|
The Turkic Languages in a Nutshell A revised ethnological taxonomy with comments and illustrations based upon linguistic and historical analysis Version 4.1 (10.2009) Special appreciation to Yusuf B. Gürsey for carefully reviewing this article and providing remarks and corrections at sci.lang |
The glottochronological time depth of the Proto-Turkic split (c. 2400 yrs) seems to be greater than that of Slavic or Romance (c. 1600 yrs). However, some of the Turkic languages within the internal branches still retain a great deal of mutual intelligibility due to late diversification, and some may even be regarded as dialects of each other, even though they have different contemporary names. |
|
On the present classification
Historical, geographical, and
ethnographical material was added extensively in this work. The
linguistic argumentation and other theoritical details – including
a lexicostatistical research with possible datings – are provided
in
"The Internal Classification and Migration of Turkic
Languages ", a separate online article.
The present system does not describe any rare or obsolete languages
for which no lexical data were found either because of access difficulties
or their complete absence from historical records (such as "Hunnic"),
therefore by no means should this taxonomical description be seen
as exhaustive. It has mostly been focused on getting all the major
subgroups together in the proper order, something that was particularly
hard to accomplish considering the close proximity of most Turkic
sub-branches and their posterior interaction. |
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|
|
| A
note on the reconstruction of Proto-Turkic The reconstruction of a proto-language is more of an art than an exact science, so all reconstructions should be taken with a grain of salt. For this reason, there was some substantial disagreement between Yusuf Gürsey and me on a number of issues in Proto-Turkic reconstruction, e.g. the initial S*- vs. y*- problem, the initial t-/d-, b-/m- controversy, the final -q in Chuvash, etc. The general idea seemed to be that I defended the position of Chuvash-Kyrgyz-Khakas as the main source for reconstruction, whereas he defended Old Turkic and the Oghuz languages. |
| A
note on the Silk Road and the Central Asian Bridge One can better understand the classifictaion of Turkic languages after familiarizing with the geography of the Silk Road and the concept of the *Central Asian Bridge. During the Middle Ages, people could not use flying carpets. Any kind of travel or ethnic migration could only proceed along narrow, geographically suitable pathways extending between deserts and mountain ranges and forming a natural, permanent network of migration routes. In Central Asia, this network became known as the Silk Road. The Silk Road is often considered merely from the economic perspective, although it also played a critical military, cultural, demographic, and linguistic role being an absolutely unique, vital artery which conveyed life in Eurasia for many generations. The Huns, the Turks, the Mongols, the Gipsies, whoever passed through Central Asia, ould only travel along this natural migratory system; consequently, the distribution and classification of peoples in Asia is in fact nearly pre-determined by the geographical structure of these routes and the adjacent geographic areas. That's especially true of the Turkic, Mongolic, and Iranian peoples who have lived by and off the Silk Road for most of their time. The Silk Road was also a streaming jet of genes running in the opposite directions that brought the Chinese DNA to Central Asia and vice versa. It also carried plague and other infections, and subsequently brought tea, paper, compass, gunpowder, and other inventions to Europe causing it to rise from the Middle Ages into the era of art, reason, technology, as well as fierce firearm warfare. |
Proto-Turkic (reconstruction)
Bulgaric
|
According to the
present study, the Bulgaric languages branched off from the Turkic
languages at an early period of time—c. 1000-700 BC. The difference
between Bulgaric and Turkic is considerable, so they should be viewed
rather separetely, as the Bulgaro-Turkic language (super)group,
although they are frequently mixed up with Turkic.
