Ashgabat

Ashgabat (Turkmen: Aşgabat, pronounced [aʃʁaˈbat]; Persian: عشق‌آباد‎‎; Russian: Ашхаба́д, tr. Ashkhabad; IPA: [ɐʂxɐˈbat]), known as Poltoratsk (Russian: Полтора́цк; IPA: [pəltɐˈrat͡sk]) between 1919 and 1927, is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan in Central Asia, situated between the Karakum Desert and the Kopet Dag mountain range. The 2001 census estimated a population of 695,300, while the 2009 census estimated a population of 1 million, primarily Turkmen people, with ethnic minorities of Russians, Armenians, and Azerbaijanis.

The Karakum Canal runs through the city, carrying waters from the Amu Darya from east to west.

Names

Ashgabat is called Aşgabat in Turkmen, Ашхабад (Ashkhabad) in Russian, and Ešq-ābād (عشق‌آباد) in Persian. Before 1991, the city was usually spelled Ashkabad in English, a transliteration of the Russian form, which was itself from the original Persian form. It has also been variously spelled Ashkhabat and Ashgabad. From 1919 until 1927 the city was renamed Poltoratsk after a local revolutionary.