income for Ashgabat.

Ashgabat also benefits from the Trans-Caspian Railway, also known as the Central Asian Railway, which roughly follows the Silk Road, an ancient trade route. The capital is also home to Turkmenistan's only international airport, Ashgabat Airport.

Landmarks

The majority of Ashgabat's landmarks are located in the small downtown area of the city, set apart from the residential sections. The Independence Monument, which stands in the center of the city, was designed to commemorate Turkmenistan's independence from Russia in 1991. The monument is located near the Azadi Mosque, a beautiful building modeled on the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. Other mosques include the Khezrety Omar Mosque and the Iranian Mosque.

The Oguzkhan Palace is the presidential palace, a beautiful white stone building topped by a golden dome. The Neutrality Arch is considered the capital's highest structure at 75 meters (246 feet) high. It was built in 1998 to commemorate Turkmenistan's status as a neutral country; it features a large golden statue of Niyazov, the former president, on a revolving platform that has the former leader's likeness facing the sun during daylight hours. The capital is also home to Rukhiyet Palace where government sessions are often held.

Ashgabat is also home to several notable museums. The Ashgabat National Museum of History is home to Turkmenistan's archaeological and ethnographic treasures. Notable holdings include artifacts from the ancient city of Nisa, an important center during the reign of the Parthian Empire (247 BCE to 228 CE). The Turkmen Carpet Museum contains a famous collection of antique carpets, as well as the largest Turkmen carpet in the world. Other museums include the Museum of Fine Arts and several ethnographical museums, as well as a host of historic sites, as the region was home to several cities on the Silk Road. The Halk Hakydasy Memorial Complex, consisting of three monuments commemorating those who died in the Battle of Geok Tepe in 1881, in World War II, and in the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake, was opened in 2014.

Ashgabat is home to several universities, such as the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan and the Turkmen A. M. Gorkii State University. Despite its desert climate, it also contains many green parks and a new soccer field.

History

The area of Turkmenistan that is now Ashgabat was historically part of the ancient empire of Parthia. The remains of the Parthian capital, Nisa, are located just west of Ashgabat. The region was also historically significant due to its proximity to the famed Silk Road.

Ashgabat was inhabited by Turks as early as the tenth century. It was founded as a Turkmen village in 1818 and then controlled by Russia, developing into a Russian fortress in 1881. In 1885, Ashgabat became important as a stop on the Trans-Caspian Railroad. During World War I, in 1917, Ashgabat, with Turkmenistan, became subject to Soviet rule. It became a republic in 1925.

A major earthquake destroyed much of Ashgabat in 1948, killing more than one hundred thousand people. In the 1960s, water from the Amu Danje River crossed the desert and reached Ashgabat, enabling the city to grow agricultural products. This greatly helped to revive and stimulate the economy. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Turkmenistan declared independence, becoming an independent state on December 26, 1991.

In 1985, Saparmurat Niyazov became the chair of the Communist Party of Turkmenistan. After the country declared independence in 1991, he became president. He gave himself the name "Turkmenbashi," which translates to "Head of All Turkmen." Niyazov deemed himself "president for life" in 1999. His reign over Turkmenistan was characterized by laws affecting the personal liberties of his constituents, and the construction of statues and monuments celebrating himself and his power. He replaced all street names in Ashgabat with serial numbers except for nine major highways, some of which were named after Niyazov and members of his family, in 2003. (The streets were reverted to their previous names after Niyazov's death.)

In December 2006 Niyazov died of heart disease. The contested office of president passed to Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who was sworn in on February 11, 2007. Niyazov left behind faltering social systems, a legacy of government corruption, and a poor economy in Ashgabat, but the rising demand and prices of oil and gas in the early twenty-first century, a mainstay of Ashgabat's and Turkmenistan's economy, is helping to shift the nation's economic fortunes. The government, however, has remained fairly authoritarian.

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