Atrek (river)

The Atrek rises on the Hazar Masjid peak of the Gulistan ridge of the Kopet Dagh, north-east of Kochan, and runs some 320 miles, mainly westwards, into the bay of Hasan Quli at the south-east of the Caspian Sea. It is about 32 feet wide and 2 to 3 feet deep. Its upper reaches hold the fertile districts of Kochan and Budinurd, which Kurds have inhabited since about 1600. ¹

From its junction with the Zumbar, which joins from the right, the Atrek has been the frontier between Russia (or the Turkmen Soviet republic) and Iran since 1882. Below Kharaki the river crosses a region of a few Turkmen settlements, which is almost deserted, though many traces of medieval irrigation remain. Near Gudri a northern canal was built by a dam wholly in Soviet territory. ¹

The name Atrek does not occur in the geographers of the fourth/tenth century, who speak only of the rivers of the district. It first appears in Hamd Allah Mustawfi, and popular etymology later explained it as the plural of Turk. In the Middle Ages the district of Gurgan bounded the Atrek to the south and that of Dahistan to the north. ¹