by Hazrat Sultan International Airport. It is located NE from the centre of city. Geography and climate Turkistan may be reached by train from Almaty, in a journey of nearly 20 hours. The road trip from the nearest airport at Shymkent takes about two hours. Turkistan experiences a cool semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) with short, cold winters and long, dry, very hot summers. The vast majority of the annual precipitation falls between late autumn and late spring. Twin towns – sister cities Afyonkarahisar, Turkey Keçiören, Turkey Shusha, Azerbaijan See also Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi Footnotes References Hill, John E. (2009) Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE. BookSurge, Charleston, South Carolina. . Hulsewé, A. F. P. and Loewe, M. A. N. 1979. China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 BC – AD 23: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty. E. J. Brill, Leiden. . Privratsky, Bruce G. (2001). Muslim Turkistan: Kazak Religion and Collective Memory Curzon Press, Richmond, Surrey UK. External links Description of archaeological investigations Archaeological sites in Kazakhstan Cities and towns in Kazakhstan Holy cities Islamic pilgrimages Populated places along the Silk Road Populated places in Turkistan Region