Interior view Dayahatyn caravansarai Turkmenistan

Lebap Region ( tk, Lebap welaýaty/Лебап велаяты from the Persian ''Lab-e āb'') is one of the regions of Turkmenistan. It is in the northeast of the country, bordering

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

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 co ...

along the

Amu Darya The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...

. Its capital is Türkmenabat (formerly named Çärjew). It has an area of 93,727 square kilometers, and a population of 1,334,500 people (2005 est.).''Statistical Yearbook of Turkmenistan 2000-2004'', National Institute of State Statistics and Information of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, 2005. The name Lebap is a Turkmenized form of the Persian ''Lab-e āb'' (), which means "riverside" and has long been used to designate the middle reaches of the

. It contains the Repetek Nature Reserveas well as the

Köýtendag Nature Reserve Köýtendag Nature Reserve, formerly Kugitang Nature Reserve, is a nature reserve (''zapovednik'') in the extreme east of Turkmenistan. Geography Established in 1986, it is located in the Köýtendag Range of Lebap Province Lebap Region ( ...

, which includes Turkmenistan's highest mountain, Aýrybaba (3137 meters). Lebap is also home to the Dayahatyn caravansaray. The region is located along the Amu Darya. The Kyzylkum Desert is located on the east side of the river and

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 : " ...

is located on the west side of the river. About three-quarters of the region's land area is in the Karakum Desert. The region's sunny weather and abundance of water resources help produce high-quality long-staple cotton.

History

The region of present-day Lebap once occupied a spot along 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 rel ...

. The 9th-10th century caravansaray of Dayahatyn is located within Lebap.

Bukhara and Khiva khanates

Prior to the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

, much of today's Lebap Region was part of either the

Khanate of Bukhara The Khanate of Bukhara (or Khanate of Bukhoro) ( fa, , Khānāt-e Bokhārā; ) was an Uzbek state in Central Asia from 1500 to 1785, founded by the Abu'l-Khayrid dynasty, a branch of the Shaybanids. From 1533 to 1540, Bukhara briefly became its ...

or the

Khanate of Khiva The Khanate of Khiva ( chg, ''Khivâ Khânligi'', fa, ''Khânât-e Khiveh'', uz, Xiva xonligi, tk, Hywa hanlygy) was a Central Asian polity that existed in the historical region of Khwarezm in Central Asia from 1511 to 1920, except fo ...

. The last khan of Bukhara, Sayyid Mir Muhammad Alim Khan, nominally submitted to Soviet authority, but in reality joined 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 ...

and rebelled against the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

. He fled in 1920, and the area was declared a people's republic until

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

power was firmly established in 1924. In that same year, the settlements at Çärjew and Kerki were formally assigned to the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic, along with the western parts of the Khiva khanate along the Amu Darya.

Recent history

On April 27, 2020, the region was hit by a severe windstorm. RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty alleged that the storm disrupted much of the region's electrical grid, public water supplies, natural gas connections, cell service, and internet connection. A local human rights website, Turkmen.news, reported that many people were admitted to the regional hospital in Türkmenabat after suffering injuries. They also alleged that there was sporadic looting in the storm's aftermath and that food prices in the region rose as a result of the storm. Local Turkmen media reported 10 deaths resulting from the storm, while Turkmen.news suggested that the true death toll was likely in the dozens, and dozens remained unaccounted for in the storm's aftermath. The rights group

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ...

condemned what it perceived as "censorship" by local officials following the storm, noting that one group alleged that local police were watching out for people filming the storm's damage, and another group reported that dozens of people were detained for allegedly sending videos "abroad". In December 2020, RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty reported that regional officials threatened to cut off the region's population from subsidized food if they were not up to date on their utility bills. The agency reported that many in the region received seasonal income from farming, and often did not earn money in the winter, and such matters were complicated by a decrease in

remittances A remittance is a non-commercial transfer of money by a foreign worker, a member of a diaspora community, or a citizen with familial ties abroad, for household income in their home country or homeland. Money sent home by migrants competes with ...

to the region as a result of the economic fallout from COVID-19.

Administrative divisions

As of 2021, according to the official website of the regional government, Lebap Region included one city with status equivalent to a district, 10 districts, 14 cities "in the district" ( tk, etrapdaky), 24

towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an or ...

, 105 rural councils, and 429 villages.

Districts

As of 9 November 2022 Lebap Region () is subdivided into eight

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

(''etrap'', plural ''etraplar''): This document is reproduced online at https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Districts_in_Turkmenistan. :* Çarjew (formerly Serdarabat) :*

Darganata Darganata (formerly Birata) is the capital city of Darganata District in Lebap Province of Turkmenistan. Etymology The name Darganata is of obscure origin. Atanyyazow speculates that ''dargan'' might be from an Arabic-origin root referring to "b ...

(formerly Birata) :* Dänew (formerly Galkynyş) :* Halaç :* Hojambaz :*

Kerki Kerki is a city in and capital of Kerki District, Lebap Province, Turkmenistan. It was formerly known as Zamm and, between 1999 and 2017, as Atamyrat. Geography It is situated on a plain on the left bank of the Amu Darya river. Nearby town ...

