Turkic peoples

Family of ethnic groups of Eurasia

Not to be confused with Tatars or Turkish people.

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Turkic peoplesFile:Turkic Languages distribution map.png

The distribution of the Turkic languages

Total population
Approx. 140–160 million[1][2] or over 170 million[3]
Regions with significant populations
File:Flag of Turkey.svg Turkey| 57,500,000–61,500,000[4][additional citation(s) needed]
Uzbekistan| 31,900,000[5][additional citation(s) needed]
Iran| 15,000,000–20,000,000[6][7] 18% of population[8]
Russia| 12,751,502[citation needed]
File:Flag of Kazakhstan.svg Kazakhstan| 12,300,000[9][additional citation(s) needed]
File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China| 11,647,000[10][additional citation(s) needed]
Azerbaijan| 10,000,000[11][additional citation(s) needed]
European Union| 5,876,318[citation needed] (Bulgaria 588,318[12])
File:Flag of the Taliban.svg Afghanistan| 4,600,000–5,300,000 (2017)[13][14]
File:Flag of Turkmenistan.svg Turkmenistan| 4,500,000[15][additional citation(s) needed]
Kyrgyzstan| 4,500,000[16][additional citation(s) needed]
Iraq| 3,000,000[17][18]
File:Flag of Tajikistan.svg Tajikistan| 1,200,000[19][additional citation(s) needed]
United States| 1,000,000+[20]
Syria| 800,000–1,000,000+[21]
File:Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine| 398,600[22]
File:Flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.svg Northern Cyprus| 313,626[23]
Australia| 293,500[citation needed]
File:Flag of Mongolia.svg Mongolia| 135,618[24][25]
Lebanon| 200,000[26][27][28][29]
Moldova| 126,010[30]
File:Flag of North Macedonia.svg North Macedonia| 81,900[31][32]
Languages
Turkic languages
Religion
Various religions

The Turkic peoples are a collection of diverse ethnic groups of Central, East, North, and West Asia as well as parts of Europe, who speak Turkic languages.[33][34]

The origins of the Turkic peoples has been a topic of much discussion.[35] Recent linguistic, genetic and archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest Turkic peoples descended from agricultural communities in Northeastern China and wider Northeast Asia, who moved westwards into Mongolia in the late 3rd millennium BC, where they adopted a pastoral lifestyle.[36][37][38][39][40] By the early 1st millennium BC, these peoples had become equestrian nomads.[36]

The genetic and historical evidence suggests that the early Turkic peoples were of largely East Asian origin but became increasingly diverse, with later medieval Turkic groups exhibiting both East Asian and occasionally also West Eurasian physical appearances and genetic origins.[41][42] Many vastly differing ethnic groups have throughout history become part of the Turkic peoples through language shift, acculturation, conquest, intermixing, adoption, and religious conversion.[3] Nevertheless, certain Turkic peoples share, to varying degrees, non-linguistic characteristics like cultural traits, ancestry from a common gene pool, and historical experiences.[3]

Some of the most notable modern Turkic ethnic groups include the Altai people, Azerbaijanis, Chuvash people, Gagauz people, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz people, Turkmens, Turkish people, Tuvans, Uzbeks, Yakuts.

## Contents

* 1 Etymology
* 2 List of ethnic groups
* 2.1 Remarks
* 3 Language
* 3.1 Distribution
* 3.2 Alphabet
* 4 History
* 4.1 Origins
* 4.2 Early historical attestation
* 4.2.1 Xiongnu (3rd c. BCE – 1st c. CE)
* 4.2.2 Huns (4th–6th c. CE)
* 4.3 Steppe expansions
* 4.3.1 Göktürks – Turkic Khaganate (5th–8th c.)
* 4.3.2 Bulgars, Golden Horde and the Siberian Khanate
* 4.3.3 Uyghur Khaganate (8th–9th c.)
* 4.4 Central Asia
* 4.4.1 Kangar union (659–750)
* 4.4.2 Oghuz Yabgu State (766–1055)
* 4.5 Iranian, Indian, Arabic, and Anatolian expansion
* 4.5.1 Persia
* 4.5.1.1 Ghaznavid dynasty (977–1186)
* 4.5.1.2 Seljuk Empire (1037–1194)
* 4.5.1.3 Timurid Empire (1370–1507)
* 4.5.1.4 Central Asian khanates (1501–1920)
* 4.5.1.5 Safavid dynasty (1501–1736)
* 4.5.1.6 Afsharid dynasty (1736–1796)
* 4.5.1.7 Qajar dynasty (1789–1925)
* 4.5.2 South Asia
* 4.5.3 Arab world
* 4.5.4 Anatolia – Ottomans
* 4.5.5 Islamization
* 4.6 Modern history
* 5 Physiognomy
* 5.1 Remarks
* 6 Archaeology
* 7 International organizations
* 7.1 TÜRKSOY
* 7.2 Organization of Turkic States
* 8 Demographics
* 9 Cuisine
* 10 Religion
* 10.1 Early Turkic mythology and Tengrism
* 10.2 Religious conversions
* 10.2.1 Buddhism
* 10.2.2 Islam
* 10.2.3 Christianity
* 10.2.4 Animism
* 10.2.5 Muslim Turks and non-Muslim Turks
* 11 Old sports
* 11.1 Tepuk
* 11.2 Kyz kuu
* 11.3 Jereed
* 11.4 Kokpar
* 11.5 Jigit
* 12 Gallery
* 12.1 Battle, hunting and blacksmithing scenes in Turkic rock art of the early Middle Ages in Altai
* 12.2 Bezeklik caves and Mogao grottoes
* 12.3 Medieval times
* 12.4 Modern times
* 13 See also
* 14 References
* 15 Sources
* 16 Further reading
* 17 External links

## Etymology[edit | edit source]

File:Kashgari map.jpg

Map from Kashgari's Diwan (11th century), showing the distribution of Turkic tribes.

The first known mention of the term Turk (Old Turkic: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰 Türük or 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰:𐰜𐰇𐰛 Kök Türük, Chinese: 突厥, Pinyin: Tūjué < Middle Chinese *tɦut-kyat < *dwət-kuɑt, Old Tibetan: drugu)[43][44][45][46] applied to only one Turkic group, namely, the Göktürks,[47] who were also mentioned, as türüg ~ török, in the 6th-century Khüis Tolgoi inscription, most likely not later than 587 AD.[48][49][50] A letter by Ishbara Qaghan to Emperor Wen of Sui in 585 described him as "the Great Turk Khan".[51][52] The Bugut (584 CE) and Orkhon inscriptions (735 CE) use the terms Türküt, Türk and Türük.[53]

During the first century CE, Pomponius Mela refers to the Turcae in the forests north of the Sea of Azov, and Pliny the Elder lists the Tyrcae among the people of the same area.[54][55][56] However, English archaeologist Ellis Minns contended that Tyrcae Τῦρκαι is "a false correction" for Iyrcae Ἱύρκαι, a people who dwelt beyond the Thyssagetae, according to Herodotus (Histories, iv. 22), and were likely Ugric ancestors of Magyars.[57] There are references to certain groups in antiquity whose names might have been foreign transcriptions of Tür(ü)k, such as Togarma, Turukha/Turuška, Turukku and so on; but the information gap is so substantial that any connection of these ancient people to the modern Turks is not possible.[58][59]

It is generally accepted that the name Türk is ultimately derived from the Old-Turkic migration-term[60] 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰 Türük/Törük,<[61] which means 'created, born'[62] or 'strong'.[63] Scholars, including Toru Haneda, Onogawa Hidemi, and Geng Shimin believed that Di, Dili, Dingling, Chile and Tujue all came from the Turkic word Türk, which means 'powerful' and 'strength', and its plural form is Türküt.[64] Even though Gerhard Doerfer supports the proposal that türk means 'strong' in general, Gerard Clauson points out that "the word türk is never used in the generalized sense of 'strong'" and that türk was originally a noun and meant "'the culminating point of maturity' (of a fruit, human being, etc.), but more often used as an [adjective] meaning (of a fruit) 'just fully ripe'; (of a human being) 'in the prime of life, young, and vigorous'".[65] Turkologist Peter B. Golden agrees that the term Turk has roots in Old Turkic.[66] yet is not convinced by attempts to link Dili, Dingling, Chile, Tele, & Tiele, which possibly transcribed *tegrek (probably meaning 'cart'), to Tujue, which transliterated Türküt.[67] The Chinese Book of Zhou (7th century) presents an etymology of the name Turk as derived from 'helmet', explaining that this name comes from the shape of a mountain where they worked in the Altai Mountains.[68] Hungarian scholar András Róna-Tas (1991) pointed to a Khotanese-Saka word, tturakä 'lid', semantically stretchable to 'helmet', as a possible source for this folk etymology, yet Golden thinks this connection requires more data.[69]

The earliest Turkic-speaking peoples identifiable in Chinese sources are the Gekun and Xinli, located in South Siberia.[70][71] Another earlier people, the Dingling, are often also assumed to be Proto-Turks,[72][73][74] or are alternatively linked to Tungusic peoples[75][76] or Na-Dené and Yeniseian peoples.[77] Medieval European chroniclers subsumed various Turkic peoples of the Eurasian steppe under the "umbrella-identity" of the "Scythians". Between 400 CE and the 16th century, Byzantine sources use the name Σκύθαι (Skuthai) in reference to twelve different Turkic peoples.[78]

In the modern Turkish language as used in the Republic of Turkey, a distinction is made between "Turks" and the "Turkic peoples" in loosely speaking: the term Türk corresponds specifically to the "Turkish-speaking" people (in this context, "Turkish-speaking" is considered the same as "Turkic-speaking"), while the term Türki refers generally to the people of modern "Turkic Republics" (Türki Cumhuriyetler or Türk Cumhuriyetleri). However, the proper usage of the term is based on the linguistic classification in order to avoid any political sense. In short, the term Türki can be used for Türk or vice versa.[79]

## List of ethnic groups[edit | edit source]

See also: List of Turkic dynasties and countries

List of the modern Turkic peoples

Ethnonym | Population | National-state formation | Religion
Turks | 75,700,000 | File:Flag of Turkey.svg Turkey, File:Flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.svg Northern Cyprus | Sunni Islam, Alevism
Azerbaijanis | 31,300,000 |  Azerbaijan, File:Flag of Dagestan.svg Dagestan (Russian Federation) | Shia Islam, Sunni Islam
Uzbeks | 30,700,000 |  Uzbekistan | Sunni Islam
Kazakhs | 15,193,000 | File:Flag of Kazakhstan.svg Kazakhstan, File:Flag of Mongolia.svg Bayan-Ölgii, File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Barköl Kazakh Autonomous County, Mori Kazakh Autonomous County, File:Flag of Altai Republic.svg Altai | Sunni Islam
Uyghurs | 11,900,000 | File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (PRC) | Sunni Islam
Turkmens | 8,000,000 | File:Flag of Turkmenistan.svg Turkmenistan | Sunni Islam
Volga Tatars | 6,200,000 | File:Flag of Tatarstan.svg Tatarstan (Russian Federation) | Sunni Islam, Orthodox Christianity
Kyrgyz | 6,000,000 |  Kyrgyzstan, File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture | Sunni Islam
Bashkirs | 1,700,000 | File:Flag of Bashkortostan.svg Bashkortostan (Russian Federation) | Sunni Islam
Chuvashes | 1,500,000 | File:Flag of Chuvashia.svg Chuvashia (Russian Federation) | Orthodox Christianity, Vattisen Yaly
Khorasani Turks | 1,000,000 | N/A | Shia Islam
Qashqai | 949,000 | Shia Islam
Karakalpaks | 796,000 | File:Flag of Karakalpakstan.svg Karakalpakstan (Uzbekistan) | Sunni Islam
Kumyks | 520,000 | File:Flag of Dagestan.svg Dagestan (Russian Federation) | Sunni Islam
Crimean Tatars | <500,000 |

Crimea (disputed by Ukraine and Russia)

| Sunni Islam
Yakuts (Sakha) | 482,000 | File:Flag of Sakha.svg Sakha Republic or Yakutia (Russian Federation) | Orthodox Christianity, Tengrism
Karachays | 346,000 | File:Flag of Karachay-Cherkessia.svg Karachay-Cherkessia (Russian Federation) | Sunni Islam
Tuvans | 273,000 | File:Flag of Tuva.svg Tuva (Russian Federation)  | Tibetan Buddhism, Tengrism
Gagauz | 126,000 | File:Flag of Gagauzia.svg Gagauzia (Moldova) | Orthodox Christianity
Balkars | 112,000 | File:Flag of Kabardino-Balkaria.svg Kabardino-Balkaria (Russian Federation) | Sunni Islam
Nogais | 110,000 | File:Flag of Dagestan.svg Dagestan and File:Flag of Karachay-Cherkessia.svg Karachay-Cherkessia (Russian Federation) | Sunni Islam
Salar | 104,000 | File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Xunhua Salar Autonomous County, Jishishan Bonan, Dongxiang and Salar Autonomous County | Sunni Islam, Tibetan Buddhism
Khakas | 75,000 | File:Flag of Khakassia.svg Khakassia (Russian Federation)  | Orthodox Christianity, Tengrism
Altaians | 74,000 | File:Flag of Altai Republic.svg Altai (Russian Federation)  | Burkhanism, Tengrism, Orthodox Christianity
Äynu | >60,000 | N/A | Alevism
Khalaj | 42,000 | Shia Islam
Yugurs | 13,000 |

File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Sunan Yugur Autonomous County

| Tibetan Buddhism, Tengrism
Dolgans | 13,000 |

File:Flag of Taymyr Autonomous Okrug.svg Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District (Russian Federation)

| Tengrism, Orthodox Christianity
Khotons | 10,000 | N/A | Sunni Islam
Nağaybäk | 8,000 | Orthodox Christianity
Shors | 8,000 | Orthodox Christianity, Tengrism
Siberian Tatars | 6,000 | Sunni Islam
Telengits | 3,700 | Orthodox Christianity, Burkhanism, shamanism
Soyots | 3,600  | Tibetan Buddhism, Tengrism
Kumandins | 2,900 | Orthodox Christianity, Tengrism
Teleuts | 2,700 | Orthodox Christianity, Tengrism
Crimean Karaites | 2,000 | Karaite Judaism
Tubalar | 1,900 | Orthodox Christianity, shamanism
Fuyu Kyrgyz | 1,400 | Sunni Islam
Chelkans | 1,100 | Orthodox Christianity, Burkhanism, shamanism
Krymchaks | 1,000 | Orthodox Judaism
Tofalars | 800 | Tengrism, Orthodox Christianity
Chulyms | 355 | Orthodox Christianity
Dukha | 282 | Tengrism
Ili Turks | 177 | Sunni Islam

