Naveed Ahmad Khan
Turkestan is Kazakhstan’s cultural and historical city, a center of international tourism and pilgrimage. The ancient city of South Kazakhstan was named the spiritual capital of the Turkic world at an informal summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking states. In February 2021, it was officially admitted to the list of World Heritage cities of Eurasia. It is believed that the first settlements on the territory of Turkestan date back to the sixth century AD.
“In 2020, the Stratigraphy of the Turkestan Settlement project was launched and examined the archaeological complexes of the ancient city. During the excavations, it was found that the initial appearance of a settlement in the area took place in the 16th-14th centuries. The Bronze Age complex found in the Sherbai necropolis located on the city’s southern outskirts determined the Turkestan age to be 3,000 years”. In the south of Kazakhstan, in a valley between the Syr Darya River and the Karatau mountains, there were once two ancient settlements – Shavgar and Yasy, which were administrative and economic centers of Turkestan in different historical periods. First, the region’s main city was Shavgar, then Yasy (as Turkestan was called until the 16th century). Since the Great Silk Road passed through these lands and Yasy was the place of preaching activity of the great thinker, poet, and Sufi Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, over time the city became a center of art, science, and world trade. When its fame spread throughout the Muslim world, Yasy was named “the second Mecca.”
In the 16th century, Turkestan was mentioned in many written sources and it was named as the capital and main city of the Kazakh Khanate (a Nomadic state) until the 19th century. “In addition to the mausoleum, where Khoja Ahmed Yasawi was buried, 21 Kazakh khans (rulers), eight sultans, 23 biys (judges), 63 batyrs (heroes), five holy mothers, 30 saints from the Timurid, Shaybani and Kazakh Khanate dynasties are buried in the city,”. The next significant period of history is related to the entry of these lands into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), when industry began to develop in the city. In 2018, Kazakhstan’s First President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a decree on the formation of the Turkestan region.
Turkestan is now developing as a tourist hub and financial center. The Hazret Sultan International Airport and the Western China-Western Europe International Highway were built and are operating, and new theaters, museums, ultra-modern stadiums, and media centers were built. The Orenburg-Tashkent railway passes through Turkestan, and now, together with Uzbekistan, a project is being worked out to launch a high-speed train Turkestan-Shymkent-Tashkent.
The largest University in the Central Asian region named after Khoja Ahmed Yasawi is also located here as well as the recently opened University of Tourism, Hospitality and Sports. More than 30 million trees including fruit trees have already been planted around the city, and new squares and parks with fountains were opened in the city. A free economic zone in Turkestan has been created to boost economic development. A special legal regime with tax exemptions and customs exemptions has also been introduced. Turkestan and the region are now included in the ease of doing business ranking in the country. Turkestan is the largest spiritual center of pilgrimage and tourism not only for Kazakhs but also for tourists from all over the world. There are more than 800 monuments of archeology, history, and architecture in the Turkestan region. It is projected that the number of tourists will increase to one million people by 2030. The government plans to make Turkestan the main spiritual center of the country. A city with a long history has a plethora of sacred sites and tens of thousands of tourists come annually to perform the small hajj (Islamic pilgrimage).
Ms Zhanar Amangeldiyevna PhD, Rector, Ahmet Yassawi University, said that the region is promising, primarily from the point of view of the economy of cultural heritage. “This rich cultural heritage can increase economic profitability. A tourist hub and cultural center will not only allow the authorities to raise money to maintain ancient monuments but also develop nearby territories, where there are many archaeological monuments of antiquity and the late Middle Ages. This will raise the socio-economic standards of living in the region and will provide both direct and indirect employment for the population,” said Zhanar.