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Districts of Turkmenistan

An etrap, often translated as "district," is the second-level administrative division of Turkmenistan. In terms of hierarchy, an etrap is situated below a welaýat (province). An etrap may include several cities (in turkmen: "şäher" / pl. "şäherler"), towns ("şäherçe" / pl. "şäherçeler") and rural councils ("geňeşlik" / pl. "geňeşlikler") which include villages ("oba" / "pl. obalar"). An etrap is headed by an häkim (translated as "governor" in the case of a district, but translated as "mayor" in the case of a city, a town or a borough); they are appointed by the President of Turkmenistan (Constitution of Turkmenistan, Articles 80-81).

Some districts may not fit in the hierarchy expressed before, those are the following ones:

  • Aşgabat, which is the only city to lawfully act as a province, is divided into four etraplar (here translated as "borough").
  • 7 cities act lawfully as districts of their own. Those are the provinces' capital cities, Türkmenbaşy and Baýramaly.
  • Among those cities, Arkadag is the only one to be divided into two etraplar in the same way Aşgabat does.

Regarding cities "with district status" (), by Turkmen law, "...such cities must have population over 30,000 and be the administrative center of a province (welaýat)." Although the law officially limits the possible number of such cities to five (the number of provinces), other cities are periodically accorded the status of a district. As of November 9, 2022, 7 cities in Turkmenistan own the status of district. Unlike other cities, they are headed by an häkim rather than a geňeş ("council") chaired by an arçyn ("elder") and have their own budget.

List of districts

As of September 19, 2025, there are 58 districts in Turkmenistan. Among them, 7 are boroughs and 7 are cities with a district status. Here is a list of the districts of Turkmenistan arranged by administrative divisions and alphabetical order. Cities with a district status are highlighted in bold.

List of districts for each province

Aşgabat

See also Map of the Boroughs of Ashgabat

As of January 5, 2018, Ashgabat includes four boroughs (uly etraplar):

Ahal province

Balkan province

Daşoguz province

Lebap province

Mary province

Abolished districts

Here is a list districts abolished at some point:

See also

Notes

References

External links