|
Bulgar-Khazar
| A highly deviant,
archaic subgroup of Turkic nomads that first appeared in the Caucasus
c. 350, and then on the Danube River c. 475. They seem to have given
rise to several medieval kingdoms: (1) a short-lived Old Great
Bulgaria (632-671) founded by Khan Kubrat in the Pontic steppes;
(2) its affiliate Volga Bulgaria (670-1236) founded
by Khan Kubrat's son along the middle course of the Volga River; (3)
its another affiliate state, Danube Bulgaria (670 -864), which
gave rise to present-day Bulgaria; and finally (4) the Khazar Khagante
(650-969) near the Caspian Sea, famous for its Judaism. The Khazar and Bulgar languages are poorly attested in historical records. The Volga and Danube Bulgar languages are attested in a few surviving inscriptions written with Greek and Arabic characters and Turkic runes. Khazar is only known from an inscription "oqurüm" (I have read) and the name of the city of Sar-kel (=White House?). The only surviving remnant of Bulgaric languages is Chuvash of Volga Bulgaria. |
 Khazars |
 Volga Bulgars |
 A Danube Bulgarian |
Volga Bulgar
ora
s'ôldôr
tibê
s'ôlzhâ,
ïyGô(n)
pôver
| Modern Chuvash (1.3 million speakers, most of them bilingual in Russian) is still spoken in the Chuvash Republic (capital: Cheboksary) and is believed to be a direct descendant of the language of Volga Bulgaria (ancient capitals: Bolghar and Bilar, a large city of 2 miles across). Volga Bulgaria was a Muslim state founded along the Volga c. 670, roughly between the modern cities of Kazan and Samara, and then destroyed during the Tatar-Mongol invasion in 1236, when this region was settled by the Tatars. Commanding the middle Volga, the state controlled trade between the northern Europe and Persia, and was similar in this respect to the Kievan Rus that controlled the Dniepr River. The state had many highly developed cities with literate population and used cast iron and window glass. It was visited in 922 by an Arab writer and diplomat Ibn-Fadlan whose famous account, btw, inspired a book whose plot was used for the "The 13th Warrior" movie starring Antonio Banderas. Today, the "Devil's Tower" in Yelabuga on the Kama River (fig. left below) is one of the few standing remnants of this long gone civilization, although the 13-14th cent. buildings in Bolghar (fig. right below) also preserve the spirit of that period. In 1552, the Russians seized Kazan further affecting the Chuvash language and culture. As an example, here's a very lovely folk song in Chuvash with an English translation (note certain Slavic features in music and phonology). The standalone position of Chuvash among other Turkic languages is rather indisputable, its lexical core is seen as quite archaic, and it can also be considered as one of the most important Turkic languages for the purposes of historical reconstruction. |  |
Turkic Proper
(1) Siberian Turkic Languages
| The Siberian Turkic languages is a major taxon that includes ethnic groups which migrated in the eastern direction from the hypothetical Turkic homeland near the Altai Mountains starting from about 200 BC. It can be divided into (1a) the Yakutic subgroup with just Sakha (Yakut) and Dolgan; and (1b) the Yenisei-Kyrgyz subgroup including such significant representatives as Khakas, Tuvan, and most likely, Altai Turkic languages. |
Subgroup 1a:
Yakutic
The Lena migrants
|
A group resulting from the Turkic expansion to Northeast Siberia, along the Lena River (probably from c. 12-13th century). When we think of Sakha, we should basically think of the Turkic migration along the Lena, whose source lies in the vicinity of Lake Baikal near the East Sayan Mountains. The glottochronological studies [e.g. Dyachok, 2001 and herein] indicate an early separation of Sakha from the main stem (c. 200 BC). The tribal confederation who lived northwest of Baikal c. 6-10th c is known as kurykans (hypothetically, Old Sakha). Before the Russian invasion with its lexical influence, Sakha had intense early contact with the Evenk (=Tungusic) substratum, noticeable in today's grammar and phonology, and acquired many Mongol (Buriat) lexical borrowings, although it has also preserved many important archaic Turkic features. Sakha seems to be highly deviant in many respects, having little to do with Tuvan or Khakas. Generally, there isn't much doubt that the Yakutic subgroup should be viewed as an important, nearly independent branch of the Turkic languages. |
 Sakha warriors (staged) |
 A village along the Lena |
Sakha (Yakut)
| Yakut (the usual name in Russian), or "Saxa" (self-appellation) is spoken along the Lena River in the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic (capital Yakutsk) of Russia, the largest in the world subnational governing body by area. Though looking big on the map, the region is in fact covered with dense taiga, and is scarcely populated, while most life is concentrated along rivers. Historically, the northern Yakuts were largely hunters, fishermen and reindeer herders, while the southern Yakuts raised cattle and horses. The city of Yakutsk (originally Lensky Ostrog) was founded in 1632, when this territory was annexed by Russians. Religion: originally, tengreistic shamanism. C. 460 000 speakers; 70% bilingual in Russian. |  The Sakha Beauty Contest |
 Oymyakon, the Pole of Cold |
 Yakutsk in winter |
| Dolgan is the northernmost offshoot of Sakha, spoken near the Taymyr Peninsula and other extremely scarcely populated regions of the northern tundra. It exhibits even more Evenk lexical influence than Sakha. C. 7000 persons (2002), of which less than 80% are native speakers of Dolgan. |
