l 001 turkic peoples.doc

7/29/2019 L 001 Turkic peoples.doc

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Turkic


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The first known mention of the term Turk (Old Turkic: Trk or Kk Trk[ or

Trk, Chinese:, Pinyin: Tju, applied to a Turkic tribes was in reference to

the Gktrks in the 6th century CE. A letter by Ishbara Qaghan to Emperor Wen

of Sui in 585 described him as "the Great Turk Khan." In antiquity the Steppe

Peoples called Togarma, Turukha, Turukku are identified with the Proto-Turks.

But we cannot connect these ancient people to the modern Turks.Turkologists

Peter Golden and Andrs Rna-Tas suggest the name Turk rooted in the East

Iranian Saka language. The Aryan clan Ashina conquered the Turks, but itself

became rapidly Turkified.


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Mahmud

of Kashgars map of the first 12 mythical tribes

It is generally accepted among the scholars that the term "Trk" derived

from the "Trk" or "Trk", which means "created", "born" or "strong".


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According to Persian tradition reported by Mahmud of Kashgar ( 11th c. CE) and

other Islamic scholars and historians, the name "Turk" stems from Tur, one of the

sons of Japheth ben Nuh who established Turan north of Iran=Aryan. During

the European Middle Ages, many Turkic tribes of the Eurasian steppe (Kipchak)

were wrongly identified as the ancient Scythians ( Skytoi) Between 400 CE and

the 16th century CE the Byzantine or Greek annals use in reference to

twelve Turkic tribes of the Steppe. The first mention of Turks was in a Chinese

text that mentioned trade of Turk tribes with the Sogdians along the Silk Road.

The first recorded use of "Turk" as a political name is a 6th-century reference to


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the word Tujue. The Ashina clan migrated from Li-jien (modern Zhelai Zhai) to

the Juan Juan seeking inclusion in their confederacy and protection from the

prevalent dynasty. The tribesmen were skillful metal smiths and were granted

land near a mountain quarry which looked like a helmet, from which they were

said to given their name (tju). A century later, they conquered the JuanJuan and established the Gk Empire.The earliest Turkic tribes lived in a region

extending from Central Asia (Turkiestan, Turan, Mawwarah-an-nahr) to Siberia.

The first separate Turkic peoples appeared on the northwestern frontiers of the

Chinese empire of Han Dynasty). Turkic tribes, such as Khazars and Pechenegs,

lived as nomads before the rise of Gktrk Empire or Mongol confederacies inthe 6th century. Turkic peoples originally used their own alphabets, like Orkhon

and Yenisey runiform, and later the Uyghur alphabet. The oldest inscription was

found near the Issyk river in Kyrgyzstan. The Hun hordes of Attila, who invaded

and conquered much of Europe in the 5th century, might have been Turkic

descendants of the Xiongnu. Scholars argue that the Huns were one of the earlier

Turkic tribes, while others argue that they were of Mongolic origin. In the 6thcentury, 400 years after the collapse of northern Xiongnu power in Inner Asia,

leadership of the Turkic peoples was taken over by the Gktrks.


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Turan

Formerly in the Xiongnu nomadic confederation, the Gktrks inherited their

traditions and administrative experience. From 552 to 745, Gktrk khans united

the nomadic Turkic tribes into a powerful Steppe state which derives from gok,


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"blue" or "heavenly". The Gktrk Khanate had its temporary khans from the

Ashina clan that were subordinate to a sovereign authority controlled by a council

of tribal chiefs. The Khanate shamanistic religion of tengrism was dominant ,

although the Turks received Buddhist monks and practiced a syncretic religion.The Gktrks

were the first Turkic people to write Old Turkic in a runic script, the Orkhon

script. The date of the westward expansion of the Turkic tribes remains unclear.

They established their own Islamic states ( Seljuks, Ghaznawids, Buyids,

Turkomans) and later created the Osmanli Sultanate .

Later Turkic peoples include the Avars (Obri ), Karluks (mainly 8th century),Uyghurs, Kyrgyz, Oghuz (or uz) Turks, and Turkmens. As these peoples were

founding states in the area between Mongolia and Mawwara-an-nahr

(Transoxiana=Turan) , they came into contact with Muslims, and gradually

embraced Islam. Small groups of Turkic people practice other religions like

Khazars and Tatar-origin Crimchaks (who Judaized themselves) or Gagouzes in

Romania/Moldova ( who adopted Orthodox Christianism), in the East Asia, someTurkic tribes are Buddhists (Kalmuks) , still shamianists (Yakuts/Sakha) and

even Majus (Zoroastrians).


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Turkic soldiers in the army of the Abbasid caliphs emerged as the de facto military

rulers (atabegs) of most of Iraq, particularly after the 10th century. 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.The Kyrgyz and Uyghurs (who are the earliests Turks

who converted to Islam) were struggling with the Chinese Empire. The Tatar

(Kipchak) peoples conquered the Volga Bulgars in what is today Tatarstan and

Baskirstan, following the westward sweep of the Mongols under Genghis Khan in

the 13th century. Other Bulgars, who had initially invaded Europe in 5th-6th

centuries, as part of the Hunnic tribal confederation, finally settled in Southastern


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Europe in the 7th-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 In 109091 CE, the

Turkic Pechenegs (Pechinaks) reached the walls of Constantinople, whereEmperor Alexius I with the aid of the Kumans ( called by Russians as Polovtzi,

also Turkic Kipchak tribes) annihilated their army. The Pechenegs crushed Ru

troops the prince (knyaz) of Sviatoslav I of Kiev whose head was boiled and its

scull used as cup).

As the Seljuk Empire declined following the Mongol invasion, the sultanate of

Othman emerged as the new fast growing Islamic Turkic state. The DelhiSultanate in India was Turkic powerhouse of the Mamluk dynasty (120690);

the Khilji dynasty (12901320); and the Tughlaq dynasty (13201414) CE. The

Mughal Empire (Timurid dynasty of Islamic India) was a Turkic sultanate

ruled most of the South Asia, including nowadays Afghanistan, Pakistan, India,

Bangladesh and parts of Uzbekistan from the early 16th to the early-18th century.

The Mughal dynasty was founded by a Chagatai Turkic khan Babar (reigned152630 CE), 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. The Safavid dynasty of Persia, were of Azeri

(Turkish) and Kurdish (Iranic) origin.


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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 Shahwho deposed the last member of the Safavid dynasty and proclaimed himself shah

of Persia. Nader belonged to the Qereqlu branch of the Afshars. During Nader's

reign, Shiite Iran (Persia) reached its greatest extent since the Sassanid Empire.

Muslim Uiguristan ( Eastern Turkiestan) is today occupied by the People's

Republic of China, and Tatarstan, Tuva and Yakutia are under the rule the

Russian Federation, but the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (with ethnic Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkmen and Uzbek

majorities, respectively) gained independence in 1991 after the disintegration of

the Soviet Union but tey are still ruled by tyrannical, excentric secularist dictators,

mostly former Communist appartachiks of the collapsed Soviet empire.

The Turkic languages constitute a language family of some 30 languages, spoken

across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, to Siberia andWestern China, and to and the Middle East. Some 170 million people have a

Turkic language as their native language, an additional 20 million people speak a

Turkic language as a second language. The Turkic language with the greatest

number of speakers is Anatolian Turkish, the speakers of which account for about

40% of all Turkic speakers. The remainder of the Turkic people are concentrated

in Central Asia, Russia, the Caucasus, China, northern Iraq. At present, there are

six independent Turkic countries: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan,

Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan; There are also several Turkic

national regions, republics in the Russian Federation including

Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Chuvashia, Khakassia, Tuva, Yakutia, the Altai

Republic, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Karachayevo-Cherkessiya. Each of these

subdivisions has its own flag, parliament, laws, and official state language (in

addition to Russian). The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is the fighting


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Islamic Uiguristan occupied by China and the autonomous region of Gagauzia,

located within eastern Moldova and bordering Ukraine to the north, are two major

autonomous Turkic regions. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea within

Ukraine is a home of Muslim Crimean Tatars. In addition, there are several Iraq,Georgia, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and

western Mongolia. The Turks in Turkey are over 60 million to 70 million

worldwide, while the second largest Turkic people are the Azerbaijanis,

numbering 22 to 38 million worldwide; most of them live in Azerbaijan and Iran.

Small amount of Uyghurs are also present in India. Turks also exist in Pakistan in

similar proportions. One of the tribe in Hazara region of Pakistan is Karlugh Turkswhich is direct descendent of Turks of Central Asia. Turkish influence in Pakistan

can be seen through the national language, Urdu, which comes from a Turkish

word meaning "horde" or "army". Western Yugur at Gansu in China, Salar at

Qinghai in China, Dolgan at Krasnoyarsk Krai in Russia, Nogai at Dagestan in

Russia are the Turk minorities at the respective regions. Beauty of Yugur Culture,

Beauty of the Dolgan and Northern Tungus Culture, Beauty of Yakut SakhaCulture, Beauty of Khakass Culture at youtube show the facial feature of the

Turks native to Asian Russia and China

Approximately 150-200 million speak a Turkic language

Turkey more than 60 million (over 80% of total country)

Uzbekistan 26,000,000 (92% of total country pop. have Turkic origin)

Iran c. 13,000,000 (17% of total country pop. speak a Turkic language)[4]

Kazakstan 12,000,000 (75% of total country pop.)

China 11,647,000 (0.8% of the total country pop.)

Russia 12,009,969 (8,41% of total country pop.)[5]

Azerbaijan 9,047,000

Turkmenistan 4,500,000[6] (90% of the total country pop.)

Kyrgyzstan 4,500,000 (90% of the total country pop.)

European Union except Bulgaria and Greece 5,210,000


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Afghanistan 3,500,000[7] (%15 of Afghanistan population have Turkic origin)

Tajikistan 1,200,000 (20% of the total country pop.)

Iraq 1,500,000 (5% of the total country pop.)

United States 923,000Bulgaria 600,000-800,000

TRNC 298,862

Australia 293,500

Ukraine 275,300[8]

Saudi Arabia 224,460

Greece 178,000 hMoldova 158,300

Macedonia 82,959

Pakistan 62,100

The Turkic peoples are Azerbaijani, Chuvashes, Kazakhs, Tatars, Kyrgyz,

Turkmens, Uyghurs, Uzbeks, Bashkirs, Qashqai, Gagauzs, Yakuts, TurkicKaraites, Krymchaks, Karakalpaks, Karachays, Balkars, Nogais and as well as

past civilizations such as the Gktrks, Kumans, Kipchaks, Avars, Bulgars,

Turgeshes, Khazars, Seljuk Turks, Ottoman Turks, Mamluks, Timurids and

possibly Huns and the Xiongnu.


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Karakalpak Muslim Elders

The distribution of people of Turkic cultural background ranges from Siberia,

across Central Asia, to Eastern Europe. As of 2011 the largest groups of Turkic

people live throughout Central AsiaKazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan,

Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan, in addition to Turkey and Iran. Additionally, Turkic

people are found within Crimea, East Turkistan region of western China, northern

Iraq, Israel, Russia, Afghanistan, and the Balkans: Moldova, Bulgaria, Romania,

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


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part of Finland. 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.

The horseman of Turkiestan

The Turkic people display a great variety of ethnic types, they possess physical

features ranging from Caucasoid to Northern Mongoloid. Mongoloid and

Caucasoid facial structure is common among many Turkic groups, such as


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Chuvash people, Tatars, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Hazaras, and Bashkirs. Historically,

the racial classification of the Turkic peoples was sometimes given as "Turanid".

l 001 turkic peoples.doc

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