Historical Turkic groups

* Az
* Dingling
* Bulgars
* Esegel
* Barsils
* Alat
* Basmyl
* Onogurs
* Saragurs
* Sabirs
* Shatuo
* Ongud (from Shatuo)
* Göktürks
* Oghuz Turks
* Kanglys
* Khazars
* Kipchaks
* Kurykans
* Kumans
* Pechenegs
* Karluks
* Tiele
* Tabgach
* Turgesh
* Tukhsi
* Yenisei Kirghiz
* Chigils
* Toquz Oghuz
* Orkhon Uyghurs
* Yagma
* Nushibi
* Duolu
* Kutrigurs
* Utigurs
* Yabaku
* Yueban[note 1]
* Bulaqs
* Xueyantuo
* Torks
* Chorni Klobuky
* Berendei
* Yemeks
* Naimans (partly)
* Keraites (partly)
* Merkits (partly)[note 2]
* Uriankhai (partly)[note 3]

Possible Proto-Turkic ancestry, at least partial,[80][81][82][83][84][85] has been posited for Xiongnu, Huns and Pannonian Avars, as well as Tuoba and Rouran, who were of Proto-Mongolic Donghu ancestry.,[86][87][88][89] as well as Tatars, Rourans' supposed descendants.[90][91][note 4]

### Remarks[edit | edit source]

1. ^ Book of Wei vol. 102. quote: "悅般國 [...] 其風俗言語與高車同" translation: "Yueban nation [...] Their customs and language are the same as the Gaoche['s]"; Gaoche (高車; lit. "High-Carts") was another name of the Turkic-speaking Tiele
2. ^ Merkits were always counted as a part of the Mongols within the Mongol Empire, however, some scholars proposed additional Turkic ancestry for Merkits; Christopher P. Atwood – Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire ISBN 9780816046713, Facts on File, Inc. 2004.
3. ^ Refers to forest peoples of the North, including the Turkic-speaking Tuvans and Yakuts, and also Mongolic-speaking Altai Uriankhai. The ethnonym Uriankhai is etymologically Mongolic, compare Khalkha uria(n) "war motto" and khai, alternation of khan. Uriankhai people are possibly linked to the Wuluohun tribe of the Shiwei people, who were predominantly Mongolic-speaking.
4. ^ Even though Chinese historians routinely ascribed Xiongnu origin to various nomadic peoples, such ascriptions do not necessarily indicate the subjects' exact origins; for examples, Xiongnu ancestry was ascribed to Turkic-speaking Göktürks and Tiele as well as Para-Mongolic-speaking Kumo Xi and Khitan.[92]

## Language[edit | edit source]

File:Codex Cumanicus 58.jpg

A page from "Codex Kumanicus". The Codex was designed in order to help Catholic missionaries communicate with the Kumans.

Main articles: Turkic languages and Proto-Turkic language

Further information: List of alphabets used by Turkic languages

### Distribution[edit | edit source]

The Turkic languages constitute a language family of some 30 languages, spoken across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, to Siberia and Manchuria and through to the Middle East. Some 170 million people have a Turkic language as their native language;[93] an additional 20 million people speak a Turkic language as a second language. The Turkic language with the greatest number of speakers is Turkish proper, or Anatolian Turkish, the speakers of which account for about 40% of all Turkic speakers.[94] More than one third of these are ethnic Turks of Turkey, dwelling predominantly in Turkey proper and formerly Ottoman-dominated areas of Southern and Eastern Europe and West Asia; as well as in Western Europe, Australia and the Americas as a result of immigration. The remainder of the Turkic people are concentrated in Central Asia, Russia, the Caucasus, China, and northern Iraq.

The Turkic language family is traditionally considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.[95] Howeover since the 1950s, many comparative linguists have rejected the proposal, after supposed cognates were found not to be valid, hypothesized sound shifts were not found, and Turkic and Mongolic languages were found to be converging rather than diverging over the centuries. Opponents of the theory proposed that the similarities are due to mutual linguistic influences between the groups concerned.[96][97][98][99][100]

### Alphabet[edit | edit source]

The Turkic alphabets are sets of related alphabets with letters (formerly known as runes), used for writing mostly Turkic languages. Inscriptions in Turkic alphabets were found in Mongolia. Most of the preserved inscriptions were dated to between 8th and 10th centuries CE.

The earliest positively dated and read Turkic inscriptions date from the 8th century, and the alphabets were generally replaced by the Old Uyghur alphabet in the East and Central Asia, Arabic script in the Middle and Western Asia, Cyrillic in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans, and Latin alphabet in Central Europe. The latest recorded use of Turkic alphabet was recorded in Central Europe's Hungary in 1699 CE.

The Turkic runiform scripts, unlike other typologically close scripts of the world, do not have a uniform palaeography as, for example, have the Gothic runes, noted for the exceptional uniformity of its language and paleography.[101] The Turkic alphabets are divided into four groups, the best known of them is the Orkhon version of the Enisei group. The Orkhon script is the alphabet used by the Göktürks from the 8th century to record the Old Turkic language. It was later used by the Uyghur Empire; a Yenisei variant is known from 9th-century Kyrgyz inscriptions, and it has likely cousins in the Talas Valley of Turkestan and the Old Hungarian script of the 10th century. Irk Bitig is the only known complete manuscript text written in the Old Turkic script.[102]

File:Carte peuples turcs.png

Descriptive map of Turkic peoples.

## History[edit | edit source]

Main articles: Timeline, Turkic expansion, Confederations, Nomadic empire, Genetic history, and Liao civilization

History of the Turkic peoples pre–14th century

Mural of Turkic cavalry, Beshbalik, 10th c.

Topics

|  |  Peoples|

|

Languages|
Mythology|
Timeline|

Historical Turkic polities

|  Dingling

Tiele people
Göktürks

* First Turkic Khaganate 552–581
* Western Turkic Khaganate 581–657

(Tokhara Yabghus, Turk Shahis)

* Eastern Turkic Khaganate 581–650
* Second Turkic Khaganate 682–744

Khazar Khaganate 618–1048
Xueyantuo 628–646
Kangar union 659–750
Turk Shahi 665-850
Türgesh Khaganate 699–766
Kimek confederation 743–1035
Uyghur Khaganate 744–840
Oghuz Yabgu State 750–1055
Karluk Yabgu State 756–940
Kara-Khanid Khanate 840–1212

* Western Kara-Khanid
* Eastern Kara-Khanid

Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom 848–1036
Qocho 856–1335
Pecheneg Khanates 860–1091
Ghaznavid Empire 963–1186
Seljuk Empire 1037–1194

* Sultanate of Rum

Cuman–Kipchak confederation 1067–1239
Khwarazmian Empire 1077–1231
Kerait Khanate 11th century–13th century
Delhi Sultanate 1206–1526

* Mamluk dynasty
* Khalji dynasty
* Tughlaq dynasty

Qarlughid Kingdom 1224–1266
Golden Horde 1240s–1502
Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo) 1250–1517

* Bahri dynasty

File:East-Hem 500bc.jpg

Eastern Hemisphere in 500 BCE

### Origins[edit | edit source]

The origins of the Turkic peoples has been a topic of much discussion.[35] Peter Benjamin Golden listed Proto-Turkic lexical items about the climate, topography, flora, fauna, people's modes of subsistence in the hypothetical Proto-Turkic Urheimat and proposed that the Proto-Turkic Urheimat was located at the southern, taiga-steppe zone of the Sayan-Altay region.[103] Martine Robbeets suggests that the Turkic peoples were descended from a Transeurasian agricultural community based in northeast China, which is to be associated with the Xinglongwa culture and the succeeding Hongshan culture.[36][37] The East Asian agricultural origin of the Turkic peoples has been corroborated in multiple recent studies.[38][39][104] Around 2,200 BC, due to the desertification of northeast China, the agricultural ancestors of the Turkic peoples probably migrated westwards into Mongolia, where they adopted a pastoral lifestyle.[36][105]

Linguistic and genetic evidence strongly suggest an early presence of Turkic peoples in eastern Mongolia.[106][35][107]

File:Turkic origin and expansion.png

Genetic, archeologic and linguistic evidence links the early Turkic peoples to the "Northeast Asian gene pool". Proto-Turks are suggested to have adopted a nomadic lifestyle and expanded from eastern Mongolia westwards.[citation needed]

The genetic evidence suggests that the Turkification of Central Asia was carried out by East Asian dominant minorities migrating out of Mongolia. The exact location of the homeland of the Turkic peoples and languages cannot be adequately concluded, but must have been somewhere within the areas of the "Northeast Asian gene pool".[108][109]

The main migration of Turkic peoples occurred between the 6th and 11th centuries, when they spread across most of Central Asia. The Turkic peoples slowly replaced and assimilated the previous Iranian-speaking locals, turning the population of Central Asia from largely Iranian into primarily of East Asian descent.[110]

### Early historical attestation[edit | edit source]

File:East-Hem 300ad.jpg

Xiongnu, Mongolic, and proto-Turkic tribes (ca. 300 CE)

The earliest separate Turkic peoples, such as the Gekun (鬲昆) and Xinli (薪犁), appeared on the peripheries of the late Xiongnu confederation about 200 BCE[111][112] (contemporaneous with the Chinese Han Dynasty)[113] and later among the Turkic-speaking Tiele[114] as Hegu (紇骨)[115] and Xue (薛).[116][117]

The Tiele (also known as Gaoche 高車, lit. "High Carts"),[118] may be related to the Xiongnu and the Dingling.[119] According to the Book of Wei, the Tiele people were the remnants of the Chidi (赤狄), the red Di people competing with the Jin in the Spring and Autumn period.[120] Historically they were established after the 6th century BCE.[112]

The Tiele were first mentioned in Chinese literature from the 6th to 8th centuries.[121] Some scholars (Haneda, Onogawa, Geng, etc.) proposed that Tiele, Dili, Dingling, Chile, Tele, & Tujue all transliterated underlying Türk; however, Golden proposed that Dili, Dingling, Chile, Tele, & Tiele transliterated Tegrek while Tujue transliterated Türküt, plural of Türk.[122] The appellation Türük (Old Turkic: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰) ~ Türk (OT: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰚) (whence Middle Chinese 突厥 *dwət-kuɑt > *tɦut-kyat > standard Chinese: Tūjué) was initially reserved exclusively for the Göktürks by Chinese, Tibetans, and even the Turkic-speaking Uyghurs. In contrast, medieval Muslim writers, including Turkic speakers like Ottoman historian Mustafa Âlî and explorer Evliya Çelebi as well as Timurid scientist Ulugh Beg, often viewed Inner Asian tribes, "as forming a single entity regardless of their linguistic affiliation" commonly used Turk as a generic name for Inner Asians (whether Turkic- or Mongolic-speaking). Only in modern era do modern historians use Turks to refer to all peoples speaking Turkic languages, differentiated from non-Turkic speakers.[123]

According to some researchers (Duan, Xue, Tang, Lung, Onogawa, etc.) the later Ashina tribe descended from the Tiele confederation.[124][125][126][127][128] The Tiele however were probably one of many early Turkic groups, ancestral to later Turkic populations.[129][130] However, according to Lee & Kuang (2017), Chinese histories do not describe the Ashina and the Göktürks as descending from the Dingling or the Tiele confederation.[131]

#### Xiongnu (3rd c. BCE – 1st c. CE)[edit | edit source]

File:XiongnuMap.png

Territory of the Xiongnu, which included Mongolia, Western Manchuria, Xinjiang, East Kazakhstan, East Kyrgyzstan, Inner Mongolia, and Gansu.

Main article: Xiongnu

It has even been suggested that the Xiongnu themselves, who were mentioned in Han Dynasty records, were Proto-Turkic speakers.[132][133][134][135] Although little is known for certain about the Xiongnu language(s), it seems likely that at least a considerable part of Xiongnu tribes spoke a Turkic language.[136] Some scholars believe they were probably a confederation of various ethnic and linguistic groups.[137][138] A genetic research in 2003, of the remains of 62 individuals buried between the 3rd century BC and the 2nd century AD at the Xiongnu necropolis at Egyin Gol in northern Mongolia, found that these individuals have similar DNA sequences as many modern Turkic groups, supporting the view that the Xiongnu were at least partially of Turkic origin.[139] These examined individuals were found to be primarily of East Asian ancestry.[140]

Using the only extant possibly Xiongnu writings, the rock art of the Yinshan and Helan Mountains,[141] some scholars argue that the older Xiongnu writings are precursors to the earliest known Turkic alphabet, the Orkhon script. Petroglyphs of this region dates from the 9th millennium BCE to the 19th century, and consists mainly of engraved signs (petroglyphs) and few painted images.[142] Excavations done during 1924–1925 in Noin-Ula kurgans located in the Selenga River in the northern Mongolian hills north of Ulaanbaatar produced objects with over 20 carved characters, which were either identical or very similar to the runic letters of the Turkic Orkhon script discovered in the Orkhon Valley.[143]

#### Huns (4th–6th c. CE)[edit | edit source]

File:Huns450.png

Huns (c.450 CE)

Main article: Huns

In the 18th century, the French scholar Joseph de Guignes became the first to propose a link between the Huns and the Xiongnu people, who were northern neighbours of China in the 3rd century BC.[144] The Hun hordes ruled by Attila, who invaded and conquered much of Europe in the 5th century, might have been, at least partially, Turkic and descendants of the Xiongnu.[113][145][146] Since Guignes' time, considerable scholarly effort has been devoted to investigating such a connection. The issue remains controversial. Their relationships to other peoples known collectively as the Iranian Huns are also disputed.[citation needed]

Some scholars claimed Huns as Proto-Mongolian or Yeniseian in origin.[147][148] Linguistic studies by Otto Maenchen-Helfen and others have suggested that the language used by the Huns in Europe was too little documented to be classified. Nevertheless, the majority of the proper names used by Huns appear to be Turkic in origin,[149][150] though they are "far from unambiguous, so no firm conclusion can be drawn from this type of data".[151]

### Steppe expansions[edit | edit source]

#### Göktürks – Turkic Khaganate (5th–8th c.)[edit | edit source]

File:First Turk Khaganate(600).PNG

First Turk Khaganate (600 CE)

File:Asia 600ad.jpg

The Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates (600 CE)

Main articles: Göktürks and First Turkic Khaganate

The first mention of Turks was in a Chinese text that mentioned trade between Turk tribes and the Sogdians along the Silk Road.[152]

According to the Book of Sui and the Tongdian, they were "mixed barbarians" (雜胡; záhú) who migrated from Pingliang (now in modern Gansu province, China) to the Rourans seeking inclusion in their confederacy and protection from the prevailing dynasty.[153][154] Alternatively, according to the Book of Zhou, History of the Northern Dynasties, and New Book of Tang, the Ashina clan was a component of the Xiongnu confederation.[155][156][157][158] Göktürks were also posited as having originated from an obscure Suo state (索國), north of the Xiongnu.[159][160] The Ashina tribe were famed metalsmiths and were granted land south of the Altai Mountains (金山 Jinshan), which looked like a helmet, from which they were said to have gotten their name 突厥 (Tūjué),[161][153] the first recorded use of "Turk" as a political name. In the 6th-century, Ashina's power had increased such that they conquered the Tiele on their Rouran overlords' behalf and even overthrew Rourans and established the First Turkic Khaganate.[162]

File:5bdbb4c1ca0a504c07114f5feff8cbd9-1.jpg

Colored terracotta figurine of a Gokturk male found in a Kurgan, Kazakhstan, 5th–6th c.

