Cheleken

a city (since 1956) under oblast jurisdiction in Krasnovodsk Oblast, Turkmen SSR. Cheleken is located in the western part of the Cheleken Peninsula, on the Caspian Sea, 70 km south of Krasnovodsk. There are oil and gas fields in the area. Cheleken has a chemical plant that produces iodine, bromine, potassium iodide, and iodoform and a plant that manufactures carbon black. There is an evening division of the Krasnovodsk Chemical Engineering Technicum in Cheleken.

a peninsula on the eastern edge of the Caspian Sea, in the Turkmen SSR. In the 1930’s, Cheleken—which had been an island up to that time—was joined to the mainland as a peninsula as a result of the lowering of the level of the Caspian Sea. With an area of approximately 500 sq km, the peninsula is basically flat; elevations reach 100 m. It consists primarily of sands and solonchaks. Oil and ozokerite are extracted on Cheleken, and there is commercial fishing.