Türkmenabat

About Türkmenabat

Türkmenabat, formerly known as Çärjew, is the second-largest city in Turkmenistan and the administrative centre of Lebap Province. As of 2022, it had a population of approximately 231,000 people (up from 161,000 in the 1989 census). From 1924 to 1927, it was given the name Leninsk in honour of Vladimir Lenin.

The former name of the city, Çärjew, is a Turkmen borrowing from the Persian chahârjuy (چهارجوى), meaning 'four streams'. This type of naming is also common in Iran, such as the village Se Juy ('three streams'). The current name of the city is simply a combining of Türkmen and the Persian suffix âbâd (آباد), meaning 'dwelling of'.

Türkmenabat is located at an altitude of 187 m (614 ft) on the banks of the Amu Darya River, near the border with Uzbekistan. Türkmenabat is at the center of Lebap province, which has borders with three provinces in Turkmenistan: Mary, Ahal and Daşoguz. The province also borders Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.

Some 70 kilometres (43 miles) south of Türkmenabat in the East Karakum Desert is the Repetek Nature Reserve, famed for its zemzen, or desert crocodiles.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.