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The Turkic peoples
Turkic peoples are a collection of ethno-linguistic groups of Central, Eastern, Northern and Western Asia
Western Asia as well as parts of Europe and North Africa. They speak related languages belonging to the Turkic language family.[27] As racial purity has never been a Turkic membership criterion, many vastly differing ethnic groups have throughout history become part of the Turkic peoples
Turkic peoples through language shift, acculturation, adoption and religious conversion in a process called Turkification. In their genetic compositions, therefore, most Turkic groups differ significantly in origins from one group to the next, lacking one single historical founder population. Despite this, many do share, to varying degrees, non-linguistic characteristics, including certain cultural traits, some ancestry from a common gene pool, and historical experiences. The most notable modern Turkic-speaking ethnic groups include Turkish people, Azerbaijanis, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Turkmen and Kyrgyz people.

Contents

1 Etymology 2 History

2.1 Origins and early expansion 2.2 Middle Ages 2.3 Islamic empires

2.3.1 Muslim
Muslim Turks and non- Muslim
Muslim Turks 2.3.2 Murals and statues of medieval Turks 2.3.3 Turks in Arabic texts 2.3.4 Turks in European accounts

2.4 Modern history

3 Ethnic groups 4 Geographical distribution 5 International organizations 6 Demographics 7 Minorities
Minorities in Turkic Countries

7.1 Azerbaijan 7.2 Kazakhstan 7.3 Kyrgyzstan 7.4 Turkey 7.5 Turkmenistan 7.6 Uzbekistan

8 Past and Future Population 9 Land and Water Area (Exclude Caspian Sea) 10 Language 11 Religion

11.1 Early Turkic mythology
Turkic mythology and Tengrism 11.2 Religious conversions

12 Old sports 13 Gallery

13.1 Bezeklik caves and Mogao grottoes 13.2 Medieval times 13.3 Modern times

14 See also 15 References 16 Further reading 17 External links

Etymology

Map from Kashgari's Diwan, showing the distribution of Turkic tribes.

The first known mention of the term Turk (Old Turkic: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰 Türük[28][29][30] or 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰:𐰜𐰇𐰛 Kök Türük[28][29] Chinese: 突厥, Old Tibetan: duruggu/durgu (meaning "origin"),[31][32] Pinyin: Tūjué, Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese (Guangyun): [tʰuot-küot]) applied to a Turkic group was in reference to the Göktürks
Göktürks in the 6th century. A letter by Ishbara Qaghan to Emperor Wen of Sui in 585 described him as "the Great Turk Khan."[33] The Orhun inscriptions (735 CE) use the terms Turk and Turuk. Previous use of similar terms are of unknown significance, although some strongly feel that they are evidence of the historical continuity of the term and the people as a linguistic unit since early times. This includes Chinese records Spring and Autumn Annals
Spring and Autumn Annals referring to a neighbouring people as Beidi.[34] During the first century CE, Pomponius Mela
Pomponius Mela refers to the "Turcae" in the forests north of the Sea of Azov, and Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder lists the "Tyrcae" among the people of the same area.[35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42] There are references to certain groups in antiquity whose names could be the original form of "Türk/Türük" such as Togarma, Turukha/Turuška, Turukku and so on. But the information gap is so substantial that we cannot firmly connect these ancient people to the modern Turks.[43][44][45] Turkologist András Róna-Tas posits that the term Turk could be rooted in the East Iranian Saka language[46] or in Turkic.[47] However, it is generally accepted that the term "Türk" is ultimately derived from the Old-Turkic migration-term[48] 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰 Türük/Törük,[49][50] which means "created", "born",[51] or "strong",[52] from the Old Turkic word root *türi-/töri- ("tribal root, (mythic) ancestry; take shape, to be born, be created, arise, spring up") and conjugated with Old Turkic suffix 𐰰 (-ik), perhaps from Proto-Turkic *türi-k ("lineage, ancestry"),[49] from the Proto-Turkic word root *töŕ ("foundation, root; origin, ancestors"),[53][54] possibly from a Proto- Altaic
Altaic source *t`ŏ̀ŕe ("law, regulation").[55] This etymological concept is also related to Old Turkic word stems 'tür' ("root, ancestry, race, kind of, sort of"), 'türi-' ("to bring together, to collect"), 'törü' ("law, custom") and 'töz' ("substance").[49] The earliest Turkic-speaking peoples identifiable in Chinese sources are the Dingling, Gekun(Jiankun), and Xinli, located in South Siberia.[56][57] 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.[58] According to Persian tradition, as reported by 11th-century ethnographer Mahmud of Kashgar and various other traditional Islamic scholars and historians, the name "Turk" stems from Tur, one of the sons of Japheth
Japheth (see Turan). During the Middle Ages, various Turkic peoples
Turkic peoples of the Eurasian steppe were subsumed under the identity of the "Scythians".[59] Between 400 CE and the 16th century, Byzantine sources use the name Σκύθαι (Skuthai) in reference to twelve different Turkic peoples.[59] In the modern Turkish language
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.[60] History Origins and early expansion Main articles: Turkic migrations, Turkic tribal confederations, and Nomadic empires Further information: Xiongnu, Huns, and Göktürks

History of the Turkic peoples Pre-14th century

Turkic Khaganate
Turkic Khaganate 552–744

  Western Turkic

  Eastern Turkic

Khazar
Khazar Khaganate 618–1048

Xueyantuo
Xueyantuo 628–646

Great Bulgaria
Bulgaria 632–668

  Danube Bulgaria

  Volga Bulgaria

Kangar union
Kangar union 659–750

Turk Shahi
Turk Shahi 665–850

Turgesh
Turgesh Khaganate 699–766

Uyghur Khaganate
Uyghur Khaganate 744–840

Karluk Yabgu State 756–940

Kara-Khanid Khanate
Kara-Khanid Khanate 840–1212

  Western Kara-Khanid

  Eastern Kara-Khanid

Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom
Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom 848–1036

Qocho
Qocho 856–1335

Pecheneg Khanates 860–1091 Kimek confederation 743–1035

Cumania 1067–1239 Oghuz Yabgu State 750–1055

Ghaznavid Empire 963–1186

Seljuk Empire
Seljuk Empire 1037–1194

  Sultanate of Rum

Kerait khanate 11th century–13th century

Khwarazmian Empire 1077–1231

Naiman Khanate –1204

Qarlughid Kingdom 1224–1266

Delhi Sultanate
Delhi Sultanate 1206–1526

  Mamluk dynasty

  Khalji dynasty

  Tughlaq dynasty

Golden Horde
Golden Horde [61][62][63] 1240s–1502

Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)
Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo) 1250–1517

  Bahri dynasty

  Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire 1299–1923

Other Turkic dynasties 

in Anatolia Artuqid dynasty Saltuqid dynasty in Azerbaijan Ahmadili dynasty Ildenizid dynasty in Egypt Tulunid dynasty Ikhshidid dynasty in Fars Salghurid dynasty in The Levant Burid dynasty Zengid dynasty

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The top of Belukha in the Altay Mountains
Altay Mountains in Mongolia
Mongolia is shown here. The mountain range is thought to be the birthplace of the Turkic people.

Eastern Hemisphere in 500 BCE

It is generally agreed that the first Turkic people lived in a region extending from Central Asia
Central Asia to Siberia, with the majority of them living in China
China historically. Historically they were established after the 6th century BCE.[64] The earliest separate Turkic peoples
Turkic peoples appeared on the peripheries of the late Xiongnu
Xiongnu confederation about 200 BCE[64] (contemporaneous with the Chinese Han Dynasty).[65] Turkic people may be related to the Xiongnu, Dingling and Tiele people. According to the Book of Wei, the Tiele people
Tiele people were the remnants of the Chidi (赤狄), the red Di people competing with the Jin in the Spring and Autumn period.[66] Turkic tribes such as the Khazars
Khazars and Pechenegs
Pechenegs probably lived as nomads for many years before establishing the Turkic Khaganate or Göktürk Empire
Göktürk Empire in the 6th century. These were herdsmen and nobles who were searching for new pastures and wealth. The first mention of Turks was in a Chinese text that mentioned trade between Turk tribes and the Sogdians
Sogdians along the Silk Road.[67] The first recorded use of "Turk" as a political name appears as a 6th-century reference to the word pronounced in Modern Chinese as 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 tribe were famed metalsmiths and were granted land near a mountain quarry which looked like a helmet, from which they were said to have gotten their name 突厥 (tūjué). A century later their power had increased such that they conquered the Juan Juan and established the Gök Empire.[68] Turkic peoples
Turkic peoples originally used their own alphabets, like Orkhon and Yenisey runiforms, and later the Uyghur alphabet. Traditional national and cultural symbols of the Turkic peoples
Turkic peoples include wolves in Turkic mythology and tradition; as well as the color blue, iron, and fire. Turquoise
Turquoise blue (the word turquoise comes from the French word meaning "Turkish") is the color of the stone turquoise still used in jewelry and as a protection against the evil eye. It has often been suggested that the Xiongnu, mentioned in Han Dynasty records, were Proto-Turkic speakers.[69][70][71][72][73] Although little is known for certain about the Xiongnu
Xiongnu language(s), it seems likely that at least a considerable part of Xiongnu
Xiongnu tribes spoke a Turkic language.[74] However, some scholars see a possible connection with the Iranian-speaking Sakas.[75] Some scholars believe they were probably a confederation of various ethnic and linguistic groups.[76][77] Genetics research in 2003 on skeletons from 2000 year old Xiongnu
Xiongnu necropolis in Mongolia
Mongolia found some individuals with DNA sequences also present in some modern-day Turks, suggesting that a Turkish component had emerged in the Xiongnu
Xiongnu tribe at the end of the Xiongnu
Xiongnu period.[78][79] In 2009, archaeologists found Turkic balbals which are 2000 years old.[80][81] According to another archeological and genetic study in 2010, the DNA found in three skeletons in 2000-year-old elite Xiongnu
Xiongnu cemetery in Northeast Asia belonged to C3, D4 and R1a. The evidence of paternal R1a supports the Kurgan hypothesis
Kurgan hypothesis for the Indo-European expansion from the Volga steppe region.[82] As the R1a was found in Xiongnu people[82] and the present-day people of Central Asia[83] Analysis of skeletal remains from sites attributed to the Xiongnu
Xiongnu provides an identification of dolichocephalic Mongoloid, ethnically distinct from neighboring populations in present-day Mongolia.[84] Xiongnu
Xiongnu writing, older than Turkic, is agreed to have the earliest known Turkic alphabet, the Orkhon script. This has been argued recently using the only extant possibly Xiongu writings, the rock art of the Yinshan and Helan Mountains.[85] It dates from the 9th millennium BCE to the 19th century, and consists mainly of engraved signs (petroglyphs) and few painted images.[86] Excavations done during 1924–1925 in Noin-Ula
Noin-Ula kurgans located in the Selenga
Selenga River in the northern Mongolian hills north of Ulaanbaatar
Ulaanbaatar produced objects with over 20 carved characters, which were either identical or very similar to the runic letters of the Turkic Orkhon script
Orkhon script discovered in the Orkhon Valley.[87] The Hun
Hun hordes ruled by Attila, who invaded and conquered much of Europe
Europe in the 5th century, might have been Turkic and descendants of the Xiongnu.[65][88][89] Some scholars regard the Huns
Huns as one of the earlier Turkic tribes, while others view them as Proto-Mongolian in origin.[90] Linguistic
Linguistic studies by Otto Maenchen-Helfen and others have suggested that the language used by the Huns
Huns in Europe
Europe was too little documented to be classified, but may have been an Indo-European language. Nevertheless, many of the proper names used by Huns
Huns appear to be Turkic in origin.[91][92] In the first half of the first millennium, mass-migrations to distant places were common, geographical borders were fluid and cultural identity was more likely to change dramatically during the lifetime of an individual, relative to the modern era. These factors also made it more likely that the Huns
Huns were, initially at least, closely related to the Turkic peoples. In the 6th century, 400 years after the collapse of northern Xiongnu power in Inner Asia, the Göktürks
Göktürks assumed leadership of the Turkic peoples. Formerly in the Xiongnu
Xiongnu nomadic confederation, the Göktürks inherited their traditions and administrative experience. From 552 to 745, Göktürk
Göktürk leadership united the nomadic Turkic tribes into the Göktürk Empire
Göktürk Empire on Mongolia
Mongolia and Cental Asia. The name derives from gok, "blue" or "celestial". Unlike its Xiongnu
Xiongnu predecessor, the Göktürk
Göktürk Khanate had its temporary khans from the Ashina clan who were subordinate to a sovereign authority controlled by a council of tribal chiefs. The Khanate retained elements of its original shamanistic religion, Tengriism, although it received missionaries of Buddhist
Buddhist monks and practiced a syncretic religion. The Göktürks
Göktürks were the first Turkic people to write Old Turkic in a runic script, the Orkhon script. The Khanate 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". Turkic peoples
Turkic peoples and related groups migrated west from Turkestan
Turkestan and present-day Mongolia
Mongolia towards Eastern Europe, the Iranian plateau
Iranian plateau and Anatolia
Anatolia (modern Turkey) in many waves. The date of the initial expansion remains unknown. After many battles, they established their own state and later constructed the Ottoman Empire. The main migration occurred in medieval times, when they spread across most of Asia and into Europe
Europe and the Middle East.[68] They also took part in the military encounters of the Crusades.[93] Later Turkic peoples
Turkic peoples include the Karluks
Karluks (mainly 8th century), Uyghurs, Kyrgyz, Oghuz (or Ğuz) Turks, and Turkmens. As these peoples founded states in the area between Mongolia
Mongolia and Transoxiana, they came into contact with Muslims, and most of them gradually adopted Islam. Small groups of Turkic people practice other religions, including Christians, Jews
Jews (Khazars), Buddhists, and Zoroastrians. Other traditions see Togarmah
Togarmah (grandson of Japheth
Japheth the son of Noah) as the ancestor of the Turkic peoples. For example, The French Benedictine monk and scholar Calmet (1672–1757) places Togarmah
Togarmah in Scythia
Scythia and Turcomania (in the Eurasian Steppes and Central Asia).[94] Also in his letters, King Joseph ben Aaron, the ruler of the Khazars in the mid-10th century, writes:

"You ask us also in your epistle: "Of what people, of what family, and of what tribe are you?" Know that we are descended from Noach's son Japhet, through his son Gomer through his son Togarmah. I have found in the genealogical books of my ancestors that Togarmah
Togarmah had ten sons. These are their names:[95] the eldest was Ujur (Agiôr – Uyghurs), the second Tauris (Tirôsz – Tauri), the third Avar (Avôr – Pannonian Avars), the fourth Uauz (Ugin – Oghuz), the fifth Bizal (Bizel – Pecheneg), the sixth Tarna, the seventh Khazar
Khazar (Khazar), the eighth Janur (Zagur), the ninth Bulgar (Balgôr – Bulgar), the tenth Sawir (Szavvir/Szabir – Sabir)."

Jewish
Jewish sources also list Togarmah
Togarmah as the father of the Turkic peoples: The medieval Jewish
Jewish scholar: Joseph ben Gorion
Joseph ben Gorion lists in his Josippon (c. 10th century) the ten sons of Togarma as follows:

Kozar (the Khazars) Pacinak (the Pechenegs) Aliqanosz (the Alans) Bulgar (the Bulgars) Ragbiga (Ragbina, Ranbona) Turqi (possibly the Göktürks) Buz (the Oghuz) Zabuk Ungari (either the Hungarians or the Oghurs/Onogurs) Tilmac (Tilmic/Tirôsz – Tauri)."

The Chronicles of Jerahmeel lists them as:[96]

Cuzar (the Khazars) Pasinaq (the Pechenegs) Alan (the Alans) Bulgar (the Bulgars) Kanbinah Turq (possibly the Göktürks) Buz (the Oghuz) Zakhukh Ugar (either the Hungarians or the Oghurs/Onogurs) Tulmes (Tirôsz – Tauri)

Another medieval rabbinic work, the Book of Jasher, further corrupts[citation needed] these same names into:

Buzar (the Khazars) Parzunac (the Pechenegs) Balgar (the Bulgars) Elicanum (the Alans) Ragbib Tarki (possibly the Göktürks) Bid (the Oghuz) Zebuc Ongal (Hungarians or Oghurs/Onogurs) Tilmaz (Tirôsz – Tauri).

Arabic records give Togorma's tribes as:[citation needed]

Khazar
Khazar (the Khazars) Badsanag (the Pechenegs) Asz-alân (the Alans) Bulghar (the Bulgars) Zabub Fitrakh (Kotrakh?) (Ko-etrakh. Etrakh means "Turks" [possibly Gokturks]) Nabir Andsar (Ajhar) Talmisz (Tirôsz – Tauri) Adzîgher (Adzhigardak?).

The Arabic account however, also adds an 11th clan: Anszuh. Yet another tradition of the sons of Togarmah
Togarmah appears in Pseudo-Philo, giving their names as "Abiud, Saphath, Asapli, and Zepthir". The Chronicles of Jerahmeel, in addition to giving Sefer haYashar (midrash) the above names from Yosippon, elsewhere lists Togarmah's sons similarly as "Abihud, Shafat, and Yaftir". Middle Ages

Al-Mu'tasim

Turkic soldiers in the army of the Abbasid caliphs emerged as the de facto rulers of most of the Muslim
Muslim Middle East (apart from Syria
Syria and Egypt), 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.[68] Meanwhile, the Yenisei
Yenisei Kyrgyz allied with China
China to destroy the Uyghur Khaganate in 840. The Kyrgyz people
Kyrgyz people ultimately settled in the region now referred to as Kyrgyzstan. The Bulgars
Bulgars established themselves in between the Caspian and Black Seas in the 5th and 6th centuries, followed by their conquerors, the Khazars
Khazars who converted to Judaism
Judaism in the 8th or 9th century. After them came the Pechenegs
Pechenegs who created a large confederacy, which was subsequently taken over by the Cumans
Cumans and the Kipchaks. One group of Bulgars
Bulgars settled in the Volga region and mixed with local Volga Finns
Volga Finns to become the Volga Bulgars
Bulgars in what is today Tatarstan. These Bulgars
Bulgars were conquered by the Mongols following their westward sweep under Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan in the 13th century. Other Bulgars
Bulgars settled in Southeastern Europe
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.[68] In 1090–91, the Turkic Pechenegs
Pechenegs reached the walls of Constantinople, where Emperor Alexius I with the aid of the Kipchaks
Kipchaks annihilated their army.[97] Islamic empires Main articles: Ghaznavids, Seljuk Empire, Delhi
Delhi Sultanate, Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo), Timurids, Bahri dynasty, Deccan sultanates, Safavid Empire, Ottoman Empire, Mughal Empire, and Afsharid Empire

Suleiman I taking control of Moldova.

Crimean Khan, Mengli Giray at the court of the Bayezid II.

Tamerlane
Tamerlane and his forces advance against the Golden Horde, Khan Tokhtamysh.

A Mamluk nobleman from Aleppo.

As the Seljuk Empire
Seljuk Empire declined following the Mongol
Mongol invasion, the Ottoman Empire
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.[68] The Delhi Sultanate
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
Khalji dynasty (1290–1320); and the Tughlaq dynasty
Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1414). Southern India, also saw many Turkic origin dynasties like Bahmani Sultanate, Adil Shahi dynasty, Bidar Sultanate, Qutb Shahi dynasty, collectively known as Deccan sultanates. In Eastern Europe, Volga Bulgaria
Bulgaria became an Islamic state in 922 and influenced the region as it controlled many trade routes. In the 13th century, Mongols invaded Europe
Europe and established the Golden Horde
Golden Horde in Eastern Europe, western & northern Central Asia, and even western Siberia. The Cuman-Kipchak Confederation
Cuman-Kipchak Confederation and Islamic Volga Bulgaria were absorbed by the Golden Horde
Golden Horde in the 13th century; in the 14th century, Islam
Islam became the official religion under Uzbeg Khan
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
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
Russia (the European section). The Golden Horde
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
Russian Empire in the 16th through 19th centuries. In Siberia, the Siberian Khanate was established in the 1490s by fleeing Tatar aristocrats of the disintegrating Golden Horde
Golden Horde who established Islam
Islam as the official religion in western Siberia
Siberia over the partly Islamized native Siberian Tatars
Tatars and indigenous Uralic peoples. It was the northern-most Islamic state in recorded history and it survived up until 1598 when it was conquered by Russia. The Chagatai Khanate was the eastern & southern Central Asian section of the Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire in what is today part or whole of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Xinjiang
Xinjiang ("Uyghurstan"). Like the Moghulistan
Moghulistan and Golden Horde, the Chagatai Khanate became a Muslim
Muslim state in the 14th century. The Timurid Empire were an Uzbek-based Turkic 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
Muslim states, including the Golden Horde. The Mughal Empire
Mughal Empire was a Turkic-founded Indian empire that, at its greatest territorial extent, ruled most of the South Asia, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh
Bangladesh and parts of Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan from the early 16th to the early 18th centuries. The Mughal dynasty was founded by a Chagatai Turkic prince named Babur
Babur (reigned 1526–30), who was descended from the Turkic conqueror Timur
Timur (Tamerlane) on his father's side and from Chagatai, second son of the Mongol
Mongol ruler Genghis Khan, on his mother's side.[98][99] A further distinction was the attempt of the Mughals to integrate Hindus and Muslims into a united Indian state.[98][100][101][102] The Safavid dynasty
Safavid dynasty of Persia
Persia were of mixed ancestry (Kurdish[103] and Azerbaijani,[104] which included intermarriages with Georgian,[105] Circassian,[106][107] and Pontic Greek[108] dignitaries). Through intermarriage and other political considerations, the Safavids spoke Persian and Turkish,[109][110] 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
Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp.[111][112] The Safavid dynasty
Safavid dynasty ruled parts of Greater Iran
Iran for more than two centuries.[113][114][115][116] and established the Twelver
Twelver school of Shi'a Islam[117] as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning points in Muslim
Muslim history The Afsharid dynasty
Afsharid dynasty was named after the Turkic Afshar tribe to which they belonged. The Afshars had migrated from Turkestan
Turkestan to Azerbaijan in the 13th century. The dynasty was founded in 1736 by the military commander Nader Shah
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.[118] During Nader's reign, Iran
Iran reached its greatest extent since the Sassanid Empire. Muslim
Muslim Turks and non- Muslim
Muslim Turks The Muslim
Muslim Kara-Khanid Turks performed a mass conversion campaign against the Buddhist
Buddhist Uyghur Turks during the Islamicisation and Turkicisation of Xinjiang. The non- Muslim
Muslim Turks worship of Tengri
Tengri was mocked and insulted by the Muslim
Muslim Turk Mahmud al-Kashgari, who wrote a verse referring to them – The Infidels – May God destroy them![119][120] The Basmil, Yabāḳu and Uyghur states were among the Turkic peoples who fought against the Kara-Khanid's spread of Islam, the Islamic Kara-khanids were made out of Tukhai, Yaghma, Çiğil and Karluk.[121] 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.[122] The Yabaqu were a Turkic people.[123] The Muslim
Muslim Kara-Khanid Turk Mahmud 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
Persians "tat".[124][125] While Kashgari displayed a different attitude towards the Turks diviners beliefs and "national customs", he expressed towards Buddhism
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.[126][127] Murals and statues of medieval Turks

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

An Uyghur Khagan

Professor James A. Millward described the original Uyghurs
Uyghurs as phenotypically Mongoloid
Mongoloid until they began to mix with the Tarim Basin's original, Caucasoid
Caucasoid inhabitants, such as the Tocharians
Tocharians and eastern Iranian peoples.[128] The Uyghurs
Uyghurs of the Qocho
Qocho and Turfan
Turfan – whose ancestors had adopted the Buddhism
Buddhism of the Tocharians
Tocharians when they settled in the Tarim – were forcibly converted to Islam
Islam during a ghazat (holy war) by the Chagatai khan Khizr Khwaja.[129] After they had converted to Islam, subsequent generations of Uyghurs
Uyghurs came to believe, falsely, that the "infidel Kalmuks" (Dzungars) had built Buddhist
Buddhist monuments in the area.[130][131] The Buddhist
Buddhist murals at the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves were damaged by local Muslim
Muslim population whose religion proscribed figurative images of sentient beings; the eyes and mouths in particular were often gouged out. Pieces of some murals were broken off for use as fertilizer by the locals.[132] Turks in Arabic texts Further information: w:ar:بنو قنطوراء

This section contains Arabic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols.

The Arab Muslim
Muslim Umayyads
Umayyads and Abbasids
Abbasids fought against the pagan Turks in the Muslim
Muslim conquest of Transoxiana. The Muslims built ribats (military fortifications) against the non- Muslim
Muslim Turks in Transoxiana. The Medieval Arabs
Arabs recorded that Medieval Turks looked strange from their perspective and were extremely physically different from the Arabs, calling them "broad faced people with small eyes".[133][134] Medieval Muslim
Muslim writers noted that Tibetans
Tibetans and Turks resembled each other and often were not able to tell the difference between Turks and Tibetans.[135] The Hadith
Hadith collection Sahih al-Bukhari
Sahih al-Bukhari records a Sahih
Sahih Hadith
Hadith by Muhammad
Muhammad on the Turks- Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Turks; people with small eyes, red faces, and flat noses. Their faces will look like shields coated with leather. The Hour will not be established till you fight with people whose shoes are made of hair." (حَدَّثَنَا سَعِيدُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا يَعْقُوبُ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبِي، عَنْ صَالِحٍ، عَنِ الأَعْرَجِ، قَالَ قَالَ أَبُو هُرَيْرَةَ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " لاَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ حَتَّى تُقَاتِلُوا التُّرْكَ صِغَارَ الأَعْيُنِ، حُمْرَ الْوُجُوهِ، ذُلْفَ الأُنُوفِ، كَأَنَّ وُجُوهَهُمُ الْمَجَانُّ الْمُطَرَّقَةُ، وَلاَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ حَتَّى تُقَاتِلُوا قَوْمًا نِعَالُهُمُ الشَّعَرُ ".)[136][137][138][139][140][141][142][143][144][145][146][147][148] Another Sahih al-Bukhari
Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith
Hadith says – Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "The Hour will not be established till you fight a nation wearing hairy shoes, and till you fight the Turks, who will have small eyes, red faces and flat noses; and their faces will be like flat shields. And you will find that the best people are those who hate responsibility of ruling most of all till they are chosen to be the rulers. And the people are of different natures: The best in the pre-Islamic period are the best in Islam. A time will come when any of you will love to see me rather than to have his family and property doubled."(حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو الْيَمَانِ، أَخْبَرَنَا شُعَيْبٌ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو الزِّنَادِ، عَنِ الأَعْرَجِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " لاَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ حَتَّى تُقَاتِلُوا قَوْمًا نِعَالُهُمُ الشَّعَرُ، وَحَتَّى تُقَاتِلُوا التُّرْكَ، صِغَارَ الأَعْيُنِ، حُمْرَ الْوُجُوهِ، ذُلْفَ الأُنُوفِ كَأَنَّ وُجُوهَهُمُ الْمَجَانُّ الْمُطْرَقَةُ ". "«وَتَجِدُونَ مِنْ خَيْرِ النَّاسِ أَشَدَّهُمْ كَرَاهِيَةً لِهَذَا الأَمْرِ، حَتَّى يَقَعَ فِيهِ، وَالنَّاسُ مَعَادِنُ، خِيَارُهُمْ فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ خِيَارُهُمْ فِي الإِسْلاَمِ." "وَلَيَأْتِيَنَّ عَلَى أَحَدِكُمْ زَمَانٌ لأَنْ يَرَانِي أَحَبُّ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهُ مِثْلُ أَهْلِهِ وَمَالِهِ.").[149] A Sahih
Sahih Hadith
Hadith is also found in Sahih
Sahih Muslim
Muslim – Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: The Last Hour would not come until the Muslims fight with the Turks-a people whose faces would be like hammered shields wearing clothes of hair and walking (with shoes) of hair. (حَدَّثَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا يَعْقُوبُ، – يَعْنِي ابْنَ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ – عَنْ سُهَيْلٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " لاَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ حَتَّى يُقَاتِلَ الْمُسْلِمُونَ التُّرْكَ قَوْمًا وُجُوهُهُمْ كَالْمَجَانِّ الْمُطْرَقَةِ يَلْبَسُونَ الشَّعَرَ وَيَمْشُونَ فِي الشَّعَرِ " .).[150] A Sahih
Sahih Hadith
Hadith is also found in Sunan Nasai
Sunan Nasai – It was narrated from Abu Hurairah that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "The Hour will not begin until the Muslims fight the Turks, a people with faces like hammered shields who wear clothes made of hair and shoes made of hair." (أَخْبَرَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا يَعْقُوبُ، عَنْ سُهَيْلٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " لاَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ حَتَّى يُقَاتِلَ الْمُسْلِمُونَ التُّرْكَ قَوْمًا وُجُوهُهُمْ كَالْمَجَانِّ الْمُطَرَّقَةِ يَلْبَسُونَ الشَّعَرَ وَيَمْشُونَ فِي الشَّعَرِ " .)[151] A Sahih
Sahih Hadith
Hadith is also found in Abu Dawud- Abu Hurairah reported the Prophet (May peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour will not come before the Muslims fight with the Turks, a people whose faces look as if they were shields covered with skin, and who will wear sandals of hair. (حَدَّثَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ، حَدَّثَنَا يَعْقُوبُ، – يَعْنِي الإِسْكَنْدَرَانِيَّ – عَنْ سُهَيْلٍ، – يَعْنِي ابْنَ أَبِي صَالِحٍ – عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " لاَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ حَتَّى يُقَاتِلَ الْمُسْلِمُونَ التُّرْكَ قَوْمًا وُجُوهُهُمْ كَالْمَجَانِّ الْمُطْرَقَةِ يَلْبَسُونَ الشَّعْرَ " .)[152] A Da'if Hadith
Hadith is found in Abu Dawud – Buraidah said: In the tradition telling that people with small eyes, i.e. the Turks, will fight against you, the prophet (ﷺ) said: You will drive them off three times till you catch up with them in Arabia. On the first occasion when you drive them off those who fly will be safe, on the second occasion some will be safe and some will perish, but on the third occasion they will be extirpated, or he said words to that effect. (حَدَّثَنَا جَعْفَرُ بْنُ مُسَافِرٍ التِّنِّيسِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا خَلاَّدُ بْنُ يَحْيَى، حَدَّثَنَا بَشِيرُ بْنُ الْمُهَاجِرِ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ بُرَيْدَةَ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فِي حَدِيثِ " يُقَاتِلُكُمْ قَوْمٌ صِغَارُ الأَعْيُنِ " . يَعْنِي التُّرْكَ قَالَ " تَسُوقُونَهُمْ ثَلاَثَ مِرَارٍ حَتَّى تُلْحِقُوهُمْ بِجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِ فَأَمَّا فِي السِّيَاقَةِ الأُولَى فَيَنْجُو مَنْ هَرَبَ مِنْهُمْ وَأَمَّا فِي الثَّانِيَةِ فَيَنْجُو بَعْضٌ وَيَهْلِكُ بَعْضٌ وَأَمَّا فِي الثَّالِثَةِ فَيُصْطَلَمُونَ " . أَوْ كَمَا قَالَ .).[153] The Arab Muslims identified Banu Qantura' (بنو قنطوراء) as the Turks.[154][155][156] They were described as the Banu Qantura' people with wide faces and small eyes,[157] or a people with flat faces and small eyes[158] they have faces like shields covered with leather,[159][160][161] A Hadith
Hadith is found in Abu Dawud – Narrated AbuBakrah: The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said: Some of my people will alight on low-lying ground, which they will call al-Basrah, beside a river called Dajjal (the Tigris) over which there is a bridge. Its people will be numerous and it will be one of the capital cities of immigrants (or one of the capital cities of Muslims, according to the version of Ibn Yahya who reported from AbuMa'mar). At the end of time the descendants of Qantura' will come with broad faces and small eyes and alight on the bank of the river. The town's inhabitants will then separate into three sections, one of which will follow cattle and (live in) the desert and perish, another of which will seek security for themselves and perish, but a third will put their children behind their backs and fight the invaders, and they will be the martyrs.[162] Turks in European accounts

The Turkomans observe a difference between their children from Turkoman mothers, and those from the Persian female captives whom they take as wives, and the Kazakh women whom they purchase from the Uzbeks of Khiva. The Turkomans of pure race enjoy full privileges, while the others are not allowed to contract marriages with Turkoman women of pure blood, but must choose themselves wives among the half-castes and Kazakh captives. As there exists a great animosity between the Yamuds and Goklans they do not intermarry, although they reckon themselves of equally noble lineage. The same hatred is extended to the Tekke Turkomans, whom the Goklans and Yamuds, moreover, look upon as their inferiors, being, according to their genealogies, the descendants of a slave-woman, whilst they are the posterity of a free-woman. (p. 71) The more intimate connection of the Astrakhan and Kazan Tartars with the Mogols can be traced in their features; with the Nogay it is less visible. In like manner, the Turkomans further off in the desert, and the Uzbeks
Uzbeks of Khive, have more of the Mogol expression than the Turkomans who encamp near the Persian frontier. The frequent intercourse of the Nogay, in latter years, with the Cherkess, seems to have improved their race; and notwithstanding the enmity that exists between the Turkomans and the Persians, it is still not unlikely that their close vicinity should have produced on the former a similar effect in a lapse of several centuries. The fact we have seen, that the Turkomans marry Persian women, when they take them as prisoners. The Turkoman women are, like the men, tall, and when young, well-shaped; their faces are rounder than those of the men; the cheek-bones less prominent; the eyes black, with fine eye-brows, and many with fair complexion; the nose is rather flat; the mouth small, with a row of regular white teeth. In a word, a great number of the younger part of the community might be reckoned as fair specimens of pretty women. (p. 73)

Bode, C.A. "The Yamud and Goklan tribes of Turkomania". Journal of the London Ethnological Society, vol. 1, 1848, pp. 60–78. Modern history

Independent Turkic states shown in red

The Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire gradually grew weaker in the face of poor administration, repeated wars with Russia
Russia and Austro-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.[68] Ethnic nationalism also developed in Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire during the 19th century, taking the form of Pan-Turkism
Pan-Turkism or Turanism. The Turkic peoples
Turkic peoples of Central Asia
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
Soviet Union or (after a short-lived First East Turkestan
Turkestan Republic) in the Chinese Republic. 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
Yakutia remained in the Russian Federation. Chinese Turkestan
Turkestan remained part of the People's Republic of China. Immediately after the independence of the Turkic states, Turkey
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 later the Turkic Council
Turkic Council in 2009. Ethnic groups Turkic ethnic groups are prominent in the world today and there have been Turkic nations in the past. The modern list includes:

Altai Azerbaijanis Balkars Bashkirs Chuvashes Crimean Karaites Gagauz Karachays Karakalpaks Kazakhs Khakas Krymchaks Kyrgyz Nogais Qashqai Tatars Turkmens Turkish Tuvans Uyghurs Uzbeks Yakuts

The historical list includes:

Dingling Bulgars Alat Basmyl Onogurs Saragurs Sabirs Shatuo Chuban Göktürks Oghuz Turks Kankalis Khazars Khaljis Kipchaks Kumans Karluks Tiele Turgesh Yenisei
Yenisei Kirghiz

The origins of the Huns, Tuoba, and Xiongnu
Xiongnu are unknown but may be of Turkic ancestry.[27][95][163][164][165] Geographical distribution

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Descriptive map of Turkic peoples.

Countries and autonomous subdivisions where a Turkic language has official status and/or is spoken by a majority.

Many of the Turkic peoples
Turkic peoples have their homelands in Central Asia, where the Turkic peoples
Turkic peoples settled from China. According to historian John Foster, "The Turks emerge from among the Huns
Huns in the middle of [the] fifth century. They were living in Liang territory when it began to be overrun by the greater principality of Wei. Preferring to remain under the rule of their own kind, they moved westward into what is now the province of Kansu. This was the territory of kindred Huns, who were called the Rouran. The Turks were a small tribe of only five hundred families, and they became serfs to the Rouran, who used them as iron-workers. It is thought that the original meaning of "Turk" is "helmet", and that they may have taken this name because of the shape of one of the hills near which they worked. As their numbers and power grew, their chief made bold to ask for the hand of a Rouran
Rouran princess in marriage. The demand was refused, and war followed. In 546, the iron-workers defeated their overlords."[166] Since then Turkic languages have spread, through migrations and conquests, to other locations including present-day Turkey. While the term "Turk" may refer to a member of any Turkic people, the term Turkish usually refers specifically to the people and language of the modern country of Turkey. The Turkic languages
Turkic languages constitute a language family of some 30 languages, spoken across a vast area from Eastern Europe
Europe and the Mediterranean, to Siberia
Siberia and Western China, and through to the Middle East. Some 170 million people have a Turkic language as their native language;[167] 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.[168] More than one third of these are ethnic Turks of Turkey, dwelling predominantly in Turkey
Turkey proper and formerly Ottoman-dominated areas of Eastern Europe and West Asia; as well as in Western Europe, Australia
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. At present, there are six independent Turkic countries: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan; There are also several Turkic national subdivisions[169] 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
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in western China
China and the autonomous region of Gagauzia, located within eastern Moldova
Moldova and bordering Ukraine
Ukraine to the north, are two major autonomous Turkic regions. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea
Crimea within Ukraine
Ukraine is a home of Crimean Tatars. In addition, there are several communities found in Iraq, Georgia, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and western Mongolia. The Turks in Turkey
Turkey are over 60 million[170] 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
Azerbaijan and Iran. Turks in India
Turks in India are very small in number. There are barely 150 Turkish people from Turkey
Turkey in India. These are recent immigrants. Descendants of Turkish rulers also exist in Northern India. Mughals who are part Turkic people also live in India in significant numbers. They are descendants of the Mughal rulers of India. Karlugh Turks
Karlugh Turks are also found in the Haraza region and in smaller number in Azad Kashmir region of Pakistan. Small amount of Uyghurs
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 Turks
Karlugh Turks which is direct descendant 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". The Western Yugur at Gansu in China, Salar at Qinghai in China, the Dolgan
Dolgan at Krasnoyarsk Krai in Russia, and the Nogai at Dagestan
Dagestan in Russia
Russia are the Turk minorities in the respective regions. International organizations

Map of TÜRKSOY members.

Further information: Pan-Turkism

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2009)

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). The newly established Turkic Council, founded on November 3, 2009 by the Nakhchivan Agreement confederation, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan and Turkey, aims to integrate these organizations into a tighter geopolitical framework. The TAKM
TAKM – Organization of the Eurasian Law Enforcement Agencies with Military Status, established on 25 January 2013. Demographics

Bashkirs, painting from 1812, Paris

The distribution of people of Turkic cultural background ranges from Siberia, across Central Asia, to Eastern 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
Turkey and Iran. Additionally, Turkic people are found within Crimea, Altishahr
Altishahr 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
Poland and the south-eastern part of Finland.[171] 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. Much of the Turkic population of Central Asia
Central Asia has significant Caucasoid
Caucasoid and Mongoloid
Mongoloid ancestry. The genetic distances between the different populations of Uzbeks
Uzbeks scattered across Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan is no greater than the distance between many of them and the Karakalpaks. This suggests that Karakalpaks
Karakalpaks and Uzbeks
Uzbeks have very similar origins. The Karakalpaks
Karakalpaks have a somewhat greater bias towards the eastern markers than the Uzbeks.[172] Historical population:

Year Population

1 AD 2–2.5 million?

2013 150–200 million

The Turkic people display a great variety of ethnic types.[173] They possess physical features ranging from Caucasoid
Caucasoid to Northern Mongoloid. Mongoloid
Mongoloid and Caucasoid
Caucasoid facial structure is common among many Turkic groups, such as Chuvash people, Tatars, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, and Bashkirs. 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

Turks Turkey

60 70 M Turkish Sunni
Sunni Islam

Azerbaijanis Iranian Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan

42 30–35 M Azerbaijani Shia Islam

Uzbeks Uzbekistan

32 28.3 M Uzbek Sunni
Sunni Islam

Kazakhs Kazakhstan

15 13.8 M Kazakh Sunni
Sunni Islam

Uyghurs Altishahr
Altishahr (China)

15 9 M Uyghur Sunni
Sunni Islam

Turkmens Turkmenistan

03 8 M Turkmen Sunni
Sunni Islam

Tatars Tatarstan

07 7 M Tatar Sunni
Sunni Islam

Kyrgyzs Kyrgyzstan

026 4.5 M Kyrgyz Sunni
Sunni Islam

Bashkirs Bashkortostan
Bashkortostan (Russia)

009 2 M Bashkir Sunni
Sunni Islam

Crimean Tatars Crimea
Crimea (Russia/Ukraine)

009 0.5 to 2 M Crimean Tatar Sunni
Sunni Islam

Qashqai Southern Iran

009 1.7 M Qashqai Shia Islam

Chuvashes Chuvashia

010 1.7 M Chuvash Orthodox Christianity

Karakalpaks Karakalpakstan
Karakalpakstan (Uzbekistan)

007 0.6 M Karakalpak Sunni
Sunni Islam

Yakuts Yakutia
Yakutia (Russia)

007 0.5 M Sakha Orthodox Christianity

Kumyks Dagestan
Dagestan (Russia)

007 0.4 M Kumyk Sunni
Sunni Islam

Karachays
Karachays and Balkars Karachay-Cherkessia
Karachay-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria
Kabardino-Balkaria (Russia)

007 0.4 M Karachay-Balkar Sunni
Sunni Islam

Tuvans Tuva
Tuva (Russia)

009 0.3 M Tuvan Tibetan Buddhism

Gagauzs Gagauzia
Gagauzia (Moldova)

009 0.2 M Gagauz Orthodox Christianity

Turkic Karaites and Krymchaks Ukraine

007 0.2 M Karaim and Krymchak Judaism

Minorities
Minorities in Turkic Countries Azerbaijan Main article: Demographics of Azerbaijan Kazakhstan Main article: Demographics of Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Main article: Demographics of Kyrgyzstan Turkey Main article: Demographics of Turkey

Number Ethnic Minimum Estimates Maximum Estimates Further information

Balkan

1  Albania 1,500,000 5,000,000 Albanians
Albanians in Turkey
Turkey / Albanians

2  Bosnia and Herzegovina 100,000 2,000,000 Bosniaks in Turkey
Turkey / Bosnians

3  Bulgaria 350,000 750,000 Bulgarians
Bulgarians in Turkey
Turkey / Pomaks in Turkey
Turkey / Bulgarians

4  Greece 2,000 30,000 Greeks
Greeks in Turkey
Turkey / Pontic Greeks
Pontic Greeks / Caucasus
Caucasus Greeks
Greeks / Greeks

5  Serbia 15,000 60,000 Serbs
Serbs in Turkey
Turkey / Serbs

1 Total 2,000,000 7,900,000 Minorities
Minorities in Turkey

Caucasus

1  Abkhazia 600,000 600,000 Abkhazians
Abkhazians / Abkhaz language

2  Armenia 150,000 5,000,000 Armenians
Armenians in Turkey
Turkey / Hidden Armenians
Hidden Armenians / Armenians

3  Chechnya 100,000 100,000 Chechens
Chechens in Turkey
Turkey / Chechens

4  Circassia 150,000 7,000,000 Circassians
Circassians in Turkey
Turkey / Circassians

5  Georgia 100,000 1,500,000 Georgians
Georgians in Turkey
Turkey / Georgians

6  Turkey 45,000 2,250,000 Laz people
Laz people in Turkey
Turkey / Laz people

2 Total 1,100,000 16,450,000 Peoples of the Caucasus
Caucasus in Turkey
Turkey / Peoples of the Caucasus

Central Asia

1  Kazakhstan 10,000 10,000 Kazakhs

2  Kyrgyzstan 1,600 1,600 Kyrgyzs

3  Tajikistan 1,000 1,000 Tajiks

4  Turkmenistan 1,500 1,500 Turkmens

5  East Turkestan 50,000 50,000 Uyghurs

6  Uzbekistan 45,000 45,000 Uzbeks

3 Total 120,000 120,000 Central Asian peoples

Turkic peoples

1  Azerbaijan 530,000 800,000 Azerbaijanis
Azerbaijanis in Turkey
Turkey / Azerbaijanis

2  Crimea 150,000 6,000,000 Crimean Tatars
Tatars in Turkey
Turkey / Crimean Tatars

3  Karachay-Cherkessia 20,000 20,000 Karachays

4  Turkey 40,000 75,000 Meskhetian Turks

4 Total 740,000 6,895,000 Turkic peoples

Iranian peoples

1  Afghanistan 25,000 50,000 Afghans in Turkey
Turkey / Afghans

2  Iran 500,000 650,000 Iranian diaspora / Persians

3  Kurdistan 13,000,000 23,000,000 Kurds
Kurds in Turkey
Turkey / Kurdish population
Kurdish population / Turkish Kurdistan
Turkish Kurdistan / Kurds

