President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev has renamed South Kazakhstan region into Turkestan region, according to the executive order posted on the Akorda press service.
Turkestan has become the administrative center, while Shymkent, former center of South Kazakhstan region, has become a city of national significance
Shymkent has joined the list of Kazakh cities with population exceeding 1 million, Nazarbayev said at the ceremony of public signing of the executive order.
"The center of the region is Turkestan, which was the heat of political and spiritual life of the Kazakh Khanate and the whole Turkic world for centuries," AKIpress cited the president as saying.
Nazarbayev added that the newly established Turkestan region has all opportunities for quality performance of administrative functions.
