Lebap Region
Template:Short description Template:Coord Template:Infobox settlement
Lebap Region (Template:Langx, Template:IPA) is one of the five regions of Turkmenistan. It borders Afghanistan and Uzbekistan along the Amu Darya river. Its administrative centre is Türkmenabat (formerly Çärjew). Lebap covers an area of Template:Convert, and it has a population of 1,447,298 as of the 2022 census.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=yb2005>Statistical Yearbook of Turkmenistan 2000-2004, National Institute of State Statistics and Information of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, 2005.</ref>
The name Lebap is derived from Persian Template:Translit (Template:Lang Template:IPA) 'riverside', and has long been used to designate the middle reaches of the Amu Darya.<ref>UNESCO., Ahmad Hasan Dani, and V. M. Masson. 1992. History of civilizations of Central Asia. Vol. V. Paris: Unesco. p.128</ref>
It contains the Repetek Nature Reserve as well as the Köýtendag Nature Reserve, which includes Turkmenistan's highest mountain, Aýrybaba.<ref name=alpagama /> 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 is located on the west side of the river. About three-quarters of the region's land area is in the Karakum Desert.<ref name=text>Template:Cite book</ref> The region's sunny weather and abundance of water resources help produce high-quality long-staple cotton.
History
Template:See also The region of present-day Lebap once occupied a spot along the Silk Road. The 9th-10th century caravansaray of Dayahatyn is located within Lebap.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Bukhara and Khiva khanates
Prior to the Russian Revolution, much of today's Lebap Region was part of either the Khanate of Bukhara<ref name=tstanbook>Template:Cite book</ref> or the Khanate of Khiva.<ref name=tstanbook5>Template:Cite book</ref> The last khan of Bukhara, Sayyid Mir Muhammad Alim Khan, nominally submitted to Soviet authority, but in reality joined the Basmachi movement and rebelled against the Bolsheviks. He fled in 1920, and the area was declared a people's republic until Soviet 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.<ref name=tstanbook5 />
Recent history
On April 27, 2020, the region was hit by a severe windstorm.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" /> A local human rights website, Turkmen.news, reported that many people were admitted to the regional hospital in Türkmenabat after suffering injuries.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":0" /> The rights group Human Rights Watch 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".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> 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 to the region as a result of the economic fallout from COVID-19.<ref name=":1" />
Demographic
Table of National composition of the population of Lebap region (2022)
Table: <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
| Ethnicity | Total | Urban | Rural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | % | Population | % | Population | % | |
| Turkmens | 1,292,180 | 89.28% | 555,200 | 84.63% | 736,980 | 93.14% |
| Uzbeks | 136,499 | 9.43% | 83,556 | 12.74% | 52,943 | 6.69% |
| Russians | 11,791 | 0.82% | 11,604 | 1.77% | 187 | 0.03% |
| Kazakhs | 1,793 | 0.12% | 956 | 0.14% | 837 | 0.11% |
| Tatars | 1,653 | 0.12% | 1,616 | 0.25% | 37 | 0.00% |
| Azerbaijanis | 938 | 0.06% | 773 | 0.12% | 165 | 0.02% |
| Balochi | 500 | 0.03% | 494 | 0.07% | 6 | 0.00% |
| Armenians | 397 | 0.03% | 386 | 0.06% | 11 | 0.00% |
| Ukrainians | 297 | 0.02% | 286 | 0.04% | 11 | 0.00% |
| Koreans | 168 | 0.01% | 164 | 0.02% | 4 | 0.00% |
| Persians | 131 | 0.01% | 107 | 0.02% | 24 | 0.00% |
| Lezgins | 102 | 0.01% | 102 | 0.02% | − | − |
| Afghans | 99 | 0.01% | 99 | 0.02% | − | − |
| Karakalpaks | 15 | 0.00% | 13 | 0.00% | 2 | 0.00% |
| Kurds | 12 | 0.00% | 10 | 0.00% | 2 | 0.00% |
| other nationalities | 723 | 0.05% | 655 | 0.10% | 68 | 0.01% |
| Total | 1,446,282 | 100% | 1,292,024 | 100% | 154,258 | 100% |
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" (Template:Langx), 24 towns, 105 rural councils, and 429 villages.<ref name=official>Template:Cite web</ref>
Districts
As of 9 November 2022 Lebap Region (Template:Langx) is subdivided into eight districts (etrap, plural etraplar):<ref name=decree20221110>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="hakynda">Template:Cite book This document is reproduced online at https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Districts_in_Turkmenistan.</ref><ref name="terr">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="lebap">Template:Cite web</ref>
