Turkistan Region
region of Kazakhstan
Turkistan Region, formerly known as South Kazakhstan Region from 1992 to 2018 and Chimkent Region from 1963 to 1991, is the southernmost region of Kazakhstan, bordering Uzbekistan. It had a population of 2,088,510 as of the 2022 Kazakhstan census.
The region's capital is Turkistan, formerly Shymkent until 2018. Other cities in the region include Sayram, Kentau, Arys, Shardara, Zhetisai, Saryagash, and Lenger.
Geography
This region and Atyrau Region are Kazakhstan's two smallest regions; both are about 117,300 square kilometers in area.
Turkistan Region borders the neighboring country of Uzbekistan (and is also very near the Uzbekistan capital Tashkent), as well as three other Kazakhstan regions: Karaganda Region (to the north), Kyzylorda Region (to the west), and Jambyl Region (to the east).
The Syr Darya passes through the region on its way to the Aral Sea. An oil pipeline runs from Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan to Omsk, Russia (where it connects with a larger, Siberian pipeline) through South Kazakhstan. Oil, lead and zinc are refined in Shymkent.
History
The region had a population of 2,088,510 as of 2022; 2,469,367 (2009 census results); 1,978,339 (1999 census results).
“Turkistan Region” enters the record as region of Kazakhstan. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Turkistan, Region and region can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Turkistan Region” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Turkistan, Region and region provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q815330. VIAF identifies the subject as 241242015. Authority coordinates are 43.000, 68.500. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1992, 2018, 1963 and 1991.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Turkistan Region” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.