Turkic peoples

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Turkic peoples v • d • e
Total population
More than 160 million[1]
Regions with significant populations
Asia Minor and the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, Siberia, Western China, Western Mongolia and as immigrant communities in Australia, North America, and Western Europe
Languages
Turkic Languages
Religions
Islam (predominantly), Christianity[2], Buddhism[3], Judaism[4], Shamanism, Tengriism, Atheism, Agnosticism

The Turkic peoples are a collection of peoples residing in northern, central and western Eurasia who speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family.^[5] The term Turkic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people and includes existing societies such as the Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Uyghur, Azerbaijani, Turkmen, and Turkish peoples, as well as historical societies such as the Xiongnu, Kipchaks, Eurasian Avars, Bulgars, Huns, Seljuks, Khazars, Ottomans and Timurids.^[6][7][8] (also see the List of Turkic states and empires)

Many of the Turkic peoples have their homelands in Central Asia, where the Turkic peoples originated from, but 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 Turkey.

[edit] Geographical distribution

Countries and autonomous subdivisions where a Turkic language has official status

Number of native speakers in the Turkic language family

The Turkic languages constitute a language family of some thirty languages, spoken across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China.

Some 180 million people have a Turkic language as their native language;^[9] 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.^[10] More than one third of these are ethnic Turks of Turkey, dwelling predominantly in Turkey proper and formerly Ottoman-dominated areas of Eastern Europe and West Asia; as well as in Western Europe, Australia and the Americas as a result of immigration. The remainder of the Turkic peoples are concentrated in Central Asia, Russia, the Caucasus, China, northern Iraq and northern and northwestern Iran.

At present, there are six independent Turkic countries: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. There are also several Turkic national subdivisions^[11] in the Russian Federation including Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Chuvashia, Khakassia, Tuva, Yakutia, the Altai Republic, the Altai Krai, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Karachayevo-Cherkessiya. Each of these subdivisions has its own flag, parliament, laws, and official state language (in addition to Russian).

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in western China and the autonomous region of Gagauzia, located within eastern Moldova and bordering Ukraine to the north, are two major autonomous Turkic regions. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea within Ukraine is a home of Crimean Tatars. In addition, there are several Turkic-inhabited regions in Iran, Iraq, Georgia, Bulgaria, F.Y.R.O.Macedonia, Greece,Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and western Mongolia.

In the age of nationalism, Turkic speakers were among the first Muslim peoples to take up Western ideas of liberalism and secular ideologies. Pan-Turkism first sprang up at the end of the nineteenth century in the Russian Empire and was advanced by leading Turkic intellectuals like Crimean Tatar İsmail Gaspıralı, Azerbaijan philosophers like Mirza Fatali Akhundov and Tatar Yusuf Akçura, as a reaction to Panslavist and Russification policies of the Russian Empire. The first fully democratic and secular republics in the Islamic world were Turkic: the ill-fated Idel-Ural State established in 1917, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918 (both annexed and absorbed by the Soviet Union), and in 1923 Republic of Turkey. In 1991 Azerbaijan became an independent Azerbaijan Republic.

The Turks of Turkey are over 70 million, while the second largest Turkic people are the Azerbaijanis, numbering 20.5 to 33 million worldwide; most of them live in northwestern Iran ("Iranian Azerbaijan") and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

[edit] Turkic roots

See also: Nomadic empire‎

Top of the Belukha, Altay Mountains are known as Turkic peoples birthplace

Orkhon tablet inscribed in Old Turkic script

The first historical text to mention the Turks was from the standpoint of the Chinese, who mentioned trade of Turk tribes with the Sogdians along the Silk Road.^[12] The Xiongnu mentioned in Han Dynasty records may have been Proto-Turkic speakers,^{[13][14][15][16][17]} followed by the Hun hordes of Attila that tried to conquer Europe.^[18][19] On the other hand, recent genetics research dated 2003^[20] confirms the studies indicating that the Turkic peoples originated from the same area and therefore are possibly related with the Xiongnu.^[21]

The rock art of the Yinshan and Helanshan is dated from the 9th millennium BC to 19th century. It consists mainly of engraved signs (petroglyphs) and only minimally of painted images.^[22] Ma Liqing compared the petroglyphs (which he presumed to be the sole extant example of possible Xiongnu writings), and the Orkhon script (the earliest known Turkic alphabet) recently, and argued a new connection between both of them.^[23]