File:GokturkWarrior.jpg

A Turkic warrior from the Göktürk period. The horse's tail is knotted in Turkic style. His hair is long, braided and his big-collared caftan and boots are Turkic clothing features.

The original Old Turkic name Kök Türk derives from kök ~ kö:k, "sky, sky-coloured, blue, blue-grey".[163] Unlike its Xiongnu predecessor, the Göktürk Khaganate had its temporary Khagans from the Ashina clan, who were subordinate to a sovereign authority controlled by a council of tribal chiefs. The Khaganate retained elements of its original animistic- shamanistic religion, that later evolved into Tengriism, although it received missionaries of Buddhist monks and practiced a syncretic religion. The Göktürks were the first Turkic people to write Old Turkic in a runic script, the Orkhon script. The Khaganate was also the first state known as "Turk". It eventually collapsed due to a series of dynastic conflicts, but many states and peoples later used the name "Turk".[164][165]

The Göktürks (First Turkic Kaganate) quickly spread west to the Caspian Sea. Between 581 and 603 the Western Turkic Khaganate in Kazakhstan separated from the Eastern Turkic Khaganate in Mongolia and Manchuria during a civil war. The Han-Chinese successfully overthrew the Eastern Turks in 630 and created a military Protectorate until 682. After that time the Second Turkic Khaganate ruled large parts of the former Göktürk area. After several wars between Turks, Chinese and Tibetans, the weakened Second Turkic Khaganate was replaced by the Uyghur Khaganate in the year 744.[166]

#### Bulgars, Golden Horde and the Siberian Khanate[edit | edit source]

File:Bulgarians and Slavs VI-VII century.png

The migration of the Bulgars after the fall of Old Great Bulgaria in the 7th century

The Bulgars established themselves in between the Caspian and Black Seas in the 5th and 6th centuries, followed by their conquerors, the Khazars who converted to Judaism in the 8th or 9th century. After them came the Pechenegs who created a large confederacy, which was subsequently taken over by the Cumans and the Kipchaks. One group of Bulgars settled in the Volga region and mixed with local Volga Finns to become the Volga Bulgars in what is today Tatarstan. These Bulgars were conquered by the Mongols following their westward sweep under Genghis Khan in the 13th century. Other Bulgars settled in Southeastern Europe in the 7th and 8th centuries, and mixed with the Slavic population, adopting what eventually became the Slavic Bulgarian language. Everywhere, Turkic groups mixed with the local populations to varying degrees.[162]

File:GoldenHorde1300.png

Golden Horde

The Volga Bulgaria became an Islamic state in 922 and influenced the region as it controlled many trade routes. In the 13th century, Mongols invaded Europe and established the Golden Horde in Eastern Europe, western & northern Central Asia, and even western Siberia. The Cuman-Kipchak Confederation and Islamic Volga Bulgaria were absorbed by the Golden Horde in the 13th century; in the 14th century, Islam became the official religion under Uzbeg Khan where the general population (Turks) as well as the aristocracy (Mongols) came to speak the Kipchak language and were collectively known as "Tatars" by Russians and Westerners. This country was also known as the Kipchak Khanate and covered most of what is today Ukraine, as well as the entirety of modern-day southern and eastern Russia (the European section). The Golden Horde disintegrated into several khanates and hordes in the 15th and 16th century including the Crimean Khanate, Khanate of Kazan, and Kazakh Khanate (among others), which were one by one conquered and annexed by the Russian Empire in the 16th through 19th centuries.[citation needed]

In Siberia, the Siberian Khanate was established in the 1490s by fleeing Tatar aristocrats of the disintegrating Golden Horde who established Islam as the official religion in western Siberia over the partly Islamized native Siberian Tatars and indigenous Uralic peoples. It was the northernmost Islamic state in recorded history and it survived up until 1598 when it was conquered by Russia.[citation needed]

#### Uyghur Khaganate (8th–9th c.)[edit | edit source]

File:Uyghur Khaganate.png

Uyghur Khaganate

File:Ancient Uyghur Art.jpg

Uyghur painting from the Bezeklik murals

Main article: Uyghur Khaganate

File:Museum für Indische Kunst Dahlem Berlin Mai 2006 063.jpg

Uyghur royals in Chinese-style dresses

The Uyghur empire ruled large parts of Mongolia, Northern and Western China and parts of northern Manchuria. They followed largely Buddhism and animistic traditions. During the same time, the Shatuo Turks emerged as power factor in Northern and Central China and were recognized by the Tang Empire as allied power. The Uyghur empire fell after several wars in the year 840.[166][167]

File:Later Tang.png

The Turkic Later Tang Dynasty

The Shatuo Turks had founded several short-lived sinicized dynasties in northern China during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The official language of these dynasties was Chinese and they used Chinese titles and names. Some Shaotuo Turks emperors also claimed patrilineal Han Chinese ancestry.[168][169][170]

After the fall of the Tang-Dynasty in 907, the Shatuo Turks replaced them and created the Later Tang Dynasty in 923. The Shatuo Turks ruled over a large part of northern China, including Beijing. They adopted Chinese names and united Turkic and Chinese traditions. Later Tang fell in 937 but the Shatuo rose to become one of the most powerful clans of China. They created several other dynasies, including the Later Jin and Later Han. The Shatuo Turks were later assimilated into the Han Chinese ethnic group after they were conquered by the Song dynasty.[167][171]

The Yenisei Kyrgyz allied with China to destroy the Uyghur Khaganate in 840. The Kyrgyz people ultimately settled in the region now referred to as Kyrgyzstan.[citation needed]

### Central Asia[edit | edit source]

#### Kangar union (659–750)[edit | edit source]

File:AD 659KangarUnion.png

Kangar Union after the fall of Western Turkic Khaganate, 659–750

The Kangar Union (Qanghar Odaghu) was a Turkic state in the former territory of the Western Turkic Khaganate (the entire present-day state of Kazakhstan, without Zhetysu). The ethnic name Kangar is a medieval name for the Kangly people, who are now part of the Kazakh, Uzbek,[172] and Karakalpak nations. The capital of the Kangar union was located in the Ulytau mountains. The Pechenegs, three of whose tribes were known as Kangar (Greek: Καγγαρ), after being defeated by the Oghuzes, Karluks, and Kimek-Kypchaks, attacked the Bulgars and established the Pecheneg state in Eastern Europe (840–990 CE).[citation needed]

#### Oghuz Yabgu State (766–1055)[edit | edit source]

File:AD 750OguzYabgu.png

Oghuz Yabgu State (c.750 CE)

The Oguz Yabgu State (Oguz il, meaning "Oguz Land,", "Oguz Country")(750–1055) was a Turkic state, founded by Oghuz Turks in 766, located geographically in an area between the coasts of the Caspian and Aral Seas. Oguz tribes occupied a vast territory in Kazakhstan along the Irgiz, Yaik, Emba, and Uil rivers, the Aral Sea area, the Syr Darya valley, the foothills of the Karatau Mountains in Tien-Shan, and the Chui River valley (see map). The Oguz political association developed in the 9th and 10th centuries in the basin of the middle and lower course of the Syr Darya and adjoining the modern western Kazakhstan steppes.[citation needed]

### Iranian, Indian, Arabic, and Anatolian expansion[edit | edit source]

Main articles: Ghaznavids, Seljuk Empire, Delhi Sultanate, Mamluk Sultanate, Timurid Empire, Bahri dynasty, Deccan sultanates, Safavid Iran, Ottoman Empire, Mughal Empire, and Afsharid dynasty

Turkic peoples and related groups migrated west from present-day Northeastern China, Mongolia, Siberia and the Turkestan-region towards the Iranian plateau, South Asia, and Anatolia (modern Turkey) in many waves. The date of the initial expansion remains unknown.

#### Persia[edit | edit source]

##### Ghaznavid dynasty (977–1186)[edit | edit source]

File:Ghaznavid Empire 975 - 1187 (AD).PNG

Ghaznavid Empire at its greatest extent in 1030 CE

Main articles: Ghaznavids and Uzbeks

The Ghaznavid dynasty (Persian: غزنویان ġaznaviyān) was a Persianate[173] Muslim dynasty of Turkic mamluk origin,[174] at their greatest extent ruling large parts of Iran, Afghanistan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest Indian subcontinent (part of Pakistan) from 977 to 1186.[175][176][177] The dynasty was founded by Sabuktigin upon his succession to rule of the region of Ghazna after the death of his father-in-law, Alp Tigin, who was a breakaway ex-general of the Samanid Empire from Balkh, north of the Hindu Kush in Greater Khorasan.[178]

Although the dynasty was of Central Asian Turkic origin, it was thoroughly Persianised in terms of language, culture, literature and habits[179][180][181][182] and hence is regarded by some as a "Persian dynasty".[183]

##### Seljuk Empire (1037–1194)[edit | edit source]

Main article: Seljuk Empire

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2019)

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File:Seljuk Empire locator map.svg

A map showing the Seljuk Empire at its height, upon the death of Malik Shah I in 1092.

The Seljuk Empire (Persian: آل سلجوق, romanized: Āl-e Saljuq, lit. 'House of Saljuq') or the Great Seljuq Empire[184][185][186] was a high medieval Turko-Persian[187] Sunni Muslim empire, originating from the Qiniq branch of Oghuz Turks.[188] At its greatest extent, the Seljuk Empire controlled a vast area stretching from western Anatolia and the Levant to the Hindu Kush in the east, and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf in the south.

The Seljuk empire was founded by Tughril Beg (1016–1063) and his brother Chaghri Beg (989–1060) in 1037. From their homelands near the Aral Sea, the Seljuks advanced first into Khorasan and then into mainland Persia, before eventually conquering eastern Anatolia. Here the Seljuks won the battle of Manzikert in 1071 and conquered most of Anatolia from the Byzantine Empire, which became one of the reasons for the first crusade (1095–1099). From c. 1150–1250, the Seljuk empire declined, and was invaded by the Mongols around 1260. The Mongols divided Anatolia into emirates. Eventually one of these, the Ottoman, would conquer the rest.[citation needed]

##### Timurid Empire (1370–1507)[edit | edit source]

File:Timur Empire.jpg

Map of the Timurid Empire at its greatest extent under Timur.

Main article: Timurid Empire

The Timurid Empire were a Turko-Mongol empire founded in the late 14th century by Timurlane, a descendant of Genghis Khan. Timur, although a self-proclaimed devout Muslim, brought great slaughter in his conquest of fellow Muslims in neighboring Islamic territory and contributed to the ultimate demise of many Muslim states, including the Golden Horde.[citation needed]

File:Mongolia 1500 AD.jpg

The Turco-Mongol residual states and domains by the 15th century

##### Central Asian khanates (1501–1920)[edit | edit source]

Main articles: Khanate of Bukhara, Khanate of Khiva, Khanate of Kokand, and Emirate of Bukhara

File:Mongolia in 1636.svg

Central Asia in 1636

The Bukhara Khanate was an Uzbek[189] state that existed from 1501 to 1785. The khanate was ruled by three dynasties of the Shaybanids, Janids and the Uzbek dynasty of Mangits. In 1785, Shahmurad, formalized the family's dynastic rule (Manghit dynasty), and the khanate became the Emirate of Bukhara (1785–1920).[190] In 1710, the Kokand Khanate (1710–1876) separated from the Bukhara Khanate. In 1511–1920, Khwarazm (Khiva Khanate) was ruled by the Arabshahid dynasty and the Uzbek dynasty of Kungrats.[191]

##### Safavid dynasty (1501–1736)[edit | edit source]

The Safavid dynasty of Persia (1501–1736) were of mixed ancestry (Kurdish[192] and Azeri Turks,[193] which included intermarriages with Georgian,[194] Circassian,[195][196] and Pontic Greek[197] dignitaries). Through intermarriage and other political considerations, the Safavids spoke Persian and Turkish,[198][199] and some of the Shahs composed poems in their native Turkish language. Concurrently, the Shahs themselves also supported Persian literature, poetry and art projects including the grand Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp.[200][201] The Safavid dynasty ruled parts of Greater Iran for more than two centuries.[202][203][204][205] and established the Twelver school of Shi'a Islam[206] as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning points in Muslim history

##### Afsharid dynasty (1736–1796)[edit | edit source]

The Afsharid dynasty was named after the Turkic Afshar tribe to which they belonged. The Afshars had migrated from Turkestan to Azerbaijan in the 13th century. The dynasty was founded in 1736 by the military commander Nader Shah who deposed the last member of the Safavid dynasty and proclaimed himself King of Iran. Nader belonged to the Qereqlu branch of the Afshars.[207] During Nader's reign, Iran reached its greatest extent since the Sassanid Empire.

##### Qajar dynasty (1789–1925)[edit | edit source]

The Qajar dynasty was created by the Turkic Qajar tribe, ruling over Iran from 1789 to 1925.[208][209] The Qajar family took full control of Iran in 1794, deposing Lotf 'Ali Khan, the last Shah of the Zand dynasty, and re-asserted Iranian sovereignty over large parts of the Caucasus. In 1796, Mohammad Khan Qajar seized Mashhad with ease,[210] putting an end to the Afsharid dynasty, and Mohammad Khan was formally crowned as Shah after his punitive campaign against Iran's Georgian subjects.[211] In the Caucasus, the Qajar dynasty permanently lost many of Iran's integral areas[212] to the Russians over the course of the 19th century, comprising modern-day Georgia, Dagestan, Azerbaijan and Armenia.[213] The dynasty was founded by Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar and continued until Ahmad Shah Qajar.

#### South Asia[edit | edit source]

File:The Padshahnama, Jahangir presents Prince Khuram with a turban ornament.jpg

Mughal Emperor Jahangir presents Prince Khurram with a turban ornament.

File:Babur and Humayun.jpg

Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire and Mughal emperor Humayun.

The Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived, Delhi-based kingdoms three of which were of Turkic origin in medieval India. These Turkic dynasties were the Mamluk dynasty (1206–90); the Khalji dynasty (1290–1320); and the Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1414). Southern India also saw many Turkic origin dynasties like the Adil Shahi dynasty, the Bidar Sultanate, and the Qutb Shahi dynasty, collectively known as the Deccan sultanates. The Mughal Empire was a Turko-Mongol founded Indian empire that, at its greatest territorial extent, ruled most of South Asia, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and parts of Uzbekistan from the early 16th to the early 18th centuries. The Mughal dynasty was founded by a Chagatai Turkic prince named Babur (reigned 1526–30), who was descended from the Turkic conqueror Timur (Tamerlane) on his father's side and from Chagatai, second son of the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan, on his mother's side.[214][215] A further distinction was the attempt of the Mughals to integrate Hindus and Muslims into a united Indian state.[214][216][217][218] and the Last Turkic dynasty in India were the Hyderabad State lasted from 1724 to 1948 located in the south-central region of India.

