Turkistan (city)

Turkistan's old name was Yasi. In the 12th century the Sufi poet Khoja Ahmed Yasawi lived and taught here, and his mausoleum made the city a place of pilgrimage for the entire Turkic-Islamic world. In the 16th–18th centuries Turkistan was the capital of the Kazakh Khanate, and many Kazakh khans are buried here.

It became a regional capital in 2018, and major construction followed: new museums, a caravanserai, canals and a theatre. The Khoja Ahmed Yasawi International Kazakh-Turkish University, founded jointly with Türkiye, is located here.

TÜRKSOY declared Turkistan the cultural capital of the Turkic world for 2024.