Districts of Turkmenistan

Politics of Turkmenistan
Constitution People's Council Chairperson: Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow President Serdar Berdimuhamedow Cabinet Assembly Speaker: Dünýägözel Gulmanowa State Security Council Political parties Agrarian Party Democratic Party Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Recent elections Presidential: 2012 2017 2022 Parliamentary: 2018 2021 2023 Administrative divisions Region Districts Cities Foreign relations Visa policy Human rights Ruhnama
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The districts of Turkmenistan (Turkmen: etraplar, sing. etrap) are territorial entities below the provinces of Turkmenistan (Turkmen: welaýatlar, sing. welaýat). They may be counties, cities, or boroughs of cities. The heads of the districts (Turkmen: häkim, translated as "governor" for districts of a welaýat and "mayor" for cities or boroughs of a city) are appointed by the President of Turkmenistan (Constitution of Turkmenistan, Articles 80-81).

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); headed by a presidentially appointed häkim." Though this officially limits the possible number of such cities to five (the number of provinces), in reality other cities are periodically accorded the status of a district. As of 9 November 2022, 7 cities in Turkmenistan enjoyed the status of districts.^[1] One city, the capital city of Ashgabat, enjoys the status of a province.^[2]

Two cities in Turkmenistan feature subordinate districts headed by mayors. Such districts are best rendered into English as "boroughs" to distinguish them from municipal districts without their own governments, which are also called etraplar in Turkmen (but are called микрорайоны in Russian). Ashgabat has four boroughs and as of November 2022 Turkmenbashy has one.