​TURKESTAN, or Hazret, a town of Russian Turkestan, in the province of Syr-darya, on the railway from Orenburg to Tashkent, from which it lies 165 m. to the N.N.W. Pop. (1897), 11,592. It lies on the right bank of the Syr-darya river, 20 m. from it, at an altitude of 833 ft. It has a very old mosque of the saint Hazret-Yassavi, which attracts many pilgrims. It is an important dépôt for hides, wool and other produce of cattle-breeding. The town was captured by the Russians in 1864.