Excavations conducted between 1924-1925, in Noin-Ula kurgans located in Selenga River in the northern Mongolian hills north of Ulan Bator, produced objects with over twenty carved characters, which were either identical or very similar to that of to the runic letters of the Turkic Orkhon script discovered in the Orkhon Valley.^[24]

The first recorded use of "Turk" as a political name is a sixth-century reference to the word now pronounced in Modern Chinese as Tujue. It is believed that some Turkic tribes, such as Khazars and Pechenegs, probably lived as nomads for many years before establishing a political state (Göktürk empire). Turkic peoples originally used their own alphabets, like Orkhon and Yenisey runiform, and later the Uyghur alphabet. The oldest inscription was found near the Issyk river in Kyrgyzstan and has been dated to 500 BC. The traditional national and cultural symbols of the Turkic peoples include the star and crescent, used as a symbol of Turks since pre-Islamic times^[25] when they practised Shamanism; wolves, a part of Turkic mythology and tradition; as well as the color blue, iron, and fire.

Four hundred years after the collapse of northern Xiongnu power in Inner Asia, leadership of the Turkic peoples was taken over by the Göktürks. Formerly an element of the Xiongnu nomadic confederation, the Göktürks inherited their traditions and administrative experience. From 552 to 745, Göktürk leadership bound together the nomadic Turkic tribes into an empire, which eventually collapsed due to a series of dynastic conflicts. The great difference between the Göktürk Khanate and its Xiongnu predecessor was that the Göktürks' temporary khans from the Ashina clan were subordinate to a sovereign authority that was left in the hands of a council of tribal chiefs. The Khanate received missionaries from the Buddhists, Manicheans, and Nestorian Christians, but retained their original shamanistic religion, Tengriism. The Göktürks were the first Turkic people to write their language in a runic script.

[edit] Migrations

Main article: Turkic migrations

The Turkic peoples and the related groups migrated west towards Eastern Europe, Iranian plateau and Anatolia.^[26] Turks or Turkish people are among those who migrated early from what is known today as Mongolia to modern Turkey but also among the late-arrival peoples; they also participated in the Crusades.^[27] After many battles they established their own state and later created the Ottoman Empire; their tactics were all-out sieges and invasions.^[28]

[edit] Nomenclature

The first known mention of the term Turk applied to a Turkic group was in reference to the Göktürks in the sixth century. A letter by the Chinese Emperor written to a Göktürk Khan named Ishbara in 585 described him as "the Great Turk Khan." The Orhun inscriptions (AD 735) 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 a Chinese record of 1328 BC referring to a neighbouring people as Tu-Kiu.

In modern 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 Turkic can be used for Turk or vice versa.^[29]

[edit] Traditions about nomenclature

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

Timeline of Scythian kurgans in Asia and Europe (Per Fig.6 of Alekseev, A. Yu. et al., "Chronology of Eurasian Scythian Antiquities" ^[30]

.

According to Mahmud of Kashgar, an eleventh century Turkic scholar, and various other traditional Islamic scholars and historians, the name "Turk" stems from Tur, one of the sons of Japheth, and comes from the same lineage as Gomer (Cimmerians) and Ashkenaz (Scythians, Ishkuz) who, according to tradition, were some of the earliest Turks. For millennia, a long string of historical references specifically linked Herodotus’ Scythians with various Türkic tribes, such as the Huns, Türks, Khazars etc. ^[31]. Between 400 CE and the 16th century the Byzantine sources use the name Σκΰθαι in reference to twelve different Türkic peoples ^[32] (most modern scholars believe these tribes to have been Iranian). A similar name, Dur, appears in mediaeval Hungarian legend as a legendary chieftain of the Caucasian Alans (Arran, Iron) whose daughters supposedly bred with the Magyar ancestors Hunor and Magor.

In the Divan ul-Lughat at-Turk (Turkic dictionary) of Mahmud of Kashgar, Alp Er Tunga, is identified with the character Afrasiab ("Frangasyan" in the Avesta) in Persian literature, a descendant of the character named Tur in the Persian epic Shahnameh. Alp Er Tunga is a mythical hero in Turkic tradition; the Göktürks of the sixth century carried on the tradition of Alp Er Tunga and they too had a myth according to which they themselves were descendants of a wolf.

[edit] History

Main article: History of the Turkic peoples

Göktürk petroglyphs from Mongolia.

It is generally believed that the first Turkic people were native to a region extending from Central Asia to Siberia. Some scholars contend that the Huns were one of the earlier Turkic tribes, while others support Mongolic origin for the Huns.^[33] Otto Maenchen-Helfen's linguistic studies also support a Turkic origin for the Huns. ^[34][35] The main migration of Turks, who were among the ancient inhabitants of Turkestan, occurred in medieval times, when they spread across most of Asia and into Europe and the Middle East.^[36]

The precise date of the initial expansion from the early homeland remains unknown. The first state known as "Turk", giving its name to many states and peoples afterwards, was that of the Göktürks (gog = "blue" or "celestial") in the sixth century AD. The head of the Asena clan led his people from Li-jien (modern Zhelai Zhai) to the Juan Juan seeking inclusion in their confederacy and protection from China. His tribe were famed metal smiths 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 set about establishing their Gök Empire.^[36]

Later Turkic peoples include the Karluks (mainly eighth century), Uyghurs, Kyrgyz, Oghuz (or Ğuz) Turks, and Turkmens. As these peoples were founding states in the area between Mongolia and Transoxiana, they came into contact with Muslims, and most gradually adopted Islam. However, there were also (and still are) small groups of Turkic people belonging to other religions, including Christians, Jews (Khazars), Buddhists, and Zoroastrians.

Turkic soldiers in the army of the Abbasid caliphs emerged as the de facto rulers of most of the Muslim Middle East (apart from Syria and Egypt), particularly after the tenth 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.^[36]

Meanwhile, the Kyrgyz and Uyghurs were struggling with one another and with the Chinese Empire. The Kyrgyz people ultimately settled in the region now referred to as Kyrgyzstan. The Tatar peoples conquered the Volga Bulgars in what is today Tatarstan, following the westward sweep of the Mongols under Genghis Khan in the thirteenth century. The Bulgars were thus mistakenly called Tatars by the Russians. Native Tatars live only in Asia; European "Tatars" are in fact Bulgars. Other Bulgars settled in Europe in the seventh-8th centuries, and were assimilated into the Slavic population after adopting what eventually became the Slavic Bulgarian language. Everywhere, Turkic groups mixed with the local populations to varying degrees.^[36]

The Ottoman Empire c. 1683

As the Seljuk Empire declined following the Mongol invasion, the Ottoman Empire emerged as the new important Turkic state, that came to dominate not only the Middle East, but even southeastern Europe, parts of southwestern Russia, and northern Africa.^[36]

The Mughal Empire was a Muslim empire that, at its greatest territorial extent, ruled most of the Indian subcontinent, then known as Hindustan, and parts of what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan from the early 16th to the mid-18th century. The Mughal dynasty was founded by a Chagatai Turkic prince named Babur (reigned 1526–30), who was descended from the Turkic conqueror Timur (Tamerlane) on his father's side and from Chagatai, second son of the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan, on his mother's side.^[37][38] The Mughal dynasty was notable for the ability of its rulers, who through seven generations maintained a record of unusual talent, and for its administrative organization. A further distinction was the attempt of the Mughals to integrate Hindus and Muslims into a united Indian state.^{[39][40][41][42]}

The Ottoman Empire gradually grew weaker in the face of maladministration, repeated wars with 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.^[36]

[edit] Language

Main article: Turkic languages

Further information: Turkic alphabets

The Orkhon script is the alphabet used by the Göktürks from the 8th century to record the Old Turkic language. It was later used by the Uyghur Empire; a Yenisei variant is known from 9th-century Kyrgyz inscriptions, and it has likely cousins in the Talas Valley of Turkestan and the Old Hungarian script of the 10th century.

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 from Mongolia and Eastern Turkestan in the east to Balkans in the west. Most of the preserved inscriptions were dated to between 8th and 10th centuries AD.

The earliest positively dated and read Turkic inscriptions date from ca. 150, and the alphabets were generally replaced by the Uyghur alphabet in the Central Asia, Arabic script in the Middle and Western Asia, Greek-derived Cyrillic in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans, and Latin alphabet in Central Europe. The latest recorded use of Turkic alphabet was recorded in Central Europe's Hungary in 1699 AD.

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. ^[43] The Turkic alphabets are divided into four groups, the best known of them is the Orkhon version of the Enisei group.

The Turkic language family is traditionally considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.^{[44][45][46][10]} The Altaic language family includes 66 languages^[47] spoken by about 348 million people, mostly in and around Central Asia and northeast Asia.^[44][48][49]

The various 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 divergent languages (like Chuvash). The high mobility and intermixing of Turkic peoples in history makes an exact classification extremely difficult.