Subgroup 1b:
Yenisei Kyrgyz
The
Yenisei-Kyrgyz migrants to the Sayan Mountains
This taxon represents the descendants
of the Yenisei
Kyrgyz, a historically important group of Turkic tribes
attested under various names in the Chinese chronicles between 200-900
AD. The Yenisei Kyrgyz probably inhabited the Minusink Depression
in Khakassia (Minusinsk is a city near Abakan, the capital of Khakassia),
a geographically suitable plain with steppes, lakes and valleys
located along the upper reaches of the Yenisei river. Protected
by the Altai and Sayan mountains, the Minusink Depression has relatively
mild climate convenient for agriculture, so even cherry orchards
have been grown there since the 19th century. Note: at a deeper chronological level, rich archaeological sites in the region of the Tian-Shan, Altai and Sayan mountains mark the presence of the so called "Siberian Scythians" at least since c. 900-700 BC (see Pazyryk culture: kurgans, gold, iron weapons, horse burrials, charriots, petroglyphs, remnants of clothing, carpets, mummies in permafrost, etc). These archaeologically attested ethnic groups could have formed the basis for the Proto-Turkic unity, although that is contoversial. Chinese records, anthropological and genetic studies indicate the presence of "European invaders" as well as an unusually high concentration of the Proto-Indo-European R1a1 haplogroup in this region. |
Tuvan-Tofa
|
The Tuvan subsubgroup represents
those ethnic groups, such as Tuvan and Tofa, that settled deep
in the the Sayan mountains. Glottochronologically, these
languages seem to have separated from Proto-Khakas c. 800 AD. They
are rather peculiar, exhibit many archaisms and innovations and,
for the most part, cannot be understood by the Turks of Central
Asia. There is evidence for the Tungusic influence in the basic
vocabularly. The strange ethnological resemblance to the North American
Indians may in fact be an indication of a Paleo-Asiatic substratum
(?) |
| The Karagas were thought to be extinct in the 19th century, yet the Tofalars in the forests of the East Sayan mountains seem to be their continuation. Only 650 persons, 380 speakers (2002), although the population is demographically stable. Tengreiistic shamanists and nomads before the 1930s. Reindeer breeding and hunting in the taiga. Note that "Karagas" may be just a different way to pronounce "Kyrgyz", whereas the self-appellation "Tofa" might be akin to the name of the Tuba River in the Minusinsk Depression (?). Karagas/Tofa(lar) seems to retain certain archaic features, and may probably be seen as a peculiar remnant of the ancient Yenisei Kyrgyz population. |  |
| Tuvan is spoken in the Tuva Republic (the capital city of Kyzyl), located along the upper Yenisei between the West and East Sayan Ridges, as well as just across the border in northern Mongolia. About 200.000 speakers, of which c. 60% are bilingual in Russian. Religion: Tibetan Buddhism and still Tengriistic shamanism. Traditionally, nomads; horse and cattle breeders; sedentary life in towns since the 19-20th century. Tuva was a de jure independent state between 1920 and 1944, when finally fully annexed by the USSR. Note such contractions as "sigis" > "sehes" > "ses", "igi" > "ihi" > "ii", which seem to position Tuvan as an offspring of the early Karagas language. Geographically, this is easy to explain since the Tuvans can just be seen as those Yenisei Kyrghyz that migrated a little further upstream from Khakassia and settled down along the uppermost reaches of the Yenisei. |  |
azax
xïzïl
ib, uG
pär
eke
chittä
| Khakas is spoken in the Republic of Khakassia located along the Yenisei River north of the Altai; the administrative center is Abakan. The Khakas people traditionally practiced nomadic herding, agriculture, hunting, and fishing. More importantly, the Khakassians seem to be direct descendants of the Yenisei Kyrgyz who used to occupy the same region until c. 1000 AD. "Khakas" and "Karagas" may be just another way to pronounce "Kyrgyz" (?). C. 60.000 speakers, most of them now fully bilingual in Russian. Shor (10.000 speakers) and Chulym (only 40-100 speakers) are the nearby located small ethnic groups closely related to Khakas. |  Traditional Khakas wedding (c. 1915) |
 |
 |
Fuyu Kyrgyz (East China)
| An often omitted and oddly located, but strategically significant endangered Turkic language in northeast China with herein unsettled classification. It's located to the northwest of Harbin along the Nenjiang river and spoken by just about 700-400 passive speakers, which inhabit the area near a town called Fuyü, hence the odd exonym; the self-appellation is "Gyrgys, xyrgys", though. The Fuyü Gïrgïs have apparently been expelled from central Mongolia and resettled to China in 1761 after the conquest of Dzungaria by the Qing Empire. Religion: originally shamanism, then Lamaism. No dictionary or description of grammar available (?). The presence of -G- (aGïr "heavy", aGyz "mouth") may indicate proximity to Old Turkic. |
The Yenisei-Kyrgyz migrants to the Altai Mountains
Altai
| The Altai subgroup in the Altai Republic is split up into Southern and Nortern Altai, which are further divided into smaller dialects/languages with ambiguous classification. The subgroup retains the word-initial palatalized /d'/(*dj-) (South) and /ch/ (North) as in "d'eti". The peculiarities of the lesser Altai languages are frequently ignored or underestimated. |
|
bür, büri,
pür(i)
pu:r
pