Ashgabat

Ashgabat (, ; ; ), known as Poltoratsk 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.