#### Arab world[edit | edit source]

File:Dirham of al-Muttaqi.jpg

Silver dirham of AH 329 (940/941 CE), with the names of Caliph al-Muttaqi and Amir al-umara Bajkam (de facto ruler of the country)

The Arab Muslim Umayyads and Abbasids fought against the pagan Turks in the Türgesh Khaganate in the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana. Turkic soldiers in the army of the Abbasid caliphs emerged as the de facto rulers of most of the Muslim Middle East (apart from Syria and Egypt), particularly after the 10th century. Examples of regional de-facto independent states include the short lived Tulunids and Ikhshidids in Egypt. The Oghuz and other tribes captured and dominated various countries under the leadership of the Seljuk dynasty and eventually captured the territories of the Abbasid dynasty and the Byzantine Empire.[162]

#### Anatolia – Ottomans[edit | edit source]

File:OttomanEmpireIn1683.png

Ottoman empire in 1683

After many battles, the western Oghuz Turks established their own state and later constructed the Ottoman Empire. The main migration of the Oghuz Turks occurred in medieval times, when they spread across most of Asia and into Europe and the Middle East.[162] They also took part in the military encounters of the Crusades.[219] In 1090–91, the Turkic Pechenegs reached the walls of Constantinople, where Emperor Alexius I with the aid of the Kipchaks annihilated their army.[220]

As the Seljuk Empire declined following the Mongol invasion, the Ottoman Empire emerged as the new important Turkic state, that came to dominate not only the Middle East, but even southeastern Europe, parts of southwestern Russia, and northern Africa.[162]

#### Islamization[edit | edit source]

Turkic peoples like the Karluks (mainly 8th century), Uyghurs, Kyrgyz, Turkmens, and Kipchaks later came into contact with Muslims, and most of them gradually adopted Islam. Some groups of Turkic people practice other religions, including their original animistic-shamanistic religion, Christianity, Burkhanism, Jews (Khazars, Krymchaks, Crimean Karaites), Buddhism and a small number of Zoroastrians.

### Modern history[edit | edit source]

File:Map of Independent Turkic countries.svg

Independent Turkic states shown in red

The Ottoman Empire gradually grew weaker in the face of poor administration, repeated wars with Russia, Austria and Hungary, and the emergence of nationalist movements in the Balkans, and it finally gave way after World War I to the present-day Republic of Turkey.[162] Ethnic nationalism also developed in Ottoman Empire during the 19th century, taking the form of Pan-Turkism or Turanism.

The Turkic peoples of Central Asia were not organized in nation-states during most of the 20th century, after the collapse of the Russian Empire living either in the Soviet Union or (after a short-lived First East Turkestan Republic) in the Chinese Republic. In the 20th century Turkey was the only independent Turkic country most of the time.[citation needed]

In 1991, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, five Turkic states gained their independence. These were Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Other Turkic regions such as Tatarstan, Tuva, and Yakutia remained in the Russian Federation. Chinese Turkestan remained part of the People's Republic of China. Immediately after the independence of the Turkic states, Turkey began seeking diplomatic relations with them. Over time political meetings between the Turkic countries increased and led to the establishment of TÜRKSOY in 1993 and the Turkic Council in 2009, which later was renamed Organization of Turkic States in 2021.[citation needed]

## Physiognomy[edit | edit source]

According to historians Joo-Yup Lee and Shuntu Kuang, Chinese official histories do not depict Turkic peoples as belonging to a single uniform entity called "Turks".[221] However "Chinese histories also depict the Turkic-speaking peoples as typically possessing East/Inner Asian physiognomy, as well as occasionally having West Eurasian physiognomy"[221] and that "like Chinese historians, Muslim writers in general depict the "Turks" as possessing East Asian physiognomy".[222] According to "fragmentary information on the Xiongnu language that can be found in the Chinese histories, the Xiongnu were Turkic,"[223] however historians have been unable to confirm whether or not they were Turkic. Sima Qian's description of their legendary origins suggest their physiognomy was "not too different from that of... Han (漢) Chinese population,"[223] but a subset of Xiongnu known as the Jie people were described having "deep-set eyes," "high nose bridges" and "heavy facial hair."[223] The Jie may have been Yeniseian and regardless of whether or not the Xiongnu were Turkic, they were a hybrid people.[224] According to the Old Book of Tang, Ashina Simo "was not given a high military post by the Ashina rulers because of his Sogdian (huren 胡人) physiognomy."[225] The Tang historian Yan Shigu described the Hu people of his day as "blue-eyed and red bearded"[226] descendants of the Wusun, whereas "no comparable depiction of the Kök Türks or Tiele is found in the official Chinese histories."[226] However, Professor Xue Zongzheng has argued that West Eurasian features were typical of the royal Ashina clan of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, and that their appearance shifted to an East Asian one, due to intermarriage with foreign nobility.[227] Lee and Kuang believe it is likely "early and medieval Turkic peoples themselves did not form a homogeneous entity and that some of them, non-Turkic by origin, had become Turkicised at some point in history."[228] They also suggest that many modern Turkic-speaking populations are not directly descended from early Turkic peoples.[228] Lee and Kuang concluded that "both medieval Chinese histories and modern DNA studies point to the fact that the early and medieval Turkic peoples were made up of heterogeneous and somatically dissimilar populations."[229]

Medieval Arab and Persian descriptions of Turks state that they looked strange from their perspective and were extremely physically different from Arabs. Turks were described as "broad faced people with small eyes" and with pink skin,[230] as being "short, with small eyes, nostrils, and mouths" (Sharaf al-Zaman al-Marwazi), as being "full-faced with small eyes" (Al-Tabari), as possessing "a large head (sar-i buzurg), a broad face (rūy-i pahn), narrow eyes (chashmhā-i tang), and a flat nose (bīnī-i pakhch), and unpleasing lips and teeth (lab va dandān na nīkū)" (Keikavus).[231] Medieval Muslim writers noted that Tibetans and Turks resembled each other, and that they often were not able to tell the difference between Turks and Tibetans.[232] On Western Turkic coins "the faces of the governor and governess are clearly Mongoloid (a roundish face, narrow eyes), and the portrait have definite old Türk features (long hair, absence of headdress of the governor, a tricorn headdress of the governess)".[233] In the Ghaznavids' residential palace of Lashkari Bazar, there survives a partially conserved portrait depicting a turbaned and haloed adolescent figure with full cheeks, slanted eyes, and a small, sinuous mouth.[234] The Armenian historian Movses Kaghankatvatsi describes the Turks of the Western Turkic Khaganate as "broad-faced, without eyelashes, and with long flowing hair like women".[235]

Al-Masudi writes that the Oghuz Turks in Yengi-kent near the mouth of the Syr Darya "are distinguished from other Turks by their valour, their slanted eyes, and the smallness of their stature."[222] Later Muslim writers noted a change in the physiognomy of Oghuz Turks. According to Rashid al-Din Hamadani, "because of the climate their features gradually changed into those of Tajiks. Since they were not Tajiks, the Tajik peoples called them turkmān, i.e. Turk-like (Turk-mānand)." Ḥāfiẓ Tanīsh Mīr Muḥammad Bukhārī also related that the Oghuz' ‘Turkic face did not remain as it was’ after their migration into Transoxiana and Iran. Khiva khan Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur wrote in his Chagatai language treatise Shajara-i Tarākima (Genealogy of the Turkmens) that "their chin started to become narrow, their eyes started to become large, their faces started to become small, and their noses started to become big’ after five or six generations". Ottoman historian Mustafa Âlî commented in Künhüʾl-aḫbār that Anatolian Turks and Ottoman elites are ethnically mixed: "Most of the inhabitants of Rûm are of confused ethnic origin. Among its notables there are few whose lineage does not go back to a convert to Islam."[236]

Kevin Alan Brook states that like "most nomadic Turks, the Western Turkic Khazars were racially and ethnically mixed."[237] Istakhri described Khazars as having black hair while Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi described them as having blue eyes, light skin, and reddish hair. Istakhri mentions that there were "Black Khazars" and "White Khazars." Most scholars believe these were political designations: black being lower class while white being higher class. Constantin Zuckerman argues that these "had physical and racial differences and explained that they stemmed from the merger of the Khazars with the Barsils."[238] Old East Slavic sources called the Khazars the "White Ugry" and the Magyars the "Black Ugry."[239] Soviet excavated Khazar remains show Slavic-type, European-type, and a minority Mongoloid-type skulls.[238]

Other early-attested Turkic speaking groups were the Xinli 薪犁, later known as Xue 薛 in the 7th century[116][117] and the Gekun (鬲昆) or Jiankun (堅昆), later known as Jiegu (結骨), Hegu (紇骨), Hegusi (紇扢斯), Hejiasi (紇戛斯), Hugu (護骨), Qigu (契骨), Juwu (居勿), and Xiajiasi (黠戛斯), all being transcriptions of Kyrgyz.[240][241] The Yenisei Kyrgyz are mentioned in the New Book of Tang as having the same script and language as the Uyghurs but "The people are all tall and big and have red hair, white faces, and green eyes."[242][note 1] The New Book of Tang also states that the neighboring Boma tribe resembled the Kyrgyz but their language was different, which may imply the Kyrgyz were originally a non-Turkic people and was later Turkicized through inter-tribal marriages.[242] According to Gardizi, the Kyrgyz were mixed with "Saqlabs" (Slavs), which explains the red hair and white skin among the Kyrgyz.[247]

Early Chinese histories do not mention special information about the Kipchak tribes; however, the Yuanshi mentioned that Yuan general Tutuha originated from the Kipchak tribe Ölberli.[248] Russian anthropologist Oshanin (1964: 24, 32) notes that "the ‘Mongoloid’ phenotype, characteristic of modern Kazakhs and Qirghiz, prevails among the skulls of the Qipchaq and Pecheneg nomads found in the kurgans in eastern Ukraine"; Lee & Kuang (2017) propose that Oshanin's discovery is explainable by assuming that the historical Kipchaks' modern descendants are Kazakhs of the Lesser Horde, whose men possess a high frequency of haplogroup C2's subclade C2b1b1 (59.7 to 78%). Lee and Kuang also suggest that the high frequency (63.9%) of the Y-DNA haplogroup R-M73 among Karakypshaks (a tribe within the Kipchaks) allows inferrence about the genetics of Karakypshaks' medieval ancestors, thus explaining why some medieval Kipchaks were described as possessing "blue [or green] eyes and red hair.[249]

### Remarks[edit | edit source]

1. ^ 9th-century author Duan Chengshi described the Kyrgyz tribe (Jiankun buluo 堅昆部落) as "yellow-haired, green-eyed, red-mustached [and red-]bearded".[243] New Book of Tang (finished in 1060) describes Alats, a medieval Turkic people, as resembling Kyrgyzes[244] who were "all tall, red-haired, pale-faced, green-irised";[245] New Book of Tang also states that Kyrgyzes regarded black hair as "infelicitous" and insisted that black-eyed individuals were descendants of Han general Li Ling.[246]

## Archaeology[edit | edit source]

* Xinglongwa culture
* Hongshan culture
* Čaatas culture
* Askiz culture
* Kurumchi culture
* Saltovo-Mayaki
* Saymaluu-Tash
* Bilär
* Por-Bazhyn
* Ordu-Baliq
* Jankent

## International organizations[edit | edit source]

File:Map-TurksoyMembers.svg

Map of TÜRKSOY members.

Further information: Pan-Turkism

There are several international organizations created with the purpose of furthering cooperation between countries with Turkic-speaking populations, such as the Joint Administration of Turkic Arts and Culture (TÜRKSOY) and the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-speaking Countries (TÜRKPA) and the Turkic Council.

File:Conseilturcique.svg

Members

Observer States

The TAKM – Organization of the Eurasian Law Enforcement Agencies with Military Status, was established on 25 January 2013. It is an intergovernmental military law enforcement (gendarmerie) organization of currently three Turkic countries (Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey) and Kazakhstan as observer.

### TÜRKSOY[edit | edit source]

Türksoy carries out activities to strengthen cultural ties between Turkic peoples. One of the main goals to transmit their common cultural heritage to future generations and promote it around the world.[250]

Every year, one city in the Turkic world is selected as the "Cultural Capital of the Turkic World". Within the framework of events to celebrate the Cultural Capital of the Turkic World, numerous cultural events are held, gathering artists, scholars and intellectuals, giving them the opportunity to exchange their experiences, as well as promoting the city in question internationally.[251]

### Organization of Turkic States[edit | edit source]

The Organization of Turkic States, founded on November 3, 2009 by the Nakhchivan Agreement confederation, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey, aims to integrate these organizations into a tighter geopolitical framework.

The member countries are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan.[252] The idea of setting up this cooperative council was first put forward by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev back in 2006. Hungary has announced to be interested in joining the Organization of Turkic States. Since August 2018, Hungary has official observer status in the Organization of Turkic States.[253] Turkmenistan also joined as an observer state to the organization at 8th summit.[254]

## Demographics[edit | edit source]

File:Bashkir in Paris.jpg

Bashkirs, painting from 1812, Paris

The distribution of people of Turkic cultural background ranges from Siberia, across Central Asia, to Southern Europe. As of 2011[update] the largest groups of Turkic people live throughout Central Asia—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan, in addition to Turkey and Iran. Additionally, Turkic people are found within Crimea, Altishahr region of western China, northern Iraq, Israel, Russia, Afghanistan, Cyprus, and the Balkans: Moldova, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and former Yugoslavia.

A small number of Turkic people also live in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Small numbers inhabit eastern Poland and the south-eastern part of Finland.[255] There are also considerable populations of Turkic people (originating mostly from Turkey) in Germany, United States, and Australia, largely because of migrations during the 20th century.

Sometimes ethnographers group Turkic people into six branches: the Oghuz Turks, Kipchak, Karluk, Siberian, Chuvash, and Sakha/Yakut branches. The Oghuz have been termed Western Turks, while the remaining five, in such a classificatory scheme, are called Eastern Turks.[citation needed]

The genetic distances between the different populations of Uzbeks scattered across Uzbekistan is no greater than the distance between many of them and the Karakalpaks. This suggests that Karakalpaks and Uzbeks have very similar origins. The Karakalpaks have a somewhat greater bias towards the eastern markers than the Uzbeks.[256]

Historical population:

Year | Population

|

1 AD | 2–2.5 million?
2013 | 150–200 million

The following incomplete list of Turkic people shows the respective groups' core areas of settlement and their estimated sizes (in millions):

People  | Primary homeland  | Population  | Modern language  | Predominant religion and sect

|
|
|
|

Turkish people | Turkey | 70 M  | Turkish | Sunni Islam
Azerbaijanis | Iranian Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan | 30–35 M  | Azerbaijani | Shia Islam (65%), Sunni Islam (35%)[257][258] (Hanafi).
Uzbeks | Uzbekistan | 28.3 M  | Uzbek | Sunni Islam
Kazakhs | Kazakhstan | 13.8 M  | Kazakh | Sunni Islam
Uyghurs | Altishahr (China)  | 9 M  | Uyghur | Sunni Islam
Turkmens | Turkmenistan | 8 M  | Turkmen | Sunni Islam
Tatars | Tatarstan (Russia)  | 7 M  | Tatar | Sunni Islam
Kyrgyzs | Kyrgyzstan | 4.5 M  | Kyrgyz | Sunni Islam
Bashkirs | Bashkortostan (Russia)  | 2 M  | Bashkir | Sunni Islam
Crimean Tatars | Crimea (Russia/Ukraine)  | 0.5 to 2 M  | Crimean Tatar | Sunni Islam
Chuvashes | Chuvashia (Russia)  | 1.7 M  | Chuvash | Orthodox Christianity
Qashqai | Southern Iran (Iran)  | 0.9 M  | Qashqai | Shia Islam
Karakalpaks | Karakalpakstan (Uzbekistan)  | 0.6 M  | Karakalpak | Sunni Islam
Yakuts | Yakutia (Russia)  | 0.5 M  | Sakha | Orthodox Christianity and Turkic Paganism
Kumyks | Dagestan (Russia)  | 0.4 M  | Kumyk | Sunni Islam
Karachays and Balkars | Karachay-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria (Russia)  | 0.4 M  | Karachay-Balkar | Sunni Islam
Tuvans | Tuva (Russia)  | 0.3 M  | Tuvan | Tibetan Buddhism
Gagauzs | Gagauzia (Moldova)  | 0.2 M  | Gagauz | Orthodox Christianity
Turkic Karaites and Krymchaks | Ukraine | 0.004 M  | Karaim and Krymchak | Judaism

## Cuisine[edit | edit source]

Markets in the steppe region had a limited range of foodstuffs available—mostly grains, dried fruits, spices, and tea. Turks mostly herded sheep, goats and horses. Dairy was a staple of the nomadic diet and there are many Turkic words for various dairy products such as süt (milk), yagh (butter), ayran, qaymaq (similar to clotted cream), qi̅mi̅z (fermented mare's milk) and qurut (dried yoghurt). During the Middle Ages Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Tatars, who were historically part of the Turkic nomadic group known as the Golden Horde, continued to develop new variations of dairy products.[259]

Nomadic Turks cooked their meals in a qazan, a pot similar to a cauldron; a wooden rack called a qasqan can be used to prepare certain steamed foods, like the traditional meat dumplings called manti. They also used a saj, a griddle that was traditionally placed on stones over a fire, and shish. In later times, the Persian tava was borrowed from the Persians for frying, but traditionally nomadic Turks did most of their cooking using the qazan, saj and shish. Meals were served in a bowl, called a chanaq, and eaten with a knife (bïchaq) and spoon (qashi̅q). Both bowl and spoon were historically made from wood. Other traditional utensils used in food preparation included a thin rolling pin called oqlaghu, a colander called süzgu̅çh, and a grinding stone called tāgirmān.[259]

Medieval grain dishes included preparations of whole grains, soups, porridges, breads and pastries. Fried or toasted whole grains were called qawïrmach, while köchä was crushed grain that was cooked with dairy products. Salma were broad noodles that could be served with boiled or roasted meat; cut noodles were called tutmaj in the Middle Ages and are called kesme today.[259]

There are many types of bread doughs in Turkic cuisine. Yupqa is the thinnest type of dough, bawi̅rsaq is a type of fried bread dough, and chälpäk is a deep fried flat bread. Qatlama is a fried bread that may be sprinkled with dried fruit or meat, rolled, and sliced like pinwheel sandwiches. Toqach and chöräk are varieties of bread, and böräk is a type of filled pie pastry.[259]

Herd animals were usually slaughtered during the winter months and various types of sausages were prepared to preserve the meats, including a type of sausage called sujuk. Though prohibited by Islamic dietary restrictions, historically Turkic nomads also had a variety of blood sausage. One type of sausage, called qazi̅, was made from horsemeat and another variety was filled with a mixture of ground meat, offal and rice. Chopped meat was called qïyma and spit-roasted meat was söklünch—from the root sök- meaning "to tear off", the latter dish is known as kebab in modern times. Qawirma is a typical fried meat dish, and kullama is a soup of noodles and lamb.[259]

## Religion[edit | edit source]

### Early Turkic mythology and Tengrism[edit | edit source]

File:Kyzyl Shaman.jpg

A shaman doctor of Kyzyl.

File:Körösfői-Kriesch Aladár - Sámánok körtánca 1911 Marosvásárhely Kulturpalota.png

Circle dance of Shamans 1911

Main articles: Turkic mythology, Tengrism, and Shamanism

Early Turkic mythology was dominated by Shamanism, Animism and Tengrism. The Turkic animistic traditions were mostly focused on ancestor worship, polytheistic-animism and shamanism. Later this animistic tradition would form the more organized Tengrism.[citation needed] The chief deity was Tengri, a sky god, worshipped by the upper classes of early Turkic society until Manichaeism was introduced as the official religion of the Uyghur Empire in 763.

The wolf symbolizes honour and is also considered the mother of most Turkic peoples. Ashina is the wolf mother of Tumen Il-Qağan, the first Khan of the Göktürks. The horse and predatory birds, such as the eagle or falcon, are also main figures of Turkic mythology.[citation needed]

### Religious conversions[edit | edit source]

#### Buddhism[edit | edit source]

Tengri Bögü Khan made the now extinct Manichaeism the state religion of Uyghur Khaganate in 763 and it was also popular in Karluks. It was gradually replaced by the Mahayana Buddhism.[citation needed] It existed in the Buddhist Uyghur Gaochang up to the 12th century.[260]

Tibetan Buddhism, or Vajrayana was the main religion after Manichaeism.[261] They worshipped Täŋri Täŋrisi Burxan,[262] Quanšï Im Pusar[263] and Maitri Burxan.[264] Turkic Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent and west Xinjiang attributed with a rapid and almost total disappearance of it and other religions in North India and Central Asia. The Sari Uygurs "Yellow Yughurs" of Western China, as well as the Tuvans of Russia are the only remaining Buddhist Turkic peoples.[265]

#### Islam[edit | edit source]

Most Turkic people today are Sunni Muslims, although a significant number in Turkey are Alevis. Alevi Turks, who were once primarily dwelling in eastern Anatolia, are today concentrated in major urban centers in western Turkey with the increased urbanism. Azeris are traditionally Shiite Muslims. Religious observance is less stricter in the Republic of Azerbaijan compared to Iranian Azerbaijan.

#### Christianity[edit | edit source]

File:Komrat - Katedra Świętego Jana Chrzciciela.jpg

Saint John the Baptist Cathedral in Gagauzia

File:Gravestone from Kirgistan.jpg

Gravestone from Kirgistan (thirteenth/fourteenth century) with Syriac Christian inscriptions

The major Christian-Turkic peoples are the Chuvash of Chuvashia and the Gagauz (Gökoğuz) of Moldova, the vast majority of Chuvash and the Gagauz are Eastern Orthodox Christians.[266][267][268] The traditional religion of the Chuvash of Russia, while containing many ancient Turkic concepts, also shares some elements with Zoroastrianism, Khazar Judaism, and Islam. The Chuvash converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity for the most part in the second half of the 19th century.[269] As a result, festivals and rites were made to coincide with Orthodox feasts, and Christian rites replaced their traditional counterparts. A minority of the Chuvash still profess their traditional faith.[270] Between the 9th and 14th centuries, Church of the East was popular among Turks such as the Naimans.[271] It even revived in Gaochang and expanded in Xinjiang in the Yuan dynasty period.[272][273][274] It disappeared after its collapse.[275][276]

Kryashens are a sub-group of the Volga Tatars, and the vast majority are Orthodox Christians.[277] Nağaybäk are an indigenous Turkic people in Russia, most Nağaybäk are Christian and were largely converted during the 18th century.[278] Many Volga Tatars were Christianized by Ivan the Terrible during the 16th century, and continued to Christianized under subsequent Russian rulers and Orthodox clergy up to the mid-eighteenth century.[279]

#### Animism[edit | edit source]

Today there are several groups that support a revival of the ancient traditions. Especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union, many in Central Asia converted or openly practice animistic and shamanistic rituals. It is estimated that about 60% of Kyrgyz people practice a form of animistic rituals. In Kazakhstan there are about 54,000 followers of the ancient traditions.[280][281]

#### Muslim Turks and non-Muslim Turks[edit | edit source]

File:Uighur Prince.jpg

An Old Uyghur Khagan

Kara-Khanids performed a mass conversion campaign against the Buddhist Uyghur Turks during the Islamization and Turkification of Xinjiang.[citation needed]

The non-Muslim Turks' worship of Tengri and other gods was mocked and insulted by the Muslim Turk Mahmud al-Kashgari, who wrote a verse referring to them – The Infidels – May God destroy them![282][283]

The Basmil, Yabāḳu and Uyghur states were among the Turkic peoples who fought against the Kara-Khanids spread of Islam. The Islamic Kara-Khanids were made out of Tukhsi, Yaghma, Çiğil and Karluk.[284]

Kashgari claimed that the Prophet assisted in a miraculous event where 700,000 Yabāqu infidels were defeated by 40,000 Muslims led by Arslān Tegīn claiming that fires shot sparks from gates located on a green mountain towards the Yabāqu.[285] The Yabaqu were a Turkic people.[286]

Mahmud al-Kashgari insulted the Uyghur Buddhists as "Uighur dogs" and called them "Tats", which referred to the "Uighur infidels" according to the Tuxsi and Taghma, while other Turks called Persians "tat".[287][288] While Kashgari displayed a different attitude towards the Turks diviners beliefs and "national customs", he expressed towards Buddhism a hatred in his Diwan where he wrote the verse cycle on the war against Uighur Buddhists. Buddhist origin words like toyin (a cleric or priest) and Burxān or Furxan (meaning Buddha, acquiring the generic meaning of "idol" in the Turkic language of Kashgari) had negative connotations to Muslim Turks.[289][283]

File:Tyurki.jpg

Göktürk petroglyphs from Mongolia (6th to 8th century)

File:Panjakent man dressed in “Turkic“ long coats, 6th-8th c.jpg

A Penjikent man dressed in “Turkic“ long coats, 6th–8th c.

## Old sports[edit | edit source]

### Tepuk[edit | edit source]

Mahmud al-Kashgari in his Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, described a game called "tepuk" among Turks in Central Asia. In the game, people try to attack each other's castle by kicking a ball made of sheep leather.[290] (see also: Cuju)

### Kyz kuu[edit | edit source]

File:Catchthegirl.JPG

Kyz kuu.

Kyz kuu (chase the girl) has been played by Turkic people at festivals since time immemorial.[291]

### Jereed[edit | edit source]

Horses have been essential and even sacred animals for Turks living as nomadic tribes in the Central Asian steppes. Turks were born, grew up, lived, fought and died on horseback. Jereed became the most important sporting and ceremonial game of Turkish people.[292]

### Kokpar[edit | edit source]

The kokpar began with the nomadic Turkic peoples who have come from farther north and east spreading westward from China and Mongolia between the 10th and 15th centuries.[293]

### Jigit[edit | edit source]

"jigit" is used in the Caucasus and Central Asia to describe a skillful and brave equestrian, or a brave person in general.[294]

## Gallery[edit | edit source]

### Battle, hunting and blacksmithing scenes in Turkic rock art of the early Middle Ages in Altai[edit | edit source]

* Turk vassal blacksmiths under Mongolian rule.jpg

Turk vassal blacksmiths under Mongolian rule

* Turkic hunting scene, Gokturk period Altai.png

Turkic hunting scene, Gokturk period Altai

* Battle scene of a Turkic horseman with typical long hair (Gokturk period, Altai).png

Battle scene of a Turkic horseman with typical long hair (Gokturk period, Altai)

### Bezeklik caves and Mogao grottoes[edit | edit source]

Images of Buddhist and Manichean Old Uyghurs from the Bezeklik caves and Mogao grottoes.

* Dunhuang Uighur king.jpg

Old Uyghur king from Turfan, from the murals at the Dunhuang Mogao Caves.

* Uighur prince from Bezeklik murals.jpg

Old Uyghur prince from the Bezeklik murals.

* Uighur woman from Bezeklik murals.jpg

Old Uyghur woman from the Bezeklik murals.

* UighurPrincess.png

Old Uyghur Princess.

* Museum für Indische Kunst Dahlem Berlin Mai 2006 064.jpg

Old Uyghur Princesses from the Bezeklik murals.

* Museum für Indische Kunst Dahlem Berlin Mai 2006 063.jpg

Old Uyghur Princes from the Bezeklik murals.

* Uigure-bezeklik-17.jpg

Old Uyghur Prince from the Bezeklik murals.

* Old Uyghur noble from the Bezeklik murals.

* Old Uyghur Manichaean Elect depicted on a temple banner from Qocho.

* Old Uyghur donor from the Bezeklik murals.

* Old Uyghur Manichaean Electae from Qocho.

* Old Uyghur Manichaean clergymen from Qocho.

* Fresco of Palm Sunday from Qocho.

* Manicheans from Qocho

### Medieval times[edit | edit source]

* Omurtag1.jpg

Khan Omurtag of Bulgaria, from the Chronicle of John Skylitzes.

* Portrait from the Palace courtroom, Lashkari Bazar.jpg

Ghaznavid portrait, Palace of Lashkari Bazar.[295]

### Modern times[edit | edit source]

* Azerigirls.JPG

Azerbaijani girls in traditional dress.

* Gagauz.jpg

Gagauz women and man.

* Young bashqorts.jpg

Bashkir boys in national dress.

* Головной убор чувашской девушки тухъя. XIX век. Средненизовая этнографическая группы (анат енчи).jpg

A Chuvash girl in traditional dress.

* Хакасы.JPG

Khakas people with traditional instruments.

* Ногайцы 01.jpg

Nogai man in national costume.

* Dursunbey yerelkıyafeti.JPG

Turkish girls in their traditional clothes, Dursunbey, Balikesir Province.

* Turkman girl in national dress.jpg

Turkmen girl in national dress.

* Мөгелер биле Даңгыналар2. 2016.jpg

Tuvan men and women in Kyzyl, Tuva.

* Kazakh man in traditional costume.jpg

Kazakh man in traditional clothing.

* Samsa or Somsa in Uzbekistan.jpg

Uzbek with traditional cuisine.

* KyrgyzEagleHuntsman.jpg

Kyrgyz traditional eagle hunter.

* Tuvan shamans19.jpg

Tuvan traditional shaman.

* Sakha family.jpg

Yakut Sakha family in traditional attire.

## See also[edit | edit source]

* Turkic history
* Turkic migrations
* Turkic mythology
* Turco-Persian tradition
* Turco-Mongol tradition
* Turkology
* List of Turkic dynasties and countries

## References[edit | edit source]

1. ^ Brigitte Moser, Michael Wilhelm Weithmann, Landeskunde Türkei: Geschichte, Gesellschaft und Kultur, Buske Publishing, 2008, p. 173
2. ^ Deutsches Orient-Institut, Orient, Vol. 41, Alfred Röper Publushing, 2000, p. 611
3. ^ a b c Yunusbayev et al. 2015.
4. ^ "Turkey". The World Factbook. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2014. "Population: 81,619,392 (July 2014 est.)" "Ethnic groups: Turkish 70–75%, Kurdish 18%, other minorities 7–12% (2008 est.)" 70% of 81.6m = 57.1m, 75% of 81.6m = 61.2m
5. ^ "Uzbekistan". Statistics Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan. 19 August 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2022. "Population: 34,600,000 (January 2021 est.)" "Ethnic groups: Uzbek 84.6%, Russian 2.1%, Tajik 4.9%, Kazakh 2.4%, Karakalpak 2.2%, other 4.1% (2021 est.)" Assuming Uzbek, Kazakh and Karakalpak are included as Turks, 84.6% + 2.4% + 2.2% = 89.2%. 89.2% of 34.6m = 31.9m
6. ^ "Azerbaijani (people)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 24 January 2012. (15 million)
7. ^ Egbert Jahn, (2009). Nationalism in Late and Post-Communist Europe, p. 293 (20 mil)
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18. ^ Bassem, Wassim (2016). "Iraq's Turkmens call for independent province". Al-Monitor. Archived from the original on 17 October 2016. "Turkmens are a mix of Sunnis and Shiites and are the third-largest ethnicity in Iraq after Arabs and Kurds, numbering about 3 million out of the total population of about 34.7 million, according to 2013 data from the Iraqi Ministry of Planning."
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> The number of Turkmens in Syria is not fully known, with unconfirmed estimates ranging between 800,000 and one million.

