Turkic

migration
Handurdyewa Leyli
 c m ig r a t i o n s w e r e th e
The Tur k i
u rk ic t ri b e s a n d T u rk ic
spread of T
r o s s E u r a s ia b e t w e e n
la n g u a g e s a c
h c e n tu rie s. In t h e 6 t h
the 6 th a n d 11t
ö kt ü r k s o v e rt h r e w t h e
c e ntu ry, th e G
g a n a te in w h a t is n o w
Rouran Kha
a n d e x p a n d e d i n a l l
Mongol ia
r e a d in g T u rk ic c u lt u r e
directions, s p
h e E u r a s ia n s te p p e s .
throughou t t
Although Göktürk empires came to an end in the
8th century, they were succeeded by numerous
Turkic empires such as the Uyghur Khaganate,
Kara-Khanid Khanate, Khazars, and the Cumans.
Some Turks eventually settled down into
sedentary societies such as the Qocho and
Ganzhou Uyghurs. The Seljuq dynasty settled in
Anatolia starting in the 11th century, resulting in
permanent Turkic settlement and presence there.
Modern nations with large Turkic populations
include Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Turkey,
Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, and
Turkic populations also exist within other nations,
such as Chuvashia, Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, the
Crimean Tatars, the Kazakhs in Mongolia, the
Uyghurs in China, the Azeri in Iran, and the Sakha
Republic in Siberia.
Origin theories
Proposals for the homeland of the Turkic peoples and their
language are far-ranging, from the Transcaspian steppe to
Northeastern Asia (Manchuria).Peter Benjamin Golden listed
Proto-Turkic lexical items about the climate, topography, flora,
fauna, people's modes of subsistence in the hypothetical
Proto-Turkic Urheimat and proposed that the Proto-Turkic
Urheimat was located at the southern, taiga-steppe zone of
the Sayan-Altay region. According to Yunusbayev et al.
(2015), genetic evidence points to an origin in the region near
South Siberia and Mongolia as the "Inner Asian Homeland" of
the Turkic ethnicity. Similarly several linguists, including Juha
Janhunen, Roger Blench and Matthew Spriggs, suggest that
Mongolia is the homeland of the early Turkic language.
According to Robbeets, the Turkic people descend from
people who lived in a region extending from present-day
South Siberia and Mongolia to the West Liao River Basin
(modern Manchuria).
 Hunnic theory
The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the
Caucasus, and Eastern Europe, between the 4th and 6th century
AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported
living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part of Scythia
at the time; the Huns' arrival is associated with the migration
westward of an Indo-Iranian people, the Alans. The Huns have
often been considered a Turkic people, and sometimes
associated with the Xiongnu. While in Europe, the Huns
incorporated others, such as Goths, Slavs, and Alans.
The Huns were not literate (according to Procopius[) and left nothing
linguistic with which to identify them except their names,which derive
from Germanic, Iranian, Turkic, unknown and a mixture.Some, such as
Ultinčur and Alpilčur, are like Turkic names ending in -čor, Pecheneg
names in -tzour and Kirghiz names in -čoro. Names ending in -gur,
such as Utigur and Onogur, and -gir, such as Ultingir, are like Turkish
names of the same endings.

 The Turkish migrations that gave rise to the Saljuq, Mongol, and Timurid empires in
Iran also gave birth to a succession of Western Muslim empires. Oghuz peoples
pushed their way into Georgia, Armenia, and Byzantine Anatolia, bringing Islam
into territories not hitherto reached by the Arab conquests or Muslim expansion. At
the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Turks captured the Byzantine emperor, Romanos
I. In the next century, they spread across Asia Minor.

Turkish-Islamic States in
Anatolia (1071–1243)
 The migrating peoples were organized into
small bands of warriors (ghazis) under the
leadership of chieftains (beys) or Sufi holy
men (babas). Veneration of the chiefs and the
desire to find rich pasturage, gather booty,
and win victories against the infidels in the
name of Islam held them together. The
migrants did extensive damage to the
countryside and cut off cities from their
hinterlands and trading connections, but
Turkish expansion was soon counterbalanced
by the formation of states that attempted to
stabilize and reconstruct the region.
Anatolia came under the Saljuq sultanate of Rum (c. 1077–c. 1308),
whose rulers were remote relatives of the Saljuqs of Baghdad, with
its capital at Konya. The Saljuqs of Rum, like earlier Middle Eastern
Muslim states, employed Turkish nomadic forces but built up a large
standing army of Turkish and Christian slaves and mercenaries. The
administration was composed of Iranian scribes. In the early
thirteenth century, a fiscal survey was taken, and tax revenue grants
(iqta ‘) were distributed in return for military service. The Saljuqs
appointed provincial governors. Energetic efforts were made to
sedentarize and extract taxes from the pastoral population. The
Saljuqs built caravansaries and encouraged maritime commerce on
the Black Sea, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean. Still, there were
many regions in tribal hands and a number of minor principalities
outside of Saljuq control.
In the spring, the nomads made a ten-day trip to the prairieland to graze
their herds on fresh grass that just emerged from mountain runoff. There
the women and children erected a central camp, usually comprising four
yurts, while the men divided the flocks into their specific pastures. They
established about ten satellite camps around the central camp, with each
herd positioned about ten to twenty miles from the center. This
separation of camps minimized the potential threat that their enemies
posed to their herds. During the summer, they traveled to mid-mountain
fields, where it was cooler and offered access to water. Covering about
ten miles per day, it took them approximately fifty days to reach this
campground. Finally, in the fall, they returned to the steppe in order to
make provisions for the harsh winter. These preparations included drying
and preserving their meat, and taking milk from their animals.

 Enhanced mobility was the key to the survival of pastoral

nomads. They actually spent a good portion of their lives on
horseback and were accustomed to moving over long distances,
taking all of life’s necessities with them. This allowed them to
retreat quickly from rival attacks or areas afflicted by natural
disaster. Though their way of life appeared seemingly
innocuous, it enhanced the ability of these horsemen to expand
rapidly and conquer neighboring groups. It was in this manner
that pastoral nomadism accorded its practitioners certain martial
advantages. The annual Great Hunt served as a military proving
ground that helped them hone their fighting skills. In preparation
for winter, tribes deployed groups of mounted men, who
dispersed in different directions, with the intent of driving every
animal within a set perimeter inwards to converge at a pre-
established central point. With great coordination taking place
over vast distances, these migrants learned how to coordinate
their movements based on a color scheme of arrows and
whistling patterns. Their herding tactics easily translated to
military tactics and proved devastating in combat.
 Turks in most parts of the country have an East
Asian component of about 10 percent. Surprisingly,
east Asian ancestry is higher in western Turkey than
in eastern Turkey, especially in mura province on
the Aegean Coast in southwest Turkey, where
nearly 20 percent of east Asian ancestry is found,
while east Asian ancestry is almost zero in
northeastern Turkey. The east Asian component of
the Central Asian Turks is generally around 50%, so
the central Asian Turks contribute on average about
20% of their ancestry to the Turks, and nearly 40%
to the Turks along the Aegean Sea!
 My personal guess: when the Central Asian Turks
invaded Asia Minor, they almost did not stay long before
they went straight to the Aegean Sea. Therefore, the
Iranians, Armenians and East Turks on the route did not
integrate too many East Asian elements, while the central
and Western Turks integrated more East Asian elements.
At present, the east side of the small peninsula on the
west coast of Asia is richer than the inland. A large
number of the sons of Ibegin, a Turk from Central Asia,
directly enter Asia Minor, directly changing the local
language and culture, and even their descendants. With
the foundation of western economy, in turn, the local
economy in the east of Asia Minor has been assimilated.
These Turkic tribesmen divided their society
into five strata. Members of the royal tribal
clan presided over the social order. This
dominant group bestowed its name on the
tribal confederation, a collection of tribes.
Positioned below them were their allies and
associated tribes. Next were the common
herders who did not participate in struggles
for power. Lower still were the artisans, such
as blacksmiths and leatherworkers. And
finally, we find slaves at the bottom of the
hierarchy. They usually acquired their lowly
position in society by means of capture in
times of war.
These Turkic wanderers belonged to an unstable confederation of
clans and tribes roaming the steppe, loosely bound under a
khagan, a charismatic monarch who laid claim to some sort of
divine providence. Khagan made use of their personal charisma,
as well as their political and military smarts, in order to maintain
group cohesion and ward off challenges to their authority. Under
strong khagans, tribal confederations were capable of wielding
incredible power, but, more often than not, they were notoriously
volatile and often imploded upon the death of their leader,
collapsing into a brutal struggle for power. The winners in this
struggle forced the losers out of the area, and while many went to
the north or south, most to the west. Victorious tribes remained in
Mongolia on the highly-prized Orkhon Steppe, located near Lake
Baikal.
 Although the khaganate was a diarchy, or
system of dual rule, with the oldest son
controlling half of the land, it lacked a clear
transition of power, like hereditary succession.
Because the khagan theoretically ruled over a
series of tribal confederations, any member of
the tribal confederation could ascend to the
position of monarch by demonstrating their
personal charisma and martial skills on the
battlefield. This often resulted in a fight to
prove oneself that could erupt into broader
inter-tribal strife.

 Although the khaganate was a diarchy, or

system of dual rule, with the oldest son
controlling half of the land, it lacked a clear
transition of power, like hereditary succession.
Because the khagan theoretically ruled over a
series of tribal confederations, any member of
the tribal confederation could ascend to the
position of monarch by demonstrating their
personal charisma and martial skills on the
battlefield. This often resulted in a fight to prove
oneself that could erupt into broader inter-tribal
strife.

Nomad society was certainly capable of

waging war. Their ability to shoot from
horseback provided them with a mobile
and lethal means to overcome slower,
infantrybased armies. These horsemen
carried portable, three-foot-long recurve
bows capable of piercing enemy armor
from over 450 meters.
 Turkic domination of the region began on the battlefield, where the strategies of
steppe warfare proved devastating to infantry-based armies. The first stage of the
nomad battle strategy often commenced with a feigned retreat, in which a group of
their cavalry engaged the adversary, retreated, and encouraged their opponents to
follow them. This technique lengthened the lines of their challengers, as they pursued
the “retreating” Turkic cavalrymen, who were busy shooting backwards from
horseback. The next stage of battle involved outflanking the enemy and enveloping
them. They then showered their foes with arrows, the objective being to pin the
opponent in place. This alone was often enough to break a sedentary power. When
fighting against another steppe power, their reserves charged the opponent’s lines so
as to break their forces into pieces and finish them off piecemeal. Most importantly,
because of their limited numbers, the Turkic horsemen were reluctant to risk fighting
an enemy that they did not believe they could defeat, instead, they would poison
water wells, scorch the earth, and retreat. The Mongols would later employ similar
battle tactics that allowed them to conquer the whole of Central Asia.
Thank You
for listening!