(formerly Atamyrat) :*

Köýtendag Köýtendag is a city and the administrative center of Köýtendag District in Lebap Province, Turkmenistan. On 29 December 1999, by Parliamentary Resolution No. HM-61, the city and district of Çarşangy (sometimes rendered as "Charshangy") wer ...

(formerly Çarşaňňy) :* Saýat In November 2017 four districts, ( Beýik Türkmenbaşy, Garaşsyzlyk, Garabekwül, and Sakar), were abolished and their territories absorbed by other districts. In November 2022 another two districts, Döwletli and

Farap Farap, also known as Farab, or Firabr, is a city in Çärjew District, Lebap Province, Turkmenistan. Etymology The name is of obscure origin and meaning. Vambery considered it a corruption of a Persian phrase meaning "pure water". Overview ...

, were similarly abolished.

Municipalities

As of January 1, 2017, the region included 15 cities (, ), 23 towns (, ), 106 rural or village councils (, ), and 430 villages (, , or ). In the list below, the lone city with "district status" is bolded: :* Dänew (formerly Galkynyş) :*

(formerly Birata) :*

Dostluk Dostluk ("friendship" in Turkmen) is a city in Köýtendag District, Lebap Province, Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the ...

(formerly Yuzhnyy) :*

:* Garabekewül :* Gazojak :* Halaç :* Hojambaz :*

(formerly Atamyrat) :*

(formerly Çarşaňňy) :*

Magdanly Magdanly ( Turkmen Cyrillic: Магданлы; formerly known as Gowurdak or Gaurdak russian: Говурдак), is a city in and seat of Magdanly District, Lebap Province Lebap Region ( tk, Lebap welaýaty/Лебап велаяты from ...

(formerly Gowurdak) :* Sakar :* Saýat :*

Seýdi Seýdi, formerly Neftezavodsk, is a city in Dänew District, Lebap Province, Turkmenistan. Etymology Neftezavodsk derives from two Russian words — neft (нефть; oil) and zavod (завод; factory). History The city was founded in 197 ...

(formerly Neftezavodsk) :* Türkmenabat (formerly Çärjew)

Economy

Agriculture

Crop production in Lebap is heavily dependent on irrigation from the

. Fields are cultivated when one-and-a-half to two meters above the floodplains of the river, primarily cereal grains and cotton.

Extraction industries

Lebap is rich in various natural resources, most notably, natural gas. The region is home to the Malai Gas Field and the Bagtyýarlyk Gas Field, which both serve as major suppliers of natural gas to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. The Garlyk Mining and Enrichment Amalgamate in Köýtendag District produces

potash Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water- soluble form.

fertilizer, and the

Oil Refinery is one of two petroleum refineries in Turkmenistan. From antiquity, local residents quarried sulfur, zinc and lead in the

(Kungitang) foothills for domestic needs, including casting of bullets. During the Soviet period, a lead mine was dug and the town of Svintsovyy Rudnik was founded.Way: Gurshun Magdan Kani (531255297)
/ref>

Construction materials

The Lebap Cement Plant in Turkmenabat has a design capacity of one million tons per year.

Polimeks Polimeks İnşaat ve Sanayi A.Ş. is a Turkish holding company based in Istanbul. Polimeks, established in 1995 and grew to become one of the world’s leading construction companies, in recent years transformed into a global investment holding ...

built it in 2012. In 2020, construction of a second plant, in Köýtendag District, also with a design capacity of one million tons, got underway.

Power generation

The Zerger power plant under construction by

Sumitomo The is one of the largest Japanese ''keiretsu'', or business groups, founded by Masatomo Sumitomo (1585-1652) around 1615 during the early Edo period. History The Sumitomo Group traces its roots to a bookshop in Kyoto founded circa 1615 by Mas ...

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Nissan ''zaibatsu'' and later DKB Group and Fuyo G ...

, and Rönesans Holding in

Çärjew District Çärjew District (formerly Türkmenabat/Serdarabat District) is a district of Lebap Province in Turkmenistan. The administrative center of the district is the town of Türkmenabat Türkmenabat ( tk, Türkmenabat, Түркменабат), form ...

will have a design capacity of 432 megawatts. It is primarily intended for export of electricity. The Zerger plant will use natural gas from the Üçajy Gas Field (russian: Учаджинскоe газодобывающеe месторождениe), delivered via a 125-km high-pressure pipeline.

Nature preserves and reservations

* Amudarya State Nature Reserve *

Repetek Biosphere State Reserve Repetek Biosphere State Reserve, often referred to as Repetek Nature or Desert Reserve, ( tk, Repetek goraghanasy, ''Репетек горагханасы'') is a desert nature reserve (''zapovednik'') of Turkmenistan, located in Lebap Province, E ...

Tourist attractions

* Aýrybaba * Dayahatyn caravansaray (in use 9th to 16th centuries) *Dinosaur plateau

References

{{Authority control Regions of Turkmenistan