Balkanabat, Balkan Region, Turkmenistan

Administrative Subdivisions | History | Amenities | Demographics | Economy | Transport : Air : Rail | Communication | Education | Religion | Culture | Media | Sport

🇹🇲 Balkanabat, formerly Nebit-Dag and Neftedag, is the capital city of Balkan Province, the largest province in the Turkmenistan. It lies at the foot of the Balkan Daglary mountain range. The city layout is a grid of apartment blocks called kvartal (quarters). The main streets are Magtymguly, Pervomayskiy and Gurbansoltan eje şaýoly.

Balkanabat is about 450 km west of Ashgabat and 160 km east of the port city of Turkmenbashi. The city has an airport with scheduled daily flights to Ashgabat.

Administrative Subdivisions The city of Balkanabat, being a district-level city, also has the following administrative subdivisions under its jurisdiction: • Towns (şäherçeler); ◦ Gumdag; ◦ Hazar (inc. Garagöl); ◦ Jebel; ◦ Oglanly (inc. Oglanly obasy); ◦ Uzboý (inc. Zähmet, Mollagara, 123-nji duralga).

History A large monument at the far western end of the city, "Pioneers" (Russian: Первопроходцы), also called "Desert Explorers", depicts a camel, Ivan Gubkin, and Gubkin's peers, struggling to hike through the windy Karakum Desert while prospecting for petroleum. Balkanabat's history is tightly linked to the petroleum deposits in Goturdepe, Barsagelmes and Nebitdag. The first colonists had to live in unbelievable conditions in tents, tilt carts, without power and even without water.

Amenities The city adjoins a "Health Path", a concrete circuit hike path to give a moderate hike along the mountainside. It was opened in 2004 in the template of that of Ashgabat. The city has five bazaars (markets) Gök, Jennet, Gündogar, Bereket and 5th Microdistrict bazaar. The city is served by two hotels, Nebitçi and Sport, a theater, museums, restaurants and parks. The north side of town features the large Saparmyrat Türkmenbaşy Park, which offers trees, tennis courts, a life-size chess board and many benches.

In the 2000s, the city underwent street improvement, construction of large housing facilities and additional amenities. The State Drama Theater, the Museum of History and Local Lore, a diagnostic centre, a wedding palace, the Balkanabat Railway Station, the Balkan Provincial Library, a stadium with 10,000 seats, a general oriental market, and other social and cultural facilities were built during that period.

Demographics In 2011 the population was estimated to be 80% Turkmen (mainly Yomud tribe), 15% Russians, 3% Kazakhs, 2% Azerbaijanis, 10% others, including Lezgins, Armenians, Uzbeks, Tatars, and Jews. The Yomud tribe is associated with the Balkan region and the Yomud carpet göl (rosette) is one of the five rosettes represented on the Turkmen flag.

Economy The city is an industrial centre for petroleum and natural gas production. A branch office of the Russian petroleum company Tatneft is located in Balkanabat. Animal husbandry and production of wheat and cotton are other pursuits.

Transport The city lies on the east-west M37 highway and is connected to other cities by rail and bus. While there is no official cab company, private citizens operate shared cabs.

Transport: Air The Balkanabat Airport terminal was opened in October 2004 with a design capacity of 200 passengers per hour. At present Turkmenistan Airlines offers no scheduled service in or out of this airport.

Transport: Rail Balkanabat sits on the Trans-Caspian Railway running east–west, connecting the capital, Ashgabat, with the Balkan Region. The railway offers both passenger and freight transport. Balkanabat Railway Station is the city's main rail station.

Communication The city has one mobile operator, Altyn Asyr. Internet access and cable TV are provided by Turkmentelecom. There is one internet cafe in the city. Turkmenpochta is the official national postal service of Turkmenistan. It currently operates four post offices in the city.

Education The city has an Oil and Gas Industry School, which operates as a branch of the International Oil and Gas University. The school trains students in such specialties as geology, drilling of oil and gas wells, development and operation of oil and gas fields, chemical technology of oil and gas processing, construction, operation of oil and gas storage, and oil and gas pipeline operation. It is the functional successor to the Polytechnic Institute, which was an extension of the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas in Moscow during the Soviet period.

High school graduates may receive secondary-specialized education in the following vocational schools: Balkanabat Medical School, Special School of Arts, Financial and Economic Secondary Vocational School, and Oil Secondary Vocational School of the Turkmennebit State Concern.

Religion The main mosque of Balkan Province has a capacity of 3,000 worshipers. Four minarets, each 63 meters high, rise above the two-story mosque. The Russian Orthodox Church of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin has operated since 1997 in the 13th microdistrict.

Culture A giant yurt-shaped building, Türkmeniň ak öýi ("Turkmen White House") was built for special events in 2021. The complex includes a concert hall with 3,000 seats and additional buildings, as well as a special sadaqah hall of the same capacity.

Media The daily state newspaper Balkan is published in Balkanabat.

Sport The city features the Balkanabat Sport Toplumy stadium, at which is based the Nebitçi professional football club, which plays in the Ýokary Liga ("Upper League").

Ashgabat Time 
Ashgabat Time
Image: Adobe Stock Joost #317901158

Balkanabat has a population of over 120,800 people. Balkanabat also forms the centre of the wider Balkan Province which has a population of over 553,500 people.

To set up a UBI Lab for Balkanabat see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Balkanabat has links with:

🇷🇺 Almetyevsk, Russia
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

Antipodal to Balkanabat is: -125.633,-39.517

Locations Near: Balkanabat 54.3667,39.5167

🇹🇲 Turkmenbashi 52.975,40.031 d: 132  

🇹🇲 Türkmenbaşy 52.967,40.017 d: 131.9  

🇮🇷 Gorgan 54.433,36.833 d: 298.4  

🇮🇷 Behshahr 53.55,36.683 d: 323.1  

🇮🇷 Nekā 53.283,36.65 d: 332.6  

🇮🇷 Sari 53.053,36.564 d: 347.9  

🇮🇷 Qaem Shahr 52.85,36.45 d: 366  

🇮🇷 Babol 52.667,36.533 d: 363.6  

🇮🇷 Bojnord 57.317,37.467 d: 343.3  

🇮🇷 Bojnūrd 57.333,37.467 d: 344.4  

Antipodal to: Balkanabat -125.633,-39.517

🇵🇫 Papeete -149.566,-17.537 d: 16654.5  

🇦🇸 Pago Pago -170.701,-14.279 d: 14814.7  

🇨🇱 Valdivia -73.233,-39.8 d: 15595.9  

🇨🇱 San Pedro de la Paz -73.1,-36.833 d: 15478.9  

🇨🇱 Concepción -73.05,-36.817 d: 15474.1  

🇨🇱 Chiguayante -73.017,-36.917 d: 15475.2  

🇨🇱 Port Montt -72.933,-41.467 d: 15623.2  

🇨🇱 Puerto Montt -72.933,-41.467 d: 15623.2  

🇼🇸 Apia -171.76,-13.833 d: 14696.2  

🇹🇴 Nuku'alofa -175.216,-21.136 d: 14911.6  

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