Editing Turkestan (section)

==Etymology and terminology==
[[File:Turkistan-1931.png|thumb|[[Chagatai language|Chaghatay]]-language map depicting Turkestan ({{lang|chg-Arab|تورکستان}}), from the November 1931 issue of the [[Berlin]]-based {{ill|Yash Turkistan|uz|Yosh turkiston}} magazine]]

Of [[Persian language|Persian]] origin (see [[-stan]]), the term "Turkestan" ({{lang|fa|ترکستان}}) had historically never referred to a single [[national state|nation state]].<ref name= "Clewell">{{cite book|author-first1=Gladys D. |author-last1=Clewell |author-first2=Holland |author-last2=Thompson |title=Lands and Peoples: The world in color |volume=3 |pages=163 |quote=Never a single nation, the name Turkestan means simply the place of [[Turkish peoples]].}}</ref> Persian geographers first used the word to describe the place where [[Turkic peoples]] lived.<ref name= "CARC">{{cite journal|journal=Central Asian Review |publisher=Central Asian Research Centre |location=London, England, St. Antony's College (University of Oxford) |title=Soviet Affairs Study Group |volume=16 |pages=3 |quote=The name Turkestan is of Persian origin and was apparently first used by Persian geographers to describe "the country of the Turks". The [[Russian Empire]] revived the word as a convenient name for the governorate-general established in 1867 ({{lang|ru| Туркестанское генерал-губернаторство}}); the terms [[Uzbekistan]], [[Turkmenistan]], etc., came into use only after 1924.}}</ref><ref name="Clewell" /> According to ethnographer [[Somfai Kara David|Dávid Somfai Kara]], prior to the [[Russian conquest of Central Asia|Russian conquest]], Turkestan historically referred only to the western portion of Central Asia:<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kara |first=Dávid Somfai |author-link=Somfai Kara David |date=2018 |title=The Formation of Modern Turkic 'Ethnic' Groups in Central and Inner Asia |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26571579 |journal=The Hungarian Historical Review |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=98–110 |issn=2063-8647 |jstor=26571579}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=The Eastern part of Central Asia (inhabited by nomads of the [[Tien Shan Mountains]] and settled peoples of the [[Tarim Basin]]) was called [[Moghulistan]] (“Mongol land”). The Western part (inhabited by nomads of [[Syr-darya]] and settled peoples of [[Khwarazm]]) was called Turkestan (Turk land), although they were both inhabited by linguistically Turkic ethnic groups. Beginning in the nineteenth century, the term Turkestan was also applied to [[Ferghana]] and [[Mawara al-Nahr|Mawara-an-nahr]] by the Russians.}}

On their way southward during the conquest of [[Central Asia]] in the 19th century, the [[Imperial Russia|Russians]] under {{ill|Nikolai Aleksandrovich Veryovkin|ru|Верёвкин, Николай Александрович}} took the [[Turkistan (city)|city of Turkistan]] (in present-day [[Kazakhstan]]) in 1864. Mistaking its name for the entire region, they adopted the name of "Turkestan" ({{langx|ru|Туркестан}}) for [[Russian Turkestan|their new territory]].<ref name="CARC" /><ref>{{cite book |author-last=Meakin |author-first=Annette M. B. |url=https://archive.org/details/inrussianturkes00meakgoog/page/n72/mode/2up |title=In Russian Turkestan: a garden of Asia and its people |date=1903 |pages=44 |quote=On their way southward from [[Siberia]] in 1864, the Russians took it, and many writers affirm that mistaking its name for that of the entire region, they adopted the appellation of "Turkestan" for their new territory. Up to that time, they assure us [[Khanate]]s of [[Bokhara]], [[Khiva]] and [[Kokand]] were known by these names alone. Yet I find that Gibbon also gave the name of Turkestan to that part of the world, and he wrote more than a hundred years earlier.}}</ref>

In 1969, a [[Turpan|Turfanian]] document from 639 CE was found in the Astana district of Turpan, which recorded [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]] sale contract of a female slave from the period of the Gaochang kingdom under the rule of Qu clan and mentioned the Sogdian word "twrkstn", which may have referred to the lands to the east and north of [[Syr Darya]] in the realm of the [[First Turkic Khaganate]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=豊 |first1=吉田 |last2=孝夫 |first2=森安 |last3=新疆ウィグル自治区博物館 |date=1988 |script-title=ja:麹氏高昌国時代ソグド文女奴隷売買文書 |url=https://iss.ndl.go.jp/books/R000000004-I2952542-00 |journal=神戸市外国語大学外国学研究 |pages=1–50 |script-journal=ja:神戸市外国語大学外国学研究}}</ref>{{rp|14,15}}

In 2024, Turkish Ministry of Education changed the term 'Central Asia' ({{langx|tr|Orta Asya}}) to 'Turkestan' ({{langx|tr|Türkistan}}) in history textbooks.<ref>[https://www.turkiyetoday.com/turkiye/turkiye-changes-term-central-asia-to-turkistan-in-education-reforms-63826/ Türkiye changes term ‘Central Asia’ to ‘Turkistan’ in education reforms]</ref><ref>[https://timesca.com/turkey-replaces-central-asia-with-turkestan-in-new-history-curriculum/ Turkey Replaces “Central Asia” with “Turkestan” in New History Curriculum]</ref>