The Turkish language belongs to the Oghuz subfamily of Turkic. It is for the most part mutually intelligible with the other Oghuz languages, which include Azeri, Gagauz, Turkmen and Urum, and to a varying extent with the other Turkic languages.

[edit] Mythology

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Turkic mythology is the mythology of the Turkic peoples that spoke Turkic languages which are a subfamily of the Altaic language family. Tengriism and other Shamanistic religions had been the dominant religion for most of history.

In one tradition, described in the ancient Zoroastrian text called the Zend-Avesta — similar to the biblical story of Noah — the Turkic peoples are descendants of "Tur" or "Tura", a grandson of Yima, who was the sole survivor of a catastrophe that depopulated the Earth.

[edit] Animals

The Wolf symbolizes honour and is also considered the father of most Turkic peoples. Asena (Ashina Tuwu) is the wolf mother of Tumen Il-Qağan, the first Khan of the Göktürks.

The Horse is also one of the main figures of Turkic mythology. Türks consider the horse an extension of the human, one creature.

The Dragon, also expressed as a Snake or Lizard, is the symbol of might and power. It is believed, especially in mountainous Central Asia, that dragons still live in the mountains of Tian-Shan (Tangri Tagh) and Altay. Dragons also symbolize the god Tengri (Tanrı) in ancient Turkic tradition, although dragons themselves aren't worshipped as gods.

[edit] Personalities

Geser (Ges'r, Kesar) is a Tibetan/Mongolian religious epic about 'Geser' (also known as 'Bukhe Beligte') a Turkic prophet who taught Türks the new monotheistic religion Tengriism. It is unknown when he lived, and there are not many historical documents that mention him. Tengriism isn't approved by most Muslim scholars, but sura 108 of the Quran has the name Al-Kawthar,in which the word kawthar could potentially be read as 'Käusar', which may be an Arabisation of the Turkic name 'Geser'. The name of this sura is conventionally interpreted as "all goods" or "abundance", but this is not certain and many scholars have different opinions on this sura.

The legend of Timur (Temir) is the most ancient and well-known. Timur found a strange stone that fell from the sky, an iron ore meteorite. He was a smith and decided to make a sword of it. Few knew about iron in Asia before then. He tried to make a sword from it by using the usual bronze sword making process. He mentioned that this material, iron, was very easy to change and manipulate, though it was even stronger than bronze. Today, the word "temir" or "timur" means "iron". The melting process was known before in Egypt, but it wasn't used that widely in Asia, because of the very high iron price (much higher than gold) in the Mediterranian and Europe at that time.

Bai-Ulgan (Bai-Ulgen, Ulgen, Ülgen, Ulgan) is a Turkic and Mongolian creator-deity.

In the Bible, Togarmah, son of Gomer, was ancestor of the Turkic-speaking peoples. His sons Ujur (Uyghur: Mongol-Turks), Tauris, Avar, Uauz (Oghuz Turks), Bizal, Tarna, Khazar, Janur, Bulgar, and Sawir (Sabir, a Turkic people, probably of Hunnic origin) are the mythical founders of tribes that once lived around the Black and Caspian Seas.

[edit] Religion

Main articles: Islam in Azerbaijan, Zoroastrianism in Azerbaijan, Islam in Uzbekistan, Islam in Turkmenistan, Islam in Turkey, Islam in Cyprus, Islam in Kazakhstan, and Islam in Russia

A shaman doctor of Kyzyl.

A diagram of the Tengriist World view on a Shaman's Drum. The World-tree is growing in the centre and connecting the three Worlds Underworld, Middleworld and Upperworld

Mosque in Kazakhstan.

Various pre-Islamic Turkic civilizations of the sixth century adhered to Shamanist and Tengriist traditions. The Shamanist religion is based on spiritual and natural elements of earth. Tengriism involves belief in Tengri as the god who ruled over the skies. These civilizations also followed the Zoroastrian religion, especially in Azerbaijan, as well as Buddhism and Judaism.

Today, most Turks are Sunni Muslims. These include the majority of Balkan Turks, Balkars, Bashkorts, Crimean Tatars, Karachay, Kazaks, Kumuk, Kyrgyz, Nogay, Tatars (Kazan Tatars), Turkmens, Turks of Turkey, Uygurs, and Uzbeks. The Azerbaijanis of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Iranian Azerbaijan are the only major Turkic-speaking people that traditionally adhere to the Shia sect of Islam. The Qashqay nomads and Khorasani Turks as well as various Turkic tribes spread across Iran are also Shia Muslims. The Alevis of Turkey are the largest religious minority in the country. Their belief system is a branch Shia Twelver theology.

The major Christian-Turkic peoples are the Chuvash of Chuvashia and the Gagauz (Gökoğuz) of Moldova. Many Karaim Turks of Eastern Europe are Jewish, and there are Turks of Jewish backgrounds who live in major cities such as Istanbul, Ankara and Baku. In the Siberian region, the Altay, some Tuvan and Hakas are Tengriist, having kept the original religion of Turkic peoples^{[citation needed]}. The Yakuts of Yakutia in northeastern Siberia are traditionally Shamanists, yet many have converted to Christianity. The Sari Uygurs (Yellow Uygurs) of western China, as well as the Tuvans of Russia are the only remaining Buddhist Turkic peoples. In addition, there are small scattered populations of Turks belonging to other religions such as the Bahá'í Faith and Zoroastrianism.

Even though many Turkic peoples became Muslims under the influence of Sufis, often of Shi'a persuasion, most Turkic people today are Sunni Muslims—although a significant number in Turkey are Alevis. Alevi Turks, who were once primarily dwelling in eastern Anatolia, are today concentrated in major urban centers in western Turkey with the increased urbanism. The traditional religion of the Chuvash of Russia, while containing many ancient Turkic concepts, also shares some elements with Zoroastrianism, Khazar Judaism, and Islam. The Chuvash religious calendar cycle and the agrarian cult that it was based on combined ancestor worship and worship of earth, water and vegetation. The Chuvash converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity for the most part in the second half of the nineteenth 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.^[50] Some Turkic peoples (particularly in the Russian autonomous regions and republics of Altay, Khakassia, and Tuva) are largely Tengriists. Tengriism was the predominant religion of the different Turkic branches prior to the eighth century, when the majority accepted Islam.

The Gagauz people of Moldova are largely Christians.

There are Turkic-speaking groups of Jews, such as the Crimean Karaites.

There are also a few Buddhist (e.g. Tuvans), Jewish, Zoroastrian, and Bahá'í Turkic peoples today.

The traditional Inner Asian cults, commonly referred to as shamanism, survive in many places, often submerged in other religions. In post-Soviet Siberia, 300 years after their forced conversion, the Yakuts (Sakha) and others have completely rejected Orthodox Christianity in favor of a revived shamanism.^[51]

Remark: The name Tengri has been changed to Tanrı in modern Turkish (as spoken in Turkey), the same as in Azeri, literally meaning "God" in English. However, traditionally, God is referred to as Allah in most daily usage. The word tengri / tanrı is still in use by citizens of Azerbaijan and Turkey, where Islam is the dominant religion.

[edit] Ethnic subdivisions

See also: List of Turkic groups

The distribution of peoples of Turkic cultural background ranges from Siberia, where the Yakuts reside, across Central Asia, to Eastern Europe. Presently, the largest groups of Turkic people live throughout Central Asia—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan, in addition to Turkey. Additionally, Turkic peoples are found within Crimea, the Xinjiang region of western China, northern Iraq, Iran, Israel, Russia, Afghanistan, Cyprus, and the Balkans: Moldova, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, and former Yugoslavia. A small number of Turkic people also live in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. There is also a small number in eastern Poland. There are also considerable populations of Turkic people (originating mostly from Turkey) in Germany, United States, and Australia, largely because of migrations during the twentieth century.

Atatürk with his adopted daughter Sabiha Gökçen, the world's first female combat pilot, from the archive of Turkish Air Force.

Chinghiz Aitmatov

An exact line between the different Turkic peoples cannot easily be drawn. The following is a non-comprehensive list of the major groups:

• Altays (Oirots)
• Azerbaijanis
• Balkars (along with Karachays, speakers of the Karachay-Balkar language)
• Bashkirs
• Bulgars
• Chulyms
• Chuvashs
• Crimean Tatars
• Dolgans
• Gagauz
• Iraqi Turkmen
• Karachays (along with Balkars, speakers of the Karachay-Balkar language)
• Crimean Karaites
• Karakalpaks
• Karapapak
• Kazakhs
• Khakas
• Khazars
• Kipchaks (Cumans)
• Kizilbashs (Descendants of the 7 Turkic tribes who formed the Kizilbash-army)
• Krymchaks (speak a modified form of Crimean Tatar)
• Kumyks
• Kyrgyz
• Meskhetian Turks
• Nogais
• Qashqai
• Salar
• Tatars
  • Volga Tatars (or Kazan Tatars, or simply Tatars)
  • Crimean Tatars
    • Nağaybäklär
    • Baltic Tatars
  • Siberian Tatars
  • Lipka Tatars
• Tofalars
• Turkmens
• Turks of Turkey (see also Ottoman Turks or Seljuk Turk)
  • Turkish Cypriots
• Tuvans
• Uyghur
• Uzbeks
• Yakuts
• Yörüks

Sometimes the above list is grouped 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.