In November 2017 four districts, (Beýik Türkmenbaşy, Garaşsyzlyk, Garabekwül, and Sakar), were abolished and their territories absorbed by other districts.<ref name="lebap" /> In November 2022 another two districts, Döwletli and Farap, were similarly abolished.<ref name=decree20221110 />
Municipalities
Template:See also As of January 1, 2017, the region included 15 cities (Template:Langx, Template:Langx), 23 towns (Template:Langx, Template:Langx), 106 rural or village councils (Template:Langx, Template:Langx), and 430 villages (Template:Langx, Template:Langx, or Template:Langx).<ref name="hakynda" /><ref name="terr" />
In the list below, the lone city with "district status" is bolded:
Economy
Agriculture
Crop production in Lebap is heavily dependent on irrigation from the Amu Darya. Fields are cultivated when one-and-a-half to two meters above the floodplains of the river, primarily cereal grains and cotton.<ref name=tstanbook2>Template:Cite book</ref>
| Lebap Region: area and production of selected crops, 2017-2019<ref name=stat2020>Template:Cite book</ref> | ||||||
| area, thousand hectares | production, thousand tonnes | |||||
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
| Cereals and legumes | 191.1 | 172.5 | 174.5 | 428.0 | 274.9 | 428.7 |
| Cotton | 120.0 | 120.0 | 120.0 | 302.3 | 301.6 | 307.4 |
| Vegetables | 13.0 | 13.8 | 14.9 | 183.3 | 193.4 | 211.3 |
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Garlyk Mining and Enrichment Amalgamate in Köýtendag District produces potash fertilizer, and the Seýdi Oil Refinery is one of two petroleum refineries in Turkmenistan.
From antiquity, local residents quarried sulfur, zinc and lead in the Köýtendag (Kungitang) foothills for domestic needs, including casting of bullets.<ref name=tstanbook3>Template:Cite book</ref> During the Soviet period, a lead mine was dug and the town of Svintsovyy Rudnik<ref>"lead ore mine" in English; today called Gurşun Magdan Käni şäherçesi, "town of lead ore mine"</ref> was founded.<ref name=tstanbook3 /><ref name=osm>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 built it in 2012.<ref name=polimeks2>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2020, construction of a second plant, in Köýtendag District, also with a design capacity of one million tons, got underway.<ref name=kdag>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=tportal>Template:Cite news</ref>
Power generation
The Zerger power plant under construction by Sumitomo, Mitsubishi, Hitachi, and Rönesans Holding in Çärjew District 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 (Template:Langx), delivered via a 125-km high-pressure pipeline.<ref name=ucajygas>Template:Cite news</ref>
| Lebap Region: Production of selected industrial and processed goods, 2017-2019<ref name=stat2020i>Template:Cite book</ref> | |||
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
| Electricity, million kwh | 2,144.1 | 2,003.9 | 1,820.7 |
| Natural gas, billion m3 | 27.8 | 24.8 | 23.0 |
| Oil (including gas condensate), thousand tonnes | 595.9 | 567.8 | 581.9 |
| Gasoline, thousand tonnes | 215.0 | 218.5 | 221.8 |
| Diesel fuel, thousand tonnes | 173Template:NbspTemplate:NbspTemplate:Nbsp | 190Template:NbspTemplate:NbspTemplate:Nbsp | 162Template:NbspTemplate:NbspTemplate:Nbsp |
| Bunker oil, thousand tonnes | 76Template:NbspTemplate:NbspTemplate:Nbsp | -Template:NbspTemplate:NbspTemplate:Nbsp | 90Template:NbspTemplate:NbspTemplate:Nbsp |
| Mineral fertilizers, NPK basis, thousand tonnes | 30.2 | 46.1 | 51.1 |
| Cement, thousand tonnes | 861.9 | 935.6 | 857.3 |
| Bricks, million | 217.3 | 256.0 | 269.9 |
| Cotton lint, thousand tonnes | 86.2 | 41.0 | 107.1 |
| Raw silk, tonnes | 83Template:NbspTemplate:NbspTemplate:Nbsp | 74Template:NbspTemplate:NbspTemplate:Nbsp | 81Template:NbspTemplate:NbspTemplate:Nbsp |
| Cotton yarn. thousand tonnes | 21.8 | 22.4 | 22.7 |
| Silk textiles, million m2 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Cotton textiles, million m2 | 8.5 | 8.3 | 11.6 |
| Unwoven fabric, thousand m2 | 9,173Template:NbspTemplate:NbspTemplate:Nbsp | -Template:NbspTemplate:NbspTemplate:Nbsp | -Template:NbspTemplate:NbspTemplate:Nbsp |
Nature preserves and reservations
Tourist attractions
- Aýrybaba
- Dayahatyn caravansaray (in use 9th to 16th centuries)
- Dinosaur Plateau<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=alpagama>Template:Cite news</ref>
See also
References
Template:ReflistTemplate:Geographic location