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35. ^ a b c Yunusbayev et al. 2015, pp. 1–2.
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37. ^ a b Robbeets 2020.
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42. ^ Lee & Kuang 2017: "The Chinese histories also depict the Turkic-speaking peoples as typically possessing East/Inner Asian physiognomy, as well as occasionally having West Eurasian physiognomy. DNA studies corroborate such characterisation of the Turkic peoples. However, like Chinese historians, Muslim writers in general depict the ‘Turks’ as possessing East Asian physiognomy.... However, Muslim writers later differentiated the Oghuz Turks from other Turks in terms of physiognomy. Rashīd al-Dīn writes that ‘because of the climate their features gradually changed into those of Tajiks. Since they were not Tajiks, the Tajik peoples called them turkmān, i.e. Turk-like (Turk-mānand)’ (Rashīd al-Dīn Fażlallāh Hamadānī 1988: Vol. 1, 35–6; Rashiduddin Fazlullah 1998–99: Vol. 1, 31). Ḥāfiẓ Tanīsh Mīr Muḥammad Bukhārī (d. c. 1549) also relates that after the Oghuz came to Transoxiana and Iran, their ‘Turkic face did not remain as it was’ (1983: fol. 17a (text), Vol. 1, 61 (trans.)). Abū al-Ghāzī Bahadur Khan similarly writes that ‘their chin started to become narrow, their eyes started to become large, their faces started to become small, and their noses started to become big’ after five or six generations (Abu-l-Gazi 1958: 42 (text), 57 (trans.); Ebülgazî Bahadir Han 1975: 57–8). As a matter of fact, the mixed nature of the Ottomans, belonging to the Oghuz Turkic group, is noted by the Ottoman historian Muṣṭafā ʿĀlī (1541–1600)."
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56. ^ Prof. Dr. Ercümend Kuran, Türk Adı ve Türklük Kavramı, Türk Kültürü Dergisi, Yıl, XV, S. 174, Nisan 1977. s. 18–20.
57. ^ Minns, Ellis Hovell (1911). "Iyrcae" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 102.
58. ^ Peter B. Golden, Introduction to the History of the Turkic People, p. 12: "... source (Herod.IV.22) and other authors of antiquity, Togarma of the Old Testament, Turukha/Turuska of Indic sources, Turukku of Assyrian..."
59. ^ German Archaeological Institute. Department Teheran, Archaeologische Mitteilungen aus Iran, Vol. 19, Dietrich Reimer, 1986, p. 90
60. ^ (Bŭlgarska akademii︠a︡ na naukite. Otdelenie za ezikoznanie/ izkustvoznanie/ literatura, Linguistique balkanique, Vol. 27–28, 1984, p. 17
61. ^ "Türk" in Turkish Etymological Dictionary, Sevan Nişanyan.
62. ^ Faruk Suümer, Oghuzes (Turkmens): History, Tribal organization, Sagas, Turkish World Research Foundation, 1992, p. 16)
63. ^ American Heritage Dictionary (2000). "The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition – "Turk"". bartleby.com. Retrieved 7 December 2006.
64. ^ T. Allsen, P. B. Golden, R. K. Kovalev, and A. P. Martinez (2012), ARCHIVUM EURASIAEMEDII AEV, p. 85
65. ^ Clauson, G. An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-13th Century Turkish (1972). p. 542-543
66. ^ Golden, Peter B. "Some Thoughts on the Origins of the Turks and the Shaping of the Turkic Peoples". (2006) In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. p. 143: "Subsequently, "Türk" would find a suitable Turkic etymology, being conflated with the word türk, which means one in the prime of youth, powerful, mighty (Rona-Tas 1991,10–13)."
67. ^ Golden, Peter B. (1992), An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples, p. 93-95
68. ^ Sinor, Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, Page 295
69. ^ Golden, Peter B. "Türks and Iranians: Aspects of Türk and Khazaro-Iranian Interaction". Turcologica (105): 25.
70. ^ The Peoples of the Steppe Frontier in Early Chinese Sources, Edwin G. Pulleyblank, page 35
71. ^ Golden 2011, p. 27.
72. ^ Hyun Jin Kim: The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe. Cambridge University Press, 2013. pp.175–176.
73. ^ Peter B. Golden: "Some Thoughts on the Origins of the Turks and the Shaping of the Turkic Peoples in Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawaii Press, 2006. p. 140
74. ^ Lee & Kuang (2017) "A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Historical Sources and Y-DNA Studies with Regard to the Early and Medieval Turkic Peoples", Inner Asia 19. p. 200-201, 205, 209 of 197–239
75. ^ Xin Tangshu vol. 219 "Shiwei" txt: "室韋, 契丹别種, 東胡之北邊, 蓋丁零苗裔也" translation by Xu (2005:176) "The Shiwei, who were a collateral branch of the Khitan inhabited the northern boundary of the Donghu, were probably the descendants of the Dingling ... Their language was the same as that of the Mohe."
76. ^ Xu Elina-Qian, Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan, University of Helsinki, 2005. p. 176. quote: "The Mohe were descendants of the Sushen and ancestors of the Jurchen, and identified as Tungus speakers."
77. ^ Werner, Heinrich Zur jenissejisch-indianischen Urverwandtschaft. Harrassowitz Verlag. 2004 abstract, p. 25
78. ^ G. Moravcsik, Byzantinoturcica II, p. 236–39
79. ^ Jean-Paul Roux, Historie des Turks – Deux mille ans du Pacifique á la Méditerranée. Librairie Arthème Fayard, 2000.
80. ^ Encyclopedia Britannica. Turkic peoples.
81. ^ Pritsak O. & Golb. N: Khazarian Hebrew Documents of the Tenth Century, Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 1982.
82. ^ "Timur Archived 2013-09-22 at the Wayback Machine", The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001–05, Columbia University Press.
83. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica article: Consolidation & expansion of the Indo-Timurids, Online Edition, 2007.
84. ^ Walton, Linda (2013). World History: Journeys from Past to Present. p. 210\. ISBN 9781135088286.
85. ^ Peter Benjamin Golden, (1992), An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples, p. 110
86. ^ *Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (2000). "Ji 姬 and Jiang 姜: The Role of Exogamic Clans in the Organization of the Zhou Polity", Early China. p. 20
87. ^ Wei Shou. Book of Wei. Vol. 1
88. ^ Tseng, Chin Yin (2012). The Making of the Tuoba Northern Wei: Constructing Material Cultural Expressions in the Northern Wei Pingcheng Period (398–494 CE) (PhD). University of Oxford. p. 1.
89. ^ Wei Shou. Book of Wei. vol. 91 "蠕蠕，東胡之苗裔也，姓郁久閭氏。" tr. "Rúrú, offsprings of Dōnghú, surnamed Yùjiŭlǘ"
90. ^ Book of Song. vol 95. "芮芮一號大檀，又號檀檀，亦匈奴別種" tr. "Ruìruì, one appellation is Dàtán, also called Tántán, likewise a Xiōngnú splinter stock"
91. ^ Xu Elina-Qian, Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan, University of Helsinki, 2005. p. 179-180
92. ^ Lee, Joo-Yup (2016). "The Historical Meaning of the Term Turk and the Nature of the Turkic Identity of the Chinggisid and Timurid Elites in Post-Mongol Central Asia". Central Asiatic Journal. 59 (1–2): 105.
93. ^ Turkic Language family tree entries provide the information on the Turkic-speaking populations and regions.
94. ^ Katzner, Kenneth (March 2002). Languages of the World, Third Edition. Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Ltd. ISBN 978-0-415-25004-7.
95. ^ Turkic peoples, Encyclopædia Britannica, Online Academic Edition, 2008
96. ^ Lyle Campbell and Mauricio J. Mixco (2007): A Glossary of Historical Linguistics; University of Utah Press. Page 7: "While 'Altaic' is repeated in encyclopedias and handbooks most specialists in these languages no longer believe that the three traditional supposed Altaic groups, Turkic, Mongolian and Tungusic, are related."
97. ^ Johanna Nichols (1992) Linguistic Diversity in Space and Time. Chicago University Press. Page 4: "When cognates proved not to be valid, Altaic was abandoned and the received view now is that Turkic, Mongolian and Tungusic are unrelated."
98. ^ R. M. W. Dixon (1997): The Rise and Fall of Languages. Cambridge University Press. Page 32: "Careful examination indicates that the established families, Turkic, Mongolian and Tungusic, form a linguistic area (called Altaic)...Sufficient criteria have not been given that would justify talking of a genetic relationship here."
99. ^ Asya Pereltsvaig (2012) Languages of the World, An Introduction. Cambridge University Press. Pages 211–216: "[...T]his selection of features does not provide good evidence for common descent" [...] "we can observe convergence rather than divergence between Turkic and Mongolic languages—a pattern than is easily explainable by borrowing and diffusion rather than common descent"
100. ^ De la Fuente, José Andrés Alonso (2016). "Review of Robbeets, Martine (2015): Diachrony of verb morphology. Japanese and the Transeurasian languages". Diachronica. 33 (4): 530–537. doi:10.1075/dia.33.4.04alo. "For now, shared material between Transeurasian [i.e. Altaic] languages is undoubtedly better explained as the result of language contact. But if researchers provide cogent evidence of genealogical relatedness, that will be the time to re-evaluate old positions. That time, however, has not yet come."
101. ^ Vasiliev D.D. Graphical fund of Turkic runiform writing monuments in Asian areal, М., 1983, p. 44
102. ^ Tekin 1993, p. 1 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFTekin1993 (help)
103. ^ Golden 2011, pp. 35–37.
104. ^ Uchiyama et al. 2020 "The Proto-Turkic subsistence strategy included an agricultural component, a tradition that may have been inherited from the earlier Proto-Altaic stage and ultimately went back to the origin of millet agriculture in Northeast China (Robbeets, 2017; Savelyev, 2017). The agricultural vocabulary reconstructed to Proto-Turkic includes terms for cultivated cereals (*ügür 'broomcorn millet', *arba 'barley' and *budgaj 'wheat'), bread production (*i̯unk 'flour'), farming techniques (*tarï- 'to cultivate land', *ek- 'to sow', *or- 'to reap' and *sabur- 'to winnow grain') and tools (*kerki 'a type of mattock' and *ek-eg 'plough')."
105. ^ Uchiyama et al. 2020 "A nomadic, pastoralist lifestyle reached the eastern steppe by the end of the second millennium BCE (Taylor et al., 2017; Janz et al., 2017), and it became the basis of the Late Proto-Turkic subsistence in the first millennium BCE. Consequently, the Proto-Turkic language has developed extensive nomadic pastoralist vocabulary, including terms for domestic animals (e.g. *sïgïr 'cattle', *toklï 'lamb', *adgïr 'stallion' and *kulum 'foal'), horse-riding (*at 'riding horse'and *edŋer 'saddle') anddairy products (*ajran 'a kind of salty yoghurt' and *torak 'a kind of cheese or quark')."
106. ^ Janhunen 2003, pp. 203–204.
107. ^ Uchiyama, Junzo; Gillam, J. Christopher; Savelyev, Alexander; Ning, Chao (2020). "Populations dynamics in Northern Eurasian forests: a long-term perspective from Northeast Asia". Evolutionary Human Sciences. 2. doi:10.1017/ehs.2020.11. hdl:21.11116/0000-0007-7733-A. ISSN 2513-843X. S2CID 219470000.
108. ^ Damgaard et al. 2018, pp. 4–5. "These results suggest that Turkic cultural customs were imposed by an East Asian minority elite onto central steppe nomad populations... The wide distribution of the Turkic languages from Northwest China, Mongolia and Siberia in the east to Turkey and Bulgaria in the west implies large-scale migrations out of the homeland in Mongolia.
109. ^ Uchiyama, Junzo; Gillam, J. Christopher; Savelyev, Alexander; Ning, Chao (2020). "Populations dynamics in Northern Eurasian forests: a long-term perspective from Northeast Asia". Evolutionary Human Sciences. 2. doi:10.1017/ehs.2020.11. ISSN 2513-843X. S2CID 219470000. "Recent DNA studies show that starting from the end of the second millennium BCE, the East Asian-related components were already found in numerous populations in Central Asia and Eastern Europe (Narasimhan et al., 2019). By the Iron Age, populations (e.g. Xiongnu) with primarily East Asian ancestry moved westward on a large scale, which combined in different proportions with local populations who were originally Indo-European speakers with largely west Eurasian ancestry that shifted their languages to Turkic (Damgaard et al., 2018). Modern DNA of multiple Turkic populations showed that the Turkic peoples shared their ancestry with populations from southern Siberia and Mongolia, supporting the hypothesis that they originated there (Yunusbayev et al., 2015; Tambets et al. 2018). Although current genetic evidence is not adequate to track the exact time and location for the origin of the proto-Turkic language, it is clear that it probably originated somewhere in northeastern Asia given the fact that the nomadic groups, such as the Rouran, Xiongnu and the Xianbei, all share a substratum genetic ancestry that falls into or close to the northeast Asian gene pool (Ning et al., in press; Li et al., 2018)."
110. ^ Damgaard, Peter de Barros; Marchi, Nina; Rasmussen, Simon; Peyrot, Michaël; Renaud, Gabriel; Korneliussen, Thorfinn; Moreno-Mayar, J. Víctor; Pedersen, Mikkel Winther; Goldberg, Amy; Usmanova, Emma; Baimukhanov, Nurbol (May 2018). "137 ancient human genomes from across the Eurasian steppes". Nature. 557 (7705): 369–374. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0094-2. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 29743675. S2CID 13670282. "pp. 4–5. "The wide distribution of the Turkic languages from Northwest China, Mongolia and Siberia in the east to Turkey and Bulgaria in the west implies large-scale migrations out of the homeland in Mongolia."
111. ^ Sima Qian Records of the Grand Historian Vol. 110 "後北服渾庾、屈射、丁零、鬲昆、薪犁之國。於是匈奴貴人大臣皆服，以冒頓單于爲賢。" tr. "Later [he went] north [and] subjugated the nations of Hunyu, Qushe, Dingling, Gekun, and Xinli. Therefore, the Xiongnu nobles and dignitaries all admired [and] regarded Modun chanyu as capable"
112. ^ a b Peter Zieme: The Old Turkish Empires in Mongolia. In: Genghis Khan and his heirs. The Empire of the Mongols. Special tape for Exhibition 2005/2006, p. 64
113. ^ a b Findley (2005), p. 29.
114. ^ Suishu, vol. 84
115. ^ Pulleyblank, E. G. "The Name of the Kirghiz." Central Asiatic Journal 34, no. 1/2 (1990). p. 99
116. ^ a b Pulleyblank, "Central Asia and Non-Chinese Peoples of Ancient China", p. VII 21–26.
117. ^ a b Duan, "Dingling, Gaoju and Tiele", p. 370.
118. ^ Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (1991). "The 'High Carts': A Turkish-Speaking People before the Türks". Asia Major. Third series. Academia Sinica. 3 (1): 21–22.
119. ^ Weishu, vol. 103 "高車，蓋古赤狄之餘種也，初號為狄歷，北方以為勑勒，諸夏以為高車、丁零。其語略與匈奴同而時有小異，或云其先匈奴之甥也" tr. "The Gaoche are probably remnants of the ancient Red Di. Initially they had been called Dili. Northerners consider them to be Chile. Chinese consider them to be Gaoche Dingling. Their language, in brief, and Xiongnu [language] are the same yet occasionally there are small differences. Or one may say that they are the junior relatives [lit. sisters' sons ~ sons-in-law] of the Xiongnu in former times."
120. ^ "丁零—铁勒的西迁及其所建西域政权". Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
121. ^ Cheng Fangyi. "The Research on the Identification Between Tiele (鐵勒) and the Oghuric Tribes". Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi: 81–114.
122. ^ Cheng (2012), p. 84-87
123. ^ Lee, Joo-Yup (2016). "The Historical Meaning of the Term Turk and the Nature of the Turkic Identity of the Chinggisid and Timurid Elites in Post-Mongol Central Asia". Central Asiatic Journal. 59 (1–2): 101–32. doi:10.13173/centasiaj.59.1-2.0101.
124. ^ Tang, Li （ University of Salzburg, Austria ）. "A Brief Description of the Early and Medieval Türks" in Turkic Christians in Central Asia and China (5th – 14th Centuries), Studies in Turkic philology. Minzu University Press. p. VII.
125. ^ Duan: Dingling, Gaoju and Tiele. 1988, pp. 39–41
126. ^ Xue, Zongzheng History of Turks (1992). 39–85
127. ^ Rachel Lung, Interpreters in Early Imperial China, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2011, p. 48 "Türk, or Türküt, refers to a state of Ašina clan (of Tiele [鐵勒] tribe by ancestral lineage)"
128. ^ Duan: Dingling, Gaoju and Tiele. 1988, pp. 39–41
129. ^ Suribadalaha, "New Studies of the Origins of the Mongols", p. 46–47
130. ^ Cheng, Fangyi. "The Research on the Identification Between Tiele and the Oghuric Tribes".
131. ^ Lee & Kuang 2017, p. 201-202.
132. ^ Hucker, Charles O. (1975). China's Imperial Past: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-2353-2. "The proto-Turkic Hsiung-nu were now challenged by other alien groups — proto-Tibetans, proto-Mongol tribes called the Hsien-pi, and separate proto-Turks called To-pa (Toba)."
133. ^ Savelyev, Alexander; Jeong, Choongwon (10 May 2020). "Early nomads of the Eastern Steppe and their tentative connections in the West". Evolutionary Human Sciences. 2. doi:10.1017/ehs.2020.18. PMC 7612788. PMID 35663512. S2CID 218935871. "The predominant part of the Xiongnu population is likely to have spoken Turkic (Late Proto-Turkic, to be more precise)."
134. ^ Silk-Road:Xiongnu
135. ^ "An Introduction to the Turkic Tribes". Retrieved 18 March 2015.
136. ^ Lebedynsky (2006), p. 59.
137. ^ Nicola di Cosmo, Ancient China and its Enemies, S. 163ff.
138. ^ Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (2010). The Cambridge Illustrated History of China (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 69\. ISBN 978-0-521-12433-1.
139. ^ Keyser-Tracqui, C.; Crubezy, E.; Ludes, B. (2003). "Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA analysis of a 2,000-year-old necropolis in the Egyin Gol Valley of Mongolia". American Journal of Human Genetics. 73 (2): 247–260. doi:10.1086/377005. PMC 1180365. PMID 12858290.
140. ^ Keyser-Tracqui, Crubezy & Ludes 2003, p. 258\. "A majority (89%) of the Xiongnu sequences can beclassified as belonging to an Asian haplogroup (A, B4b, C, D4, D5 or D5a, or F1b) and nearly 11% belong to European haplogroups (U2, U5a1a, and J1)."
141. ^ MA Li-qing On the new evidence on Xiongnu's writings. Archived 19 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine(Wanfang Data: Digital Periodicals, 2004)
142. ^ Paola Demattè Writing the Landscape: the Petroglyphs of Inner Mongolia and Ningxia Province (China). (Paper presented at the First International Conference of Eurasian Archaeology, University of Chicago, 3–4 May 2002.)
143. ^ N. Ishjatms, "Nomads In Eastern Central Asia", in the "History of civilizations of Central Asia", Volume 2, Fig 6, p. 166, UNESCO Publishing, 1996, ISBN 92-3-102846-4
144. ^ de la Vaissière 2015, p. 175, 180.
145. ^ Ulrich Theobald. "Chinese History – Xiongnu 匈奴 (www.chinaknowledge.de)". Retrieved 18 March 2015.
146. ^ G. Pulleyblank, "The Consonantal System of Old Chinese: Part II", Asia Major n.s. 9 (1963) 206–65
147. ^ "The Origins of the Huns". Retrieved 18 March 2015.
148. ^ VAJDA, Edward J. (2008). "Yeniseic" a chapter in the book Language isolates and microfamilies of Asia, Routledge, to be co-authored with Bernard Comrie; 53 pages.
149. ^ Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen. The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture. University of California Press, 1973
150. ^ "Otto Maenchen-Helfen, Language of Huns". Retrieved 18 March 2015.
151. ^ Savelyev & Jeong 2020
152. ^ "Etienne de la Vaissiere", Encyclopædia Iranica article:Sogdian Trade Archived 20 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine, 1 December 2004.
153. ^ a b Wei Zheng et al., Suishu, vol. 84 quote: "突厥之先，平涼雜胡也，姓阿史那氏。後魏太武滅沮渠氏，阿史那以五百家奔茹茹，世居金山，工於鐵作。金山狀如兜鍪，俗呼兜鍪為「突厥」，因以為號。"
154. ^ Du You, Tongdian vol. 197 quote: "突厥之先，平涼今平涼郡雜胡也，蓋匈奴之別種，姓阿史那氏。後魏太武滅沮渠氏，沮渠茂虔都姑臧，謂之北涼，為魏所滅。阿史那以五百家奔蠕蠕，代居金山，狀如兜鍪，俗呼兜鍪為「突厥」，因以為號。"
155. ^ Linghu Defen et al., Zhoushu, vol. 50 quote: "突厥者，蓋匈奴之別種，姓阿史那氏。"
156. ^ Beishi "vol. 99 – section Tujue" quote: "突厥者，其先居西海之右，獨為部落，蓋匈奴之別種也。" translation: "The Tujue, their ancestors dwelt on the right bank of the Western Sea; a lone tribe, probably a separate branch of the Xiongnu"
157. ^ Golden, Peter B. (August 2018). "The Ethnogonic Tales of the Türks". The Medieval History Journal, 21 (2): p. 298 of 291–327, fn. 36. quote: "‘Western Sea’ (xi hai 西海) has many possible meanings designating different bodies of water from the Mediterranean, Caspian and Aral Seas to Kuku-nor. In the Sui era (581–618) it was viewed as being near Byzantium (Sinor, ‘Legendary Origin’: 226). Taşağıl, Gök-Türkler, vol. 1: 95, n. 553 identies it with Etsin-Gol, which is more likely."
158. ^ Xin Tangshu, vol. 215A. "突厥阿史那氏, 蓋古匈奴北部也." "The Ashina family of the Turk probably were the northern tribes of the ancient Xiongnu." quoted and translated in Xu (2005), Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan, University of Helsinki, 2005
159. ^ Zhoushu, "vol. 50" "或云突厥之先出於索國，在匈奴之北。"
160. ^ Beishi "vol. 99 – section Tujue" quote: "又曰突厥之先，出於索國，在匈奴之北。"
161. ^ Zhoushu, "vol. 50" quote: "居金山之陽，為茹茹鐵工。金山形似兜鍪，其俗謂兜鍪為「突厥」，遂因以為號焉。"
162. ^ a b c d e f Carter V. Findley, The Turks in World History (Oxford University Press, October 2004) ISBN 0-19-517726-6
163. ^ Golden, P.B. (1992) An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples. Series Turcologica, Band IX. Otto-Harrassowitz. p. 117
164. ^ Türk Tarih Kongresi (in Turkish). Türk Tarih Kurumu. 1999. ISBN 9789751602602.
165. ^ West, Barbara A. (19 May 2010). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing. p. 829. ISBN 978-1-4381-1913-7. "The first people to use the ethnonym Turk to refer to themselves were the Turuk people of the Gokturk Khanate in the mid sixth-century"
166. ^ a b Haywood, John (1998), Historical Atlas of the Medieval World, AD 600–1492, Barnes & Noble
167. ^ a b Theobald, Ulrich. "Shatuo Türks 沙陀突厥 (www.chinaknowledge.de)". chinaknowledge.de. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
168. ^ Wudai Shi, ch. 75. Considering the father was originally called Nieliji without a surname, the fact that his patrilineal ancestors all had Chinese names here indicates that these names were probably all created posthumously after Shi Jingtang became a "Chinese" emperor. Shi Jingtang actually claimed to be a descendant of Chinese historical figures Shi Que and Shi Fen, and insisted that his ancestors went westwards towards non-Han Chinese area during the political chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty in the early 3rd century.
169. ^ According to Old History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 99, and New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 10. Liu Zhiyuan was of Shatuo origin. According to Wudai Huiyao, vol. 1 Liu Zhiyuan's great-great-grandfather Liu Tuan (劉湍) (titled as Emperor Mingyuan posthumously, granted the temple name of Wenzu) descended from Liu Bing (劉昞), Prince of Huaiyang, a son of Emperor Ming of Han
170. ^ According to Old History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 99, and New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 10. Liu Zhiyuan was of Shatuo origin. According to Wudai Huiyao, vol. 1 Liu Zhiyuan's great-great-grandfather Liu Tuan (劉湍) (titled as Emperor Mingyuan posthumously, granted the temple name of Wenzu) descended from Liu Bing (劉昞), Prince of Huaiyang, a son of Emperor Ming of Han
171. ^ Mote, F.W.: Imperial China: 900–1800, Harvard University Press, 1999
172. ^ Tolstoi V.P. Origin of the Karakalpak people//KSIE, Moscow, 1947. p.75
173. ^ Böwering, Gerhard; Crone, Patricia; Mirza, Mahan (1 January 2012). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought. Princeton University Press. pp. 410–411.
174. ^ Islamic Central Asia: an anthology of historical sources, Ed. Scott Cameron Levi and Ron Sela, (Indiana University Press, 2010), 83;The Ghaznavids were a dynasty of Turkic slave-soldiers..., "Ghaznavid Dynasty" Encyclopædia BritannicaJonathan M. Bloom, Sheila Blair, The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture, Oxford University Press, 2009, Vol.2, p.163, Online Edition, "Turkish dominated mamluk regiments...dynasty of mamluk origin (the GHAZNAVID line) carved out an empire..."
175. ^ C.E. Bosworth: The Ghaznavids. Edinburgh, 1963
176. ^ C.E. Bosworth, "Ghaznavids" in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition 2006
177. ^ C.E. Bosworth, "Ghaznavids", in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Online Edition; Brill, Leiden; 2006/2007
178. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, "Ghaznavid Dynasty", Online Edition 2007
179. ^ David Christian: A History of Russia, Central Asia, and Mongolia; Blackwell Publishing, 1998; pg. 370: "Though Turkic in origin [...] Alp Tegin, Sebuk Tegin, and Mahmud were all thoroughly Persianized".
180. ^ J. Meri (Hg.), Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, "Ghaznavids", London u.a. 2006, p. 294: "The Ghaznavids inherited Samanid administrative, political, and cultural traditions and laid the foundations for a Persianate state in northern India. ..."
181. ^ Sydney Nettleton Fisher and William Ochsenwald, The Middle East: a history: Volume 1, (McGraw-Hill, 1997); "Forced to flee from the Samanid domain, he captured Ghaznah and in 961 established the famed Persianate Sunnite Ghaznavid empire of Afghanistan and the Punjab in India".
182. ^ Meisami, Julie Scott, Persian historiography to the end of the twelfth century, (Edinburgh University Press, 1999), 143. Nizam al-Mulk also attempted to organise the Saljuq administration according to the Persianate Ghaznavid model..
183. ^ B. Spuler, "The Disintegration of the Caliphate in the East", in the Cambridge History of Islam, Vol. IA: The Central islamic Lands from Pre-Islamic Times to the First World War, ed. by P.M. Holt, Ann K.S. Lambton, and Bernard Lewis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970). pg 147: One of the effects of the renaissance of the Persian spirit evoked by this work was that the Ghaznavids were also Persianized and thereby became a Persian dynasty.
184. ^ * A. C. S. Peacock, Great Seljuk Empire, (Edinburgh University Press, 2015), 1–378.
* Christian Lange; Songül Mecit, eds., Seljuqs: Politics, Society and Culture (Edinburgh University Press, 2012), 1–328.
* P.M. Holt; Ann K.S. Lambton, Bernard Lewis, The Cambridge History of Islam (Volume IA): The Central Islamic Lands from Pre-Islamic Times to the First World War, (Cambridge University Press, 1977), 151, 231–234.
185. ^ Mecit 2014, p. 128. sfn error: no target: CITEREFMecit2014 (help)
186. ^ Peacock & Yıldız 2013, p. 6. sfn error: no target: CITEREFPeacockYıldız2013 (help)
187. ^ * "Aḥmad of Niǧde's al-Walad al-Shafīq and the Seljuk Past", A. C. S. Peacock, Anatolian Studies, Vol. 54, (2004), 97; "With the growth of Seljuk power in Rum, a more highly developed Muslim cultural life, based on the Persianate culture of the Seljuk court, was able to take root in Anatolia."
* Meisami, Julie Scott, Persian Historiography to the End of the Twelfth Century, (Edinburgh University Press, 1999), 143; "Nizam al-Mulk also attempted to organise the Saljuq administration according to the Persianate Ghaznavid model k..."
* Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Šahrbānu", Online Edition: "here one might bear in mind that non-Persian dynasties such as the Ghaznavids, Saljuqs and Ilkhanids were rapidly to adopt the Persian language and have their origins traced back to the ancient kings of Persia rather than to Turkmen heroes or Muslim saints ..."
* Josef W. Meri, Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, Routledge, 2005, p. 399.
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* Wendy M. K. Shaw, Possessors and possessed: museums, archaeology, and the visualization of history in the late Ottoman Empire. University of California Press, 2003, ISBN 0-520-23335-2, ISBN 978-0-520-23335-5; p. 5.
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* Damgaard, P. B.; et al. (9 May 2018). "137 ancient human genomes from across the Eurasian steppes". Nature. Nature Research. 557 (7705): 369–373. Bibcode:2018Natur.557..369D. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0094-2. PMID 29743675. S2CID 13670282. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
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* Nelson, Sarah; et al. (14 February 2020). "Tracing population movements in ancient East Asia through the linguistics and archaeology of textile production". Evolutionary Human Sciences. Cambridge University Press. 2 (e5). doi:10.1017/ehs.2020.4.
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## Further reading[edit | edit source]

* Karatay, Osman. The Genesis of the Turks: An Ethno-Linguistic Inquiry into the Prehistory of Central Eurasia. United Kingdom, Cambridge Scholars Publishing., 2022.
* Alpamysh, H.B. Paksoy: Central Asian Identity under Russian Rule (Hartford: AACAR, 1989)
* H. B. Paksoy (1989). Alpamysh: Central Asian Identity Under Russian Rule. AACAR. ISBN 978-0-9621379-9-0.
* Amanjolov A.S., "History of the Ancient Turkic Script", Almaty, "Mektep", 2003, ISBN 9965-16-204-2
* Baichorov S.Ya., "Ancient Turkic runic monuments of the Europe", Stavropol, 1989 (in Russian).
* Baskakov, N.A. 1962, 1969. Introduction to the study of the Turkic languages. Moscow (in Russian).
* Beckwith, Christopher I. (2009): Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-13589-2.
* Boeschoten, Hendrik & Lars Johanson. 2006. Turkic languages in contact. Turcologica, Bd. 61. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-05212-0.
* Brook, Kevin Alan (2018), The Jews of Khazaria, Rowman & Littlefield
* Chavannes, Édouard (1900): Documents sur les Tou-kiue (Turcs) occidentaux. Paris, Librairie d'Amérique et d'Orient. Reprint: Taipei. Cheng Wen Publishing Co. 1969.
* Clausen, Gerard. 1972. An etymological dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
* Deny, Jean et al. 1959–1964. Philologiae Turcicae Fundamenta. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
* Findley, Carter Vaughn. 2005. The Turks in World History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516770-8; ISBN 0-19-517726-6 (pbk.)
* Golden, Peter B. An introduction to the history of the Turkic peoples: Ethnogenesis and state-formation in medieval and early modern Eurasia and the Middle East (Otto Harrassowitz (Wiesbaden) 1992) ISBN 3-447-03274-X
* Peter B. Golden (1992). An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples: Ethnogenesis and State-formation in Medieval and Early Modern Eurasia and the Middle East. O. Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3-447-03274-2.
* Peter B. Golden (2011). Studies on the Peoples and Culture sof the Eurasian Steppes. Editura Academiei Române – Editura Istro. ISBN 978-973-27-2152-0.
* Heywood, Colin. The Turks (The Peoples of Europe) (Blackwell 2005), ISBN 978-0-631-15897-4.
* Hostler, Charles Warren. The Turks of Central Asia (Greenwood Press, November 1993), ISBN 0-275-93931-6.
* Ishjatms N., "Nomads In Eastern Central Asia", in the "History of civilizations of Central Asia", Volume 2, UNESCO Publishing, 1996, ISBN 92-3-102846-4.
* Johanson, Lars & Éva Agnes Csató (ed.). 1998. The Turkic languages. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-08200-5.
* Johanson, Lars. 1998. "The history of Turkic." In: Johanson & Csató, pp. 81–125. Classification of Turkic languages
* Johanson, Lars. 1998. "Turkic languages." In: Encyclopædia Britannica. CD 98. Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 5 September. 2007. Turkic languages: Linguistic history.
* Kyzlasov I.L., "Runic Scripts of Eurasian Steppes", Moscow, Eastern Literature, 1994, ISBN 5-02-017741-5.
* Lebedynsky, Iaroslav. (2006). Les Saces: Les « Scythes » d'Asie, VIIIe siècle apr. J.-C. Editions Errance, Paris. ISBN 2-87772-337-2.
* Malov S.E., "Monuments of the ancient Turkic inscriptions. Texts and research", M.-L., 1951 (in Russian).
* Mukhamadiev A., "Turanian Writing", in "Problems Of Lingo-Ethno-History Of The Tatar People", Kazan, 1995 (Азгар Мухамадиев, "Туранская Письменность", "Проблемы лингвоэтноистории татарского народа", Казань, 1995) (in Russian).
* Menges, K. H. 1968. The Turkic languages and peoples: An introduction to Turkic studies. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
* Öztopçu, Kurtuluş. 1996. Dictionary of the Turkic languages: English, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tatar, Turkish, Turkmen, Uighur, Uzbek. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-14198-2
* Samoilovich, A. N. 1922. Some additions to the classification of the Turkish languages. Petrograd.
* Schönig, Claus. 1997–1998. "A new attempt to classify the Turkic languages I-III." Turkic Languages 1:1.117–133, 1:2.262–277, 2:1.130–151.
* Vasiliev D.D. Graphical fund of Turkic runiform writing monuments in Asian areal. М., 198 (in Russian).
* Vasiliev D.D. Corpus of Turkic runiform monuments in the basin of Enisei. М., 1983 (in Russian).
* Voegelin, C.F. & F.M. Voegelin. 1977. Classification and index of the World's languages. New York: Elsevier.
* Khanbaghi, Aptin (2006). The Fire, the Star and the Cross: Minority Religions in Medieval and Early Modern Iran. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-056-7.
* Yarshater, Ehsan (2001). Encyclopedia Iranica. Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 978-0-933273-56-6.

## External links[edit | edit source]

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Look up Türk in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Turkic peoples.

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Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Turks".

* Turkish Studies – Turkic republics, regions, and peoples at University of Michigan

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Turkic peoples

Peoples|

| Azerbaijani communities|

* Azerbaijanis
* Iranian Azerbaijanis
* Shahsevens
* Küresünni
* Georgian Azerbaijanis
* Western Azerbaijanis
* Qarapapaqs

|

Gagauz communities|

* Gagauz people

Kazakh communities|

* Kazakhs
* Chinese Kazakhs
* Naimans
* Iranian Kazakhs
* Zhuz

Kyrgyz communities|

* Kyrgyz people
* Chinese Kyrgyz

Turkmen1 communities|

* Turkmen people
* Afghan Turkmen
* Iranian Turkmen

Turkish communities2|

* Turkish people
* Abdals
* Muhacirs
* Tahtacıs
* Yörüks
* Abkhazian Turks
* Algerian Turks
* Kouloughlis
* Bosnian Turks
* Bulgarian Turks
* Croatian Turks
* Cretan Turks
* Cypriot Turks
* Dodecanese Turks
* Egyptian Turks
* Iraqi Turkmen/Turkoman1
* Israeli Turks
* Kosovan Turks
* Lebanese Turks
* Libyan Turks
* Macedonian Turks
* Meskhetian (Ahiska) Turks
* Montenegrin Turks
* Romanian Turks
* Serbian Turks
* Syrian Turkmen/Turkoman1
* Tunisian Turks
* Western Thracian Turks

Uzbek communities|

* Uzbeks
* Karakalpaks

Turkic minorities
in China|

* Äynu
* Chinese Tatars
* Chinese Kazakhs
* Chinese Kyrgyz
* Fuyu Kyrgyz
* Ili Turks
* Salar
* Uyghurs
* Yugur

Turkic minorities
in Crimea|

* Crimean Karaites
* Crimean Tatars
* Krymchaks

Turkic minorities
in Iran|

* Iranian Azerbaijanis
* Afshar
* Chaharmahali Turks
* Khalajs
* Khorasani Turks
* Qashqai
* Turkmens in Iran
* Iranian Kazakhs

Turkic minorities in
Russia|

* Altaians
* Chelkans
* Telengits
* Tubalars
* Balkars
* Bashkirs
* Chulyms
* Chuvash
* Dolgans
* Karachays
* Khakas
* Kumandins
* Kumyks
* Nogais
* Shors
* Soyots
* Tatars
* Astrakhan Tatars
* Kryashens
* Mishar Tatars
* Nağaybäk
* Volga Tatars
* Siberian Tatars
* Teleuts
* Tofalars
* Tuvans
* Tozhu Tuvans
* Yakuts

Turkic minorities in
Mongolia|

* Khotons
* Dukha

Extinct Turkic groups|

* Alat
* Az
* Basmyl
* Barsils
* Berendei
* Bulaqs
* Bulgars
* Chigils
* Chorni Klobuky
* Cumans
* Dingling
* Duolu
* Dughlats
* Esegel
* Göktürks
* Kankalis
* Karluks
* Khazars
* Kimek
* Kipchaks
* Sir-Kıvchak
* Kurykans
* Kutrigurs
* Merkit
* Nushibi
* Oghuz Turks
* Turkomans
* Pechenegs
* Onoğurs
* Orkhon Uyghurs
* Sabirs
* Saragurs
* Shatuo
* Tiele
* Türgesh
* Tukhsi
* Torks
* Toquz Oghuz
* Utigurs
* Xueyantuo
* Yenisei Kirghiz
* Yueban
* Yagma
* Yabaku

Others|

* Aimaq people
* Hazaras
* Mughals

Diasporas|

* Azerbaijani diaspora
* Crimean Tatar diaspora
* Turkish diaspora
* Turkish Cypriot diaspora

1 The Turkmen people living in Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Iran are not to be confused with the Turkmen/Turkoman minorities in the Levant (i.e. Iraq and Syria) as the latter minorities mostly adhere to a Ottoman-Turkish heritage and identity. 2 This list only includes traditional areas of Turkish settlement (i.e. Turks still living in the former Ottoman territories).

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File:Flag of the Organization of Turkic States.svg Turkic topics

Languages|

* Afshar
* Altai
* Northern
* Southern
* Äynu
* Azerbaijani
* Bashkir
* Bulgar
* Chagatai
* Chulym
* Chuvash
* Crimean Tatar
* Cuman
* Dolgan
* Fuyü Gïrgïs
* Gagauz
* Ili Turki
* Karachay-Balkar
* Karaim
* Karakalpak
* Karamanli Turkish
* Kazakh
* Khakas
* Khalaj
* Khazar
* Khorasani Turkic
* Kipchak
* Krymchak
* Kumyk
* Kipchak languages
* Kyrgyz
* Nogai
* Old Turkic
* Ottoman Turkish
* Pecheneg
* Qashqai
* Sakha/Yakut
* Salar
* Shor
* Siberian Tatar
* Tatar
* Tofa
* Turkish
* Turkmen
* Tuvan
* Urum
* Uyghur
* Uzbek
* Western Yugur

| Alphabets|

* Old Turkic
* Common Turkic
* Cyrillic
* Old Uyghur
* Persian

|

File:Emblem of the Organization of Turkic States.svg

Peoples|

* Afshars
* Altaians
* Chelkans, Kumandins, Telengits, Teleuts, Tubalars
* Azerbaijanis
* in Iran, Armenia, Georgia1
* Balkars
* Bashkirs
* Chulyms
* Chuvash
* Crimean Karaites
* Crimean Tatars
* Dolgans
* Gagauz
* Karachays
* Karakalpaks
* Kazakhs
* in China1
* Khakas
* Khalaj
* Khorasani Turks
* Krymchaks
* Kyrgyz
* in China1
* Kumyks
* Naimans
* Nogais
* Qashqai
* Salar
* Shors
* Siberian Tatars
* Baraba Tatars
* Tatars
* Astrakhan, Chinese, Lipka, Kryashens, Mishar, Nağaybäk, Volga
* Tofalar
* Turkmens
* Afghan, Iranian1
* Turkish
* in Abkhazia, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Crete, Cyprus, Dodecanese, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, North Macedonia, Meskhetia (Ahiska), Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Syria, Tunisia, Western Thrace, Yemen1
* Tuvans
* Uyghurs
* Uzbeks
* in Afghanistan1
* Yakuts (Sakha)
* Yugurs

| Extinct Turkic groups|

* Bulaqs
* Bulgars
* Cumans
* Dughlats
* Karluks
* Khazars
* Kimek
* Kipchaks
* Oghuz Turks
* Shatuo
* Türgesh
* Uzes

|

Politics|

* Grey Wolves
* Kemalism
* Burkhanism
* Jadid
* Pan-Turkism
* Turkesism
* Turanism (Hungarian)

Origins|

* Turkestan
* History
* Timeline of the Göktürks
* Timeline 500–1300
* Migration
* Turkification
* Nomadic empire
* Turco-Persian
* Turco-Mongol
* Tian Shan / Altai Mountains
* Otuken

Locations|

| Sovereign states (comparison)|

* Azerbaijan
* Kazakhstan
* Kyrgyzstan
* Northern Cyprus2
* Turkey
* Turkmenistan
* Uzbekistan

|

Autonomous areas|

* Altai Republic
* Bashkortostan
* Chuvashia
* Gagauzia
* Kabardino-Balkaria
* Karachay-Cherkessia
* Karakalpakstan
* Khakassia
* Nakhchivan
* Sakha
* Tatarstan
* Tuva
* Xinjiang

Studies|

* Old Turkic script
* Proto-Turkic language
* Turkology

Religions|

* Turkic mythology
* Tengrism
* Shamanism
* Islam
* Alevism
* Batiniyya
* Bayramiye
* Bektashi Order
* Burkhanism
* Christianity
* Hurufism
* Khalwati order
* Malamatiyya
* Qadiri
* Qalandariyya
* Rifaʽi*
* Safaviyya
* Zahediyeh
* Vattisen Yaly

Traditional sports|

* Kyz kuu
* Jereed
* Kokpar
* Jigit
* Chovgan

Organizations|

* Organization of Turkic States
* International Organization of Turkic Culture (TÜRKSOY)
* Parliamentary Assembly (TURKPA)
* Organization of the Eurasian Law Enforcement Agencies with Military Status (TAKM)
* World Turks Qurultai

1These are traditional areas of settlement; the Turkic group has been living in the listed country/region for centuries and should not be confused with modern diasporas.
2State with limited international recognition.
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