One of the major difficulties perceived by many who try to classify the various Turkic languages and dialects is the impact Soviet and particularly Stalinist nationality policies—the creation of new national demarcations, suppression of languages and writing scripts, and mass deportations—had on the ethnic mix in previously multicultural regions like Khwarezm, the Fergana Valley, and Caucasia. Many of the above-mentioned classifications are therefore by no means universally accepted, either in detail or in general. Another aspect often debated is the influence of Pan-Turkism, and the emerging nationalism in the newly independent Central Asian republics, on the perception of ethnic divisions.

Turkic republics flags

Flag of Altai Republic	Flag of Azerbaijan	Flag of Bashkortostan	Flag of Chuvashia
Flag of Gagauzia	Flag of Kabardino-Balkaria	Flag of Karachay-Cherkessia	Flag of Karakalpakstan
Flag of Kazakhstan	Flag of Khakassia	Flag of Kyrgyzstan	Flag of Sakha
Flag of Tatarstan	Flag of Turkey	Flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus	Flag of Turkmenistan
Flag of Tuva	Flag of Uzbekistan	Flag of Xinjiang

[edit] Physical appearance

The Turkic peoples possess physical features ranging from Caucasoid to Northern Mongoloid. In western Turkic lands, such as Turkey and Azerbaijan, a great many people look "European" and "Mediterranean". In Turkey, people with light-coloured eyes such as blue, green, hazel, or gray and blond or brown hair are common. Caucasoid and Mongoloid facial structure is common among many Turkic groups, such as Kazakhs and Uzbeks.

There has been much debate about the racial nature of the original Turkic-speaking ancestors, with some in the past presuming a "Ural-Altaic race" with Caucasoid features at one end of the spectrum and Mongoloid features at the other.

[edit] Gallery

The "Kokbayraq" flag. This flag is used by Uyghurs as a symbol of the East Turkestan independence movement. It is almost identical to the flag of Turkey except with a blue background. The Chinese government prohibits using the flag in the country.	2nd century BC - 2nd century AD, characters of Hun- Syr-Tardush (Syanbi) script (Mongolia and Inner Mongolia), N. Ishjatms, "Nomads In Eastern Central Asia", in the "History of civilizations of Central Asia", Volume 2, Fig 5, p. 166, UNESCO Publishing, 1996, ISBN 92-3-102846-4	Oldest known Turkic alphabet listings, Rjukoku and Toyok manuscripts. Toyok manuscript transliterates Turkic alphabet into the Uyghur alphabet. Per I.L. Kyzlasov, Runic Scripts of Eurasian Steppes, Moscow, Eastern Literature, 1994, ISBN 5-02-017741-5.	A copy of Göktürk (Orkhon) Epigraph in Ankara
Whirling dervishes in Turkey	Qashqai caravan halt in Iran	Karachay patriarchs in the nineteenth century	Mustafa Kemal Ataturk with his soldiers at Anafartalar, Çanakkale, 1915
Armed students of "Gökçeada Öğretmen	Kazan Tatar woman, 18th century	Crimean Tatar soldier fighting with the soldier of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth	Sultan Bayezid captured by Timur after the Battle of Ankara
Mehmed II enters Constantinople with his army.	Suleiman the Magnificent	Golden Horde invasion of Russia in 1382.	Babur, founder of the Mughal dynasty.

[edit] People

Turkish man	Azerbaijani girls	Qashqai women spinning (Iran)	Uzbek students
Turkmen girl	Kazakh people (performing traditional music)	Kyrgyz man performing epic poem	Uyghur girl (China)
Tuvan family in traditional clothing (Russia)	Performing Azeri musicians	Minusinsk Tatars

