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^[1], is divided into four etraplar (here translated as "borough").

• 7 cities act lawfully as districts of their own.^[2] 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" (Turkmen: etrap hukukly), 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.