Konarak (Persian: کنارک, also Romanized as Konārak and Kenārak; also known as Kūmārak and Kunārak)[3] is a city in the Central District of Konarak County, Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district.[4]
Konarak
کنارک | |
---|---|
City | |
Konarak | |
Coordinates: 25°21′32″N 60°23′57″E / 25.35889°N 60.39917°E[1] | |
Country | Iran |
Province | Sistan and Baluchestan |
County | Konarak |
District | Central |
Population (2016)[2] | |
• Total | 43,258 |
Time zone | UTC+3:30 (IRST) |
At the 2006 census, its population was 28,685 in 6,044 households.[5] The following census in 2011 counted 35,630 people in 7,975 households.[6] The latest census in 2016 showed a population of 43,258 people in 9,954 households.[2]
It is on the western coast of Chabahar Bay, facing Chabahar Port to the East, on the Makran coast on the Gulf of Oman, about 50 km West of the Iran-Pakistan coastal border line.[7] Like in nearby Pakistan's Balochistan province, the overwhelming majority of the city's inhabitants are ethnic Baloch who speak the Balochi language.
Konarak Airport is a military airbase (see below), which also has civilian flights.
Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran (army, navy, air force) have established bases in Konarak for a long time — the construction of which started in the 1970s — before the Iranian Revolution, with the support of Western engineering, construction and logistics firms such as Brown & Root.
The Iranian Navy also has a related base in Pasabandar, further East and very close to the border with Pakistan. The support vessel Konarak was named in the city's honour; the Konarak was destroyed in a 2020 accident.