v • d • e Turkic peoples in Turkic topics Turkic languages Afshar  · Äynu  · Altay  · Azerbaijani  · Baraba Tatar  · Bashkir  · Bulgar  · Chagatai  · Chulym  · Chuvash  · Crimean Tatar  · Cuman  · Dolgan  · Fuyü Gïrgïs  · Gagauz  · Hunnic  · Ili Turki  · Karachay-Balkar  · Karaim  · Karakalpak  · Kazakh  · Khakas  · Khalaj  · Khazar  · Khorasani Turkic  · Kipchak  · Krymchak  · Kyrgyz  · Kumyk  · Kypchak group  · Nogai  · Old Tatar  · Old Turkic  · Ottoman Turkish  · Pecheneg  · Qashqai  · Sakha  · Salar  · Shor  · Kazan Tatar  · Tofa  · Turkic Avar  · Turkish  · Turkmen  · Tuvan  · Urum  · Uyghur  · Uzbek Turkic peoples Altays  · Azerbaijanis  · Balkars  · Bashkirs  · Bulgars  · Chulyms  · Chuvashs  · Crimean Tatars  · Cumans  · Dolgans  · Gagauz  · Iraqi Turkmen  · Karachays  · Crimean Karaites  · Karakalpaks  · Karapapak  · Kazakhs  · Khakas  · Khazars  · Kimek  · Kipchaks  · Krymchaks  · Kumyks  · Kyrgyz · Meskhetian Turks  · Nağaybäk  · Nogais  · Oghuz Turks  · Qashqai  · Salar  · Syrian Turkmen  · Tatars  · Finnish Tatars  · Keräşen Tatars  · Lipka Tatars  · Siberian Tatars  · Volga Tatars  · Telengit  · Teleuts  · Tofalar  · Turkish Cypriots  · Turkish people  · Turkmens  · Tuvans  · Uyghur  · Uzbeks  · Yakuts  · Yörük  · Yugur Political issues History of the Turkic peoples  · Pan-Turkism  · Turanism  · Turkic languages Turkic states Azerbaijan · Kazakhstan  · Kyrgyzstan  · Northern Cyprus  · Turkey  · Turkmenistan  · Uzbekistan Auton. republics Altai Republic  · Bashkortostan  · Crimea  · Chuvashia  · Gagauzia  · Karakalpakstan  · Khakassia  · Nakhchivan  · Sakha Republic  · Tatarstan  · Tuva  · Xinjiang Turkic homeland Göktürks Turkic studies Old Turkic script  · Proto-Turkic language  · Turkic alphabets  · Turkology

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] Further reading and references

• Chavannes, Édouard (1900): Documents sur les Tou-kiue (Turcs) occidentaux. Paris, Librairie d’Amérique et d’Orient. Reprint: Taipei. Cheng Wen Publishing Co. 1969.
• Findley, Carter Vaughn. 2005. The Turks in World History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516770-8; 0-19-517726-6 (pbk.)
• Charles Warren Hostler, The Turks of Central Asia, (Greenwood Press, November 1993), ISBN 0-275-93931-6
• H.B. Paksoy ALPAMYSH: Central Asian Identity under Russian Rule (Hartford: AACAR, 1989)
• Peter B. Golden, 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
• Colin Heywood, The Turks (The Peoples of Europe), (Blackwell 2005), ISBN 978-0631158974
• Baskakov, N.A. 1962, 1969. Introduction to the study of the Turkic languages. Moscow. (In Russian)
• Boeschoten, Hendrik & Lars Johanson. 2006. Turkic languages in contact. Turcologica, Bd. 61. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 3447052120
• 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.
• 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: Encyclopaedia Britannica. CD 98. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, 5 September. 2007. Turkic languages: Linguistic history
• Menges, K. H. 1968. The Turkic languages and peoples: An introduction to Turkic studies. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
• Öztopçu, Kurtuluş. 1996. Dictionary of the Turkic languages: English, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tatar, Turkish, Turkmen, Uighur, Uzbek. London: Routledge. ISBN 0415141982
• Samoilovich, A. N. 1922. Some additions to the classification of the Turkish languages. Petrograd. Classification of Türkic languages
• 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.
• Voegelin, C.F. & F.M. Voegelin. 1977. Classification and index of the World's languages. New York: Elsevier.
• Amanjolov A.S., "History of тhe 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)
• 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
• Kyzlasov I.L., "Runic Scripts of Eurasian Steppes", Moscow, Eastern Literature, 1994, ISBN 5-02-017741-5
• 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, ISBN 5-201-08300 (Азгар Мухамадиев, "Туранская Письменность", "Проблемы лингвоэтноистории татарского народа", Казань, 1995. с.38, ISBN 5-201-08300, (In Russian)
• Vasiliev D.D. Graphical fund of Turkic runiform writing monuments in Asian areal. М., 1983, (In Russian)
• Vasiliev D.D. Corpus of Turkic runiform monuments in the basin of Enisei. М., 1983, (In Russian)

