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 depbt for hides, wool and other produce of cattle-breeding . The town was captured by the Russians in 1864 .