It was decided to unite several etraps and attach small villages to cities following the meeting, which was chaired by the chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty Milli Gengesh (upper house of parliament) Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on October 22 , according to the state information agency TDH.
The meeting was attended by Chairman of the Mejlis (lower house) Gulshat Mammedova , Deputy Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty (upper house) Kasymguly Babayev , heads of regions and some ministers.
As a result of the discussions, it was proposed to abolish:
- 6 etraps (Gubadag etrap, Gurbansoltan eje etrap, Farab etrap, Dovletli etrap, Serhetabat etrap and Oguzkhan etrap);
- 5 cities with etrap rights (Tejen city, Gumdag city, Khazar city, Serdar city, Kunyaurgench city);
- 1 etrap in the city (Kenar etrap in the city of Turkmenbashi);
- 2 settlements (Bagabat settlement in Ak Bugday etrap, Garagel settlement in Khazar city);
- 36 gengeshliks.
It is also proposed to merge 36 villages that have merged with nearby settlements, to assign the status of a village to 6 villages, to form 5 villages, assigning the status of a village to 5 settlements. It is specified that these settlements were formed as a result of the allocation of land to citizens for housing construction on the territory of a special land fund in the regions.
According to Gulshat Mammedova and Kasymguly Babayev, this will contribute to the rational use of land and water resources, increase the level of urbanization and industrialization, and increase the level of control over the targeted use of budget funds.
“Hero-Arkadag noted that it would be expedient to use the saved financial resources in the social sphere, for the construction of schools and kindergartens, and health care institutions,” TDH writes.
In total, it was decided to leave 37 etraps in Turkmenistan, 6 cities with the rights of an etrap, 5 city etraps, 42 cities in etraps, 68 settlements, 469 gengeshliks and 1690 villages.
Mammedova also said that “requests from the country’s inhabitants” had been received to restore the historical names of 2 etraps, 3 cities, 4 settlements, 3 gengeshliks, and 21 villages.
In a number of villages that were decided to be abolished and transferred to other territories, there were less than 50 people left.
The city of Tejen, which previously had the status of an etrap, will now be a city in the Tejen etrap of the Akhal velayat.
The cities with the rights of the Gumdag and Khazar etraps of the Balkan velayat will now be settlements under the jurisdiction of the city of Balkanabat (formerly Nebit-Dag).
The eponymous etrap and the city of Serdar will return the historical name Kyzylarvat.
As a result of the unification of some territories, villages with the same names were formed within the same etrap. It was decided to rename them.
The full list of changes can be found on the TDH website .
In 2016, in Turkmenistan, “due to the small population,” they also made changes to the administrative-territorial division of the velayats and united dozens of villages.
It is noted that the changes were made “in accordance with the Constitution of the country and the Law “On the procedure for resolving issues of the administrative-territorial structure of Turkmenistan””.
According to the document, writes TDH, the formation and abolition of administrative-territorial units “is carried out by Milli Gengesh on provision by the khyakimliks of the velayats and the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan.”
However, we note that according to Article 81 of the Constitution of Turkmenistan, the issue of changing the administrative-territorial division of Turkmenistan is decided by the Mejlis, that is, the lower house of parliament, and not the Halk Maslakhaty – the upper house, which is headed by Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who chaired the meeting.
Source: Chronicles of Turkmenistan