[edit] See also

• Chigils Turks
• Shatuo Turks
• Pan-Turanism
• Pan-Turkism
• Turkic European
• Turkic languages
• Turkic migrations
• Turkic states and empires
• Turko-Iranian
• Turko-Persian tradition
• Turkology
• List of ethnic groups
• European ethnic groups
• Peoples of the Caucasus

[edit] External links

• Turkic Republics, Regions, and Peoples: Resources - University of Michigan
• Turkic Cultures and Children's Festival, Turkic Fest
• Encyclopedia Britanica 1911 Edition
• turkicworld
• Ethnographic maps
• International Turcology and Turkish History Research Symposium
• Istanbul Kültür University
• Examples of traditional Turkish and Ottoman Clothing
• Türkçekent Orientaal's links for Turkish Language Learning
• Türkçestan Orientaal's links to Turkic languages
• Ural-Altaic-Sumerian Etymological Dictionary
• Crimean Tatar Internet Resources
• Crimean Tatar Web Site
• Kemal's Crimean Tatar Web Site with Crimean Tatar Language Resources
• Murad Adji's site Contains books in English

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 Epic

v • d • e Turkic-speaking regions Federal subjects of Russia shown in italics Western Turkic  Azerbaijan1  Gagauzia (Moldova)  Kazakhstan  Iran Many localities/ counties/ provinces  Uzbekistan Eastern Turkic  Altai Republic  Tuva  Bashkortostan  Kabardino-Balkaria  Tatarstan  Xinjiang (China)  Khakassia  Chuvashia  Karachay-Cherkessia  Turkey  Kyrgyzstan  Northern Cyprus2  Karakalpakstan (Uzbekistan)  Turkmenistan  Sakha Republic 1 Includes the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.    2 Recognized only by Turkey; see Cyprus dispute.

v • d • e Turkic peoples in Turkic topics Turkic languages Afshar  · Äynu  · Altay  · Azerbaijani  · Baraba Tatar  · Bashkir  · Bulgar  · Chagatai  · Chulym  · Chuvash  · Crimean Tatar  · Cuman  · Dolgan  · Fuyü Gïrgïs  · Gagauz  · Hunnic  · Ili Turki  · Karachay-Balkar  · Karaim  · Karakalpak  · Kazakh  · Khakas  · Khalaj  · Khazar  · Khorasani Turkic  · Kipchak  · Krymchak  · Kyrgyz  · Kumyk  · Kypchak group  · Nogai  · Old Tatar  · Old Turkic  · Ottoman Turkish  · Pecheneg  · Qashqai  · Sakha  · Salar  · Shor  · Kazan Tatar  · Tofa  · Turkic Avar  · Turkish  · Turkmen  · Tuvan  · Urum  · Uyghur  · Uzbek Turkic peoples Altays  · Azerbaijanis  · Balkars  · Bashkirs  · Bulgars  · Chulyms  · Chuvashs  · Crimean Tatars  · Cumans  · Dolgans  · Gagauz  · Iraqi Turkmen  · Karachays  · Crimean Karaites  · Karakalpaks  · Karapapak  · Kazakhs  · Khakas  · Khazars  · Kimek  · Kipchaks  · Krymchaks  · Kumyks  · Kyrgyz · Meskhetian Turks  · Nağaybäk  · Nogais  · Oghuz Turks  · Qashqai  · Salar  · Syrian Turkmen  · Tatars  · Finnish Tatars  · Keräşen Tatars  · Lipka Tatars  · Siberian Tatars  · Volga Tatars  · Telengit  · Teleuts  · Tofalar  · Turkish Cypriots  · Turkish people  · Turkmens  · Tuvans  · Uyghur  · Uzbeks  · Yakuts  · Yörük  · Yugur Political issues History of the Turkic peoples  · Pan-Turkism  · Turanism  · Turkic languages Turkic states Azerbaijan · Kazakhstan  · Kyrgyzstan  · Northern Cyprus  · Turkey  · Turkmenistan  · Uzbekistan Auton. republics Altai Republic  · Bashkortostan  · Crimea  · Chuvashia  · Gagauzia  · Karakalpakstan  · Khakassia  · Nakhchivan  · Sakha Republic  · Tatarstan  · Tuva  · Xinjiang Turkic homeland Göktürks Turkic studies Old Turkic script  · Proto-Turkic language  · Turkic alphabets  · Turkology