Turkestan

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Turkestan,^[a] also spelled Turkistan (from Persian: ترکستان, romanized: Torkestân, lit. 'land of the Turks'), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang.^[1][2] Turkestan is primarily inhabited by Turkic peoples, including Uzbeks, Oghuz Turks, Kazakhs, Khazars, Kyrgyz, and Uyghurs. The region hosts Russian and Tajik-Persian minorities. Turkestan is subdivided into Afghan Turkestan, Russian Turkestan, and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China.^[3] Today, "Turkestan" mainly^{[citation needed]} refers to Xinjiang, where Turkic peoples constitute about half of the population.

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