4  Kurdistan 1,000,000 3,000,000 Zaza Kurds
Kurds / Zaza nationalism
Zaza nationalism / Zaza language

5  North Ossetia-Alania 50,000 50,000 Ossetians
Ossetians in Turkey
Turkey / Ossetians

6  Romani 700,000 5,000,000 Romani people
Romani people in Turkey
Turkey / Romani people

5 Total 15,300,000 31,750,000 Iranian peoples

European peoples

1  Netherlands 15,000 15,000 Dutch people

2  Germany 50,000 50,000 Germans
Germans in Turkey
Turkey / Germans

3  Great Britain 35,000 35,000 Britons in Turkey
Turkey / British people

4  Italy 35,000 35,000 Levantines in Turkey
Turkey / Levantines (Latin Catholics)

5  Poland 4,000 4,000 Polish diaspora
Polish diaspora / Poles

6  Russia 50,000 50,000 Russians
Russians in Turkey
Turkey / Russians

6 Total 190,000 190,000 European peoples

Other Minorities

1  African Union 100,000 100,000 Afro Turks
Afro Turks / African diaspora
African diaspora / Africans

2  Arab League 1,500,000 5,000,000 Arabs
Arabs in Turkey
Turkey / Iraqis in Turkey
Turkey / Arabs

3  Assyria 15,000 65,000 Assyrians in Turkey
Turkey / Assyrian genocide
Assyrian genocide / Assyrians

4  Israel 15,000 18,000 Jews
Jews in Turkey
Turkey / Antisemitism in Turkey
Turkey / Jews

7 Total 1,630,000 5,200,000 Other Minorities
Minorities in Turkey

37 Group Grand Total 21,080,000 68,505,000 Minorities
Minorities in Turkey

Turkmenistan Main article: Demographics of Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Main article: Demographics of Uzbekistan Past and Future Population

Main article: List of countries by past and future population

Main article: List of countries by future population (United Nations, medium fertility variant)

List of countries by past and future population provide 1950, 2000 and 2050 population while List of countries by future population (United Nations, medium fertility variant) provide 2100 population.

Rank Country Area 1950 2000 2050 2100

1  Turkey 783,562 21,122,000 65,970,000 89,291,000 87,983,000

2  Uzbekistan 447,400 6,293,000 25,042,000 35,117,000 32,077,000

3  Kazakhstan 2,724,900 6,694,000 15,688,000 22,238,000 24,712,000

4  Azerbaijan 86,600 2,886,000 8,464,000 11,210,000 9,636,000

5  Kyrgyzstan 199,900 1,739,000 4,938,000 7,064,000 9,046,000

6  Turkmenistan 488,100 1,205,000 4,386,000 6,608,000 5,606,000

Total 4,730,462 39,939,000 124,488,000 171,528,000 169,060,000

Land and Water Area (Exclude Caspian Sea)

Main article: Exclusive economic zone

This list includes dependent territories within their sovereign states (including uninhabited territories), but does not include claims on Antarctica. EEZ+TIA is exclusive economic zone (EEZ) plus total internal area (TIA) which includes land and internal waters.

Rank Country Area EEZ Shelf EEZ+TIA

1  Turkey 783,562 261,654 56,093 1,045,216

2  Uzbekistan 447,400 0 0 447,400

3  Kazakhstan 2,724,900 0 0 2,724,900

4  Azerbaijan 86,600 0 0 86,600

5  Kyrgyzstan 199,900 0 0 199,900

6  Turkmenistan 488,100 0 0 488,100

Total 4,730,462 261,654 56,093 4,992,116

Language

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

Main articles: Turkic languages
Turkic languages and Proto-Turkic language Further information: Turkic alphabets (other) 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 c. 150, and the alphabets were generally replaced by the Old Uyghur alphabet in the Central Asia, Arabic script
Arabic script in the Middle and Western Asia, Greek-derived Cyrillic
Cyrillic in Eastern Europe
Europe and in the Balkans, and Latin alphabet
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.[174] The Turkic alphabets are divided into four groups, the best known of them is the Orkhon version of the Enisei group. The Orkhon script
Orkhon script is the alphabet used by the Göktürks
Göktürks from the 8th century to record the Old Turkic language. It was later used by the Uyghur Empire; a Yenisei
Yenisei variant is known from 9th-century Kyrgyz inscriptions, and it has likely cousins in the Talas Valley
Talas Valley of Turkestan
Turkestan and the Old Hungarian script
Old Hungarian script of the 10th century. The Turkic language family is traditionally considered to be part of the proposed Altaic
Altaic language family.[168][175][176][177] The various Turkic languages
Turkic languages are usually considered in geographical groupings: the Oghuz (or Southwestern) languages, the Kypchak (or Northwestern) languages, the Eastern languages (like Uygur), the Northern languages (like Altay and Yakut), and one existing Oghur language: Chuvash (the other Oghur languages, like Hunnic and Bulgaric, are now extinct). The high mobility and intermixing of Turkic peoples
Turkic peoples in history makes an exact classification extremely difficult. The Turkish language
Turkish language belongs to the Oghuz subfamily of Turkic. It is for the most part mutually intelligible with the other Oghuz languages, which include Azerbaijani, Gagauz, Turkmen and Urum, and to a varying extent with the other Turkic languages. Religion

A shaman doctor of Kyzyl.

Early Turkic mythology
Turkic mythology and Tengrism Main articles: Turkic mythology, Tengrism, and Shamanism
Shamanism in Central Asia Pre-Islamic Turkic mythology
Turkic mythology was dominated by Tengrism
Tengrism and shamanism. The chief deity was Tengri, a sky god, worshipped by the upper classes of early Turkic society until Manichaeism
Manichaeism was introduced as the official religion of the Uyghur Empire
Uyghur Empire in 763. The wolf symbolizes honour and is also considered the mother of most Turkic peoples. Asena ( Ashina Tuwu) 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. Religious conversions

Mosque
Mosque in Kazakhstan.

Tengri
Tengri Bögü Khan made the now extinct Manichaeism
Manichaeism the state religion of Uyghur Khaganate
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
Buddhist Uyghur Gaochang
Gaochang up to the 12th century.[178] Tibetan Buddhism, or Vajrayana
Vajrayana was the main religion after Manichaeism.[179] They worshipped Täŋri Täŋrisi Burxan,[180] Quanšï Im Pusar[181] and Maitri Burxan.[182] Turkic Muslim
Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent and west Xinjiang
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
Tuvans and Altai of Russia
Russia are the only remaining Buddhist
Buddhist Turkic peoples. The Krymchaks
Krymchaks of Eastern Europe
Europe (Especially Crimea) are Jewish, and there are Turks of Jewish
Jewish backgrounds who live in major cities such as Istanbul, Ankara and Baku. The Khazars
Khazars widely practiced Judaism
Judaism before their conversion to Islam.[citation needed] Even though many Turkic peoples
Turkic peoples became Muslims under the influence of Sufis, often of Shī‘ah persuasion, most Turkic people today are Sunni
Sunni Muslims, although a significant number in Turkey
Turkey are Alevis. Alevi
Alevi Turks, who were once primarily dwelling in eastern Anatolia, are today concentrated in major urban centers in western Turkey
Turkey with the increased urbanism. The major Christian- Turkic peoples
Turkic peoples are the Chuvash of Chuvashia
Chuvashia and the Gagauz (Gökoğuz) of Moldova. The traditional religion of the Chuvash of Russia, while containing many ancient Turkic concepts, also shares some elements with Zoroastrianism, Khazar
Khazar Judaism, and Islam. The Chuvash converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Christianity for the most part in the second half of the 19th century. 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.[183] Church of the East was popular among Turks such as the Naimans.[184] It even revived in Gaochang
Gaochang and expanded in Xinjiang
Xinjiang in the Yuan dynasty period.[185][186][187] It disappeared after its collapse.[188][189] Old sports

Kyz kuu.

The Kyz kuu
Kyz kuu (chase the girl) – it has been played by Turkic people at festivals since time immemorial.[190] The Jereed – 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. So became jereed the most important sporting and ceremonial game of Turkish people.[191] The kokpar began with the nomadic Turkic peoples
Turkic peoples who have come from farther north and east spreading westward from China
China and Mongolia between the 10th and 15th centuries.[192] The jigit which is used in the Caucasus
Caucasus and Central Asia
Central Asia to describe a skillful and brave equestrian, or a brave person in general.[193] Gallery Bezeklik caves and Mogao grottoes Images of Buddhist
Buddhist and Manichean Turkic Uyghurs
Uyghurs from the Bezeklik caves and Mogao grottoes.

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

Uyghur prince from the Bezeklik murals.

Uyghur woman from the Bezeklik murals.

Uyghur Princess.

Uyghur Princesses from the Bezeklik murals.

Uyghur Princes from the Bezeklik murals.

Uyghur Prince from the Bezeklik murals.

Uyghur noble from the Bezeklik murals.

Uyghur noble from the Bezeklik murals.

Uyghur donor from the Bezeklik murals.

Uyghur Manichaean Electae from Qocho.

Uyghur Manichaean clergymen from Qocho.

Art from Qocho.

Manicheans from Qocho

Medieval times

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

Modern times

Azerbaijani girls in traditional dress.

Young and old Gagauz people.

Turkmen girl in national dress.

Uzbek children in Samarkand.

Turkish women playing backgammon.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton visits Tatarstan.

Bashkir boys in national dress.

A Chuvash woman in traditional dress.

Uyghur man of Yarkand.

Two Uyghur elders from Turpan.

A female Chuvash dancer in traditional dress.

Tatar woman in the 18th century.

Female Azerbaijani from Baku.

Karachay
Karachay patriarchs in the 19th century

Uyghur farmer, Xinjiang.

Altay man in national suit on horse

Kazakh family inside a Yurt

An Uyghur girl - a natural blond with epicanthic fold (in Xinjiang, China)

An Yakut women

See also

Por-Bazhyn Ordu-Baliq Jankent Chigils Turks Dukha people Bulaqs Shato Pan-Turkism Turkic languages Turkic migrations Turkic mythology Turko-Persian tradition Turko-Mongol Turkology List of ethnic groups List of Turkic dynasties and countries European ethnic groups Peoples of the Caucasus Kabul Shahi

References

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“ The number of Turkmens
Turkmens in Syria
Syria is not fully known, with unconfirmed estimates ranging between 800,000 and one million. ”

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Greeks and Türkmens: The Pontic Exception", Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 29 (1975), Appendix II "Genealogy of the Muslim
Muslim Marriages of the Princesses of Trebizond" ^ Savory, Roger (2007). Iran
Iran Under the Safavids. Cambridge University Press. p. 213. ISBN 978-0-521-04251-2. qizilbash normally spoke Azari brand of Turkish at court, as did the Safavid shahs themselves; lack of familiarity with the Persian language may have contributed to the decline from the pure classical standards of former times  ^ E. Yarshater, "Iran", . Encyclopædia Iranica. "The origins of the Safavids are clouded in obscurity. They may have been of Kurdish origin (see R. Savory, Iran
Iran Under the Safavids, 1980, p. 2; R. Matthee, "Safavid Dynasty" at iranica.com), but for all practical purposes they were Turkish-speaking and Turkified. " ^ John L. Esposito, The Oxford History of Islam, Oxford University Press US, 1999. pp 364: "To support their legitimacy, the Safavid dynasty of Iran
Iran (1501–1732) devoted a cultural policy to establish their regime as the reconstruction of the historic Iranian monarchy. To the end, they commissioned elaborate copies of the Shahnameh, the Iranian national epic, such as this one made for Tahmasp in the 1520s." ^ Ira Marvin Lapidus, A history of Islamic Societies, Cambridge University Press, 2002, 2nd edition. pg 445: To bolster the prestige of the state, the Safavid dynasty
Safavid dynasty sponsored an Iran-Islamic style of culture concentrating on court poetry, painting, and monumental architecture that symbolized not only the Islamic credentials of the state but also the glory of the ancient Persian traditions." ^ Helen Chapin Metz. Iran, a Country study. 1989. University of Michigan, p. 313. ^ Emory C. Bogle. Islam: Origin and Belief. University of Texas Press. 1989, p. 145. ^ Stanford Jay Shaw. History of the Ottoman Empire. Cambridge University Press. 1977, p. 77. ^ Andrew J. Newman, Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire, IB Tauris (March 30, 2006). ^ RM Savory, Safavids, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed. ^ Cambridge History of Iran
Iran Volume 7, pp. 2–4 ^ Robert Dankoff (2008). From Mahmud Kaşgari to Evliya Çelebi. Isis Press. p. 81. ISBN 978-975-428-366-2.  ^ Dankoff, Robert (Jan–Mar 1975). "Kāšġarī on the Beliefs and Superstitions of the Turks". Journal of the American Oriental Society. American Oriental Society. 95 (1): 70. doi:10.2307/599159. JSTOR 599159.  ^ Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb; Bernard Lewis; Johannes Hendrik Kramers; Charles Pellat; Joseph Schacht (1998). The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Brill. p. 689.  ^ Robert Dankoff (2008). From Mahmud Kaşgari to Evliya Çelebi. Isis Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-975-428-366-2.  ^ Mehmet Fuat Köprülü; Gary Leiser; Robert Dankoff (2006). Early Mystics in Turkish Literature. Psychology Press. pp. 147–. ISBN 978-0-415-36686-1.  ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20151118063834/http://projects.iq.harvard.edu/huri/files/viii-iv_1979-1980_part1.pdf p. 160. ^ Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute (1980). Harvard Ukrainian studies. Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. p. 160.  ^ Robert Dankoff (2008). From Mahmud Kaşgari to Evliya Çelebi. Isis Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-975-428-366-2.  ^ Dankoff, Robert (Jan–Mar 1975). "Kāšġarī on the Beliefs and Superstitions of the Turks". Journal of the American Oriental Society. American Oriental Society. 95 (1): 69. doi:10.2307/599159. JSTOR 599159.  ^ Millward, James A. (2007). Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang
Xinjiang (illustrated ed.). Columbia University Press. p. 43. ISBN 0231139241. Retrieved 10 March 2014.  ^ James A. Millward (2007). Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang. Columbia University Press. pp. 69–. ISBN 978-0-231-13924-3.  ^ Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb; Bernard Lewis; Johannes Hendrik Kramers; Charles Pellat; Joseph Schacht (1998). The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Brill. p. 677.  ^ [1][2][3] ^ Whitfield, Susan (2010). "A place of safekeeping? The vicissitudes of the Bezeklik murals". In Agnew, Neville. Conservation of ancient sites on the Silk Road: proceedings of the second International Conference on the Conservation of Grotto Sites, Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang, People's Republic of China
China (PDF). Getty Publications. pp. 95–106. ISBN 978-1-60606-013-1. Archived from History and Silk Road
Silk Road Studies the original Check url= value (help) on 2012-10-30.  ^ The Turks of the Eurasian Steppes in Medieval Arabic Writing, R. Amitai, M. Biran, eds., Mongols, Turks and Others: Eurasian Nomads and the Sedentary World. Leyde, Brill, 2005, pp. 222–3. ^ Reuven Amitai; Michal Biran (2005). Mongols, Turks, and Others: Eurasian Nomads and the Sedentary World. Brill. p. 222. ISBN 978-90-04-14096-7.  ^ André Wink (2002). Al-Hind: The Slavic Kings and the Islamic conquest, 11th–13th centuries. BRILL. pp. 69–. ISBN 0-391-04174-6.  ^ : Sahih al-Bukhari
Sahih al-Bukhari 2928  : Book 56, Hadith
Hadith 141  : Vol. 4, Book 52, Hadith
Hadith 179 ^ Hadith
Hadith 4:179 ^ IslamKotob. bukharitext. IslamKotob. pp. 689–. GGKEY:FBLX1RRQSHD.  ^ Bill McLean; IslamKotob. bukhari. IslamKotob. pp. 689–. GGKEY:TAALKTXZJCJ.  ^ Muhammad
Muhammad Muhsin Khan (1971). Sahih
Sahih Bukhari. Peace Vision. pp. 684–. ISBN 978-1-4710-6369-5.  ^ 288 hadith found in 'Fighting for the Cause of Allah (Jihaad)' of Sahih
Sahih Bukhari. ^ Imam Bukhari & Muslim
Muslim (15 August 2014). Sahih
Sahih Al-Bukhari Muslim: Arabic – English (English Translation). pp. 114–.  ^ Muḥammad ibn Ismāʻīl Bukhārī; Muhammad
Muhammad Muhsin Khan (1996). مختصر صحيح البخاري. Darussalam. pp. 602–. ISBN 978-9960-740-80-5.  ^ Muhammad
Muhammad Muhsin Khan (1971). Sahih
Sahih Bukhari. Peace Vision. pp. 684–. ISBN 978-1-4710-6369-5.  ^ Vol. 4, Book 52, Hadith
Hadith 179 ^ Hamdaan Publications. Sahih
Sahih Al-Bukhari. pp. 690–.  ^ Something Said the Lord Christ. Douglas Chick. pp. 359–. ISBN 978-1-937485-45-0.  ^ Kailtyn Chick. Islamic Hadith
Hadith (English Translation). Hamlet Book Publishing. pp. 230–.  ^ : Sahih al-Bukhari
Sahih al-Bukhari 3587, 3588, 3589 : Book 61, Hadith
Hadith 96 : Vol. 4, Book 56, Hadith
Hadith 787 ^ : Sahih
Sahih Muslim
Muslim 2912 d : Book 54, Hadith
Hadith 79 : Book 41, Hadith
Hadith 6959 ^ : Sunan an-Nasa'i 3177 : Book 25, Hadith
Hadith 93 : Vol. 1, Book 25, Hadith
Hadith 3179 ^ : Sunan Abi Dawud 4303 : Book 39, Hadith
Hadith 13 : Book 38, Hadith
Hadith 4289 ^ : Sunan Abi Dawud 4305 : Book 39, Hadith
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Hadith 4291 ^ IslamKotob. e061. IslamKotob. pp. 174–. GGKEY:EL7K3HJ1T49.  ^ Mämmädhäsän Qämbärli (1998). Ärab ädäbi-bädii qaynaqlarında Türk. Mütärcim. p. 17.  ^ Andrew Rippin (January 2001). The Qurản, Style and Contents. Ashgate. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-86078-700-6.  ^ Abd Allah Ibn Umar Baydawi; Mahmud Isfahani (October 2001). Nature, man and God in medieval Islam. 1 (2002). BRILL. pp. 989–. ISBN 90-04-12102-1.  ^ Saheeh al-Jaami as-Sagheer 8170 ^ David Bade (4 September 2013). Of Palm Wine, Women and War: The Mongolian Naval Expedition to Java in the 13th Century. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. pp. 139–. ISBN 978-981-4517-82-9.  ^ David W. Bade (2002). Khubilai Khan and the Beautiful Princess of Tumapel: The Mongols Between History and Literature in Java. A. Chuluunbat. p. 115.  ^ Bade, David. Meaning and Truth in Histories. Cambridge University Press, 2013. Cambridge Books Online. Cambridge University Press. ^ Partial Translation of Sunan Abu-Dawud, Book 37: Battles (Kitab Al-Malahim) Book 37, Number 4292: [4] ^ " Timur
Timur Archived 2013-09-22 at the Wayback Machine.", The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001–05, Columbia University Press. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica article: Consolidation & expansion of the Indo-Timurids, Online Edition, 2007. ^ Walton, Linda (2013). World History: Journeys from Past to Present. p. 210.  ^ Foster, John (1939). The Church of the Tang Dynasty. Macmillan. p. 13.  ^ Turkic Language family
Language family tree entries provide the information on the Turkic-speaking populations and regions. ^ a b Katzner, Kenneth (March 2002). Languages of the World, Third Edition. Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Ltd. ISBN 978-0-415-25004-7.  ^ Across Central Asia, a New Bond Grows – Iron
Iron Curtain's Fall Has Spawned a Convergence for Descendants of Turkic Nomad
Nomad Hordes ^ "Türkiye'deki Kürtlerin sayısı!" [The number of Kurds
Kurds in Turkey!]. Milliyet
Milliyet (in Turkish). 6 June 2008. Retrieved 16 November 2016.  ^ Substantial numbers (possibly several millions) of maghrebis of the former Ottoman colonies in North Africa
North Africa are of Ottoman Turkish descent. Finnish Tatars ^ The Karakalpak Gene Pool (Spencer Wells, 2001); and discussion and conclusions at www.karakalpak.com/genetics.html ^ Turkic people, Encyclopædia Britannica, Online Edition, 2008 ^ Vasiliev D.D. Graphical fund of Turkic runiform writing monuments in Asian areal, М., 1983, p. 44 ^ Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005). "Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Language Family Trees – Altaic". Retrieved 2007-03-18. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link) ^ Georg, S., Michalove, P.A., Manaster Ramer, A., Sidwell, P.J.: "Telling general linguists about Altaic", Journal of Linguistics 35 (1999): 65–98 Online abstract and link to free pdf ^ Turkic peoples, Encyclopædia Britannica, Online Academic Edition, 2008 ^ "关于回鹘摩尼教史的几个问题". Retrieved 18 March 2015.  ^ "元明时期的新疆藏传佛教". Retrieved 18 March 2015.  ^ "回鹘文《陶师本生》及其特点". Retrieved 18 March 2015.  ^ 回鹘观音信仰考 ^ "回鶻彌勒信仰考". Retrieved 18 March 2015.  ^ Guide to Russia:Chuvash ^ "景教艺术在西域之发现". Retrieved 18 March 2015.  ^ 高昌回鹘与环塔里木多元文化的融合 ^ 唐代中围景教与景教本部教会的关系 Archived 2011-11-30 at the Wayback Machine. ^ "景教在西域的传播". Retrieved 18 March 2015.  ^ "新闻_星岛环球网". Retrieved 18 March 2015.  ^ 7–11 世紀景教在陸上絲綢之路的傳播 ^ Mayor, Adrienne. The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World. Princeton University Press.  ^ Burak, Sansal. "Turkish Jereed (Javelin)". All About Turkey. Retrieved 16 November 2016.  ^ Christensen, karen; Levinson, David. Encyclopedia of World Sport: From Ancient Times to the Present.  ^ "jigs". dic.academic.ru.  Missing or empty url= (help)

Further reading

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
Turkic languages in contact. Turcologica, Bd. 61. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-05212-0. Chavannes, Édouard
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 (1 January 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.  Heywood, Colin. The Turks (The Peoples of Europe) (Blackwell 2005), ISBN 978-0-631-15897-4. Hostler, Charles Warren. The Turks of Central Asia
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
Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 5 September. 2007. Turkic languages: Linguistic
Linguistic history. Kyzlasov I.L., " Runic
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
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 978-1845110567.  Yarshater, Ehsan (2001). Encyclopedia Iranica. Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 0933273568. 

External links

Look up Türk in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Turkic peoples.

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

Turkish Studies - Turkic republics, regions, and peoples at University of Michigan Türkçekent Orientaal's links for Turkish Language Learning Türkçestan Orientaal's links to Turkic languages Crimean Tatar Internet Resources

New DNA results

"Probable ancestors of Hungarian ethnic groups: an admixture analysis"C. R. GUGLIELMINO1, A. DE SILVESTRI2 and J. BERES MtDNA and Y chromosome polymorphisms in Hungary: inferences from the Palaeolithic, Neolithic and Uralic influences on the modern Hungarian gene pool World History Study Guide: "Dastan Turkic" at BookRsgs.com The Altaic
Altaic Epic Downloadable article: "Evidence that a West-East admixed population lived in the Tarim Basin as early as the early Bronze Age" Li et al. BMC Biology 2010, 8:15. [5]

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Turkic topics

Languages

Afshar Altay 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

Peoples

Afshar Ahiska Altays Azerbaijanis Balkars Bashkirs Bulgars Chulyms Chuvash Crimean Tatars Cumans Dolgans Dughlats Gagauz Iraqi Turkmens Karachays Karaites Karakalpaks Karluks Kazakhs Khakas Khalajs Khazars Khorasani Turks Kimek Kipchaks Krymchaks Kumandins Kumyks Kyrgyz Nogais Oghuz Turks Qarapapaqs Qashqai Salar Shatuo Shors Sybyrs Syrian Turkmen Tatars Telengits Teleuts Tofalar Turgesh Turkish people

in Bulgaria Turkish Cypriots in Kosovo in Egypt in the Republic of Macedonia in Romania in Western Thrace

Turkmens Tuvans Uyghurs Uzbeks Western Yugurs Yakuts Yueban

Politics

Grey Wolves Kemalism Burkhanism Pan-Turkism Turanism

Origins

Turkestan History Timeline of the Göktürks

Timeline 500–1300 migration

Nomadic empire Tian Shan / Altai Mountains Otuken

Locations

Sovereign states

Azerbaijan Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus1 Turkey Turkmenistan Uzbekistan

Autonomous areas

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

Studies

Old Turkic alphabet Proto-Turkic language Turkology

Religions

Turkic mythology Tengrism Shamanism Islam Alevism Batiniyya Bayramiye Bektashi Order Christianity Hurufism Kadiri Khalwati order Malamatiyya Qalandariyya Qizilbash Rifa'i* Safaviyya Zahediyeh Vattisen Yaly

Traditional sports

Kyz kuu Jereed Kokpar Dzhigit Chovgan

Organizations

Turkic Council International Organization of Turkic Culture
International Organization of Turkic Culture (TÜRKSOY) Organization of the Eurasian Law Enforcement Agencies with Military Status (TAKM) World Turks Qurultai

1 State with limited international recognition.

v t e

Turkic peoples

Altays Afshar Azerbaijanis Balkars Bashkirs Bulaqs Bulgars Chelkans Chulyms Chuvash Crimean Karaites Crimean Tatars Cumans Dolgans Dughlats Gagauz Iraqi Turkmen Karachays Karakalpaks Karluks Kazakhs Khakas Khalajs Khazars Khorasani Turks Kimek Kipchaks Kryashens Krymchaks Kumandins Kumyks Kyrgyz Lipka Tatars Meskhetian Turks Mishar Tatars

Finnish Tatars

Nağaybäk Naimans Nogais Oghuz Turks Qarapapaqs Qashqai Qizilbash Salar Siberian Tatars Shatuo Shors Syrian Turkmen Telengits Teleuts Tofalar Tubalar Turgesh Turks (proper)

diaspora

Turkmens Tuvans Uyghurs Uzbeks Volga Tatars Yakuts Yugur

Italics indi