Official Name: | Bäherden |
Other Name: | Baharly |
Pushpin Map: | Turkmenistan |
Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
Pushpin Mapsize: | 300 |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Turkmenistan |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Type1: | Province |
Subdivision Name: | Turkmenistan |
Subdivision Name1: | Ahal Province |
Subdivision Type2: | District |
Subdivision Name2: | Bäherden District |
Leader Title: | Häkim |
Leader Name: | Dörtguly Hojaýew [1] |
Population As Of: | (2008) |
Population Footnotes: | [2] |
Population Total: | 24,139 |
Coordinates: | 38.4303°N 57.4369°W |
Bäherden,[3] formerly Baharly (2003-2018), is a city and the seat of Baherden District, Ahal Province, Turkmenistan. It lies on the northern rim of the Kopet Dag mountain range, south-east of the resort village of Archman.
According to Atanyyazow, some archaeologists have related it to a village called Abhadaran, located 3 to 4 kilometers northeast of Bäherden, but local greybeards interpret it as deriving from Bahrizen ("the lake of your wife") and Maharram (the name of the queen of a one-time chief of Durun).[4]
Baharly means "springlike" in Turkmen. According to former President Niyazov, Turkmens, during the times of Oghuz Khagan, spent springtime in the area.[5]
The settlement was conquered and incorporated into Russia in 1881 following the Battle of Gökdepe. At the end of the 19th century, it housed 789 people and was a stop along the Trans-Caspian Railway. Bäherden was administrative center of the Bäherden district of the Turkmen SSR. On February 3, 2008, it received the status of a city.
The Bäherden Cement Plant, put into operation in 2005, has a design capacity of one million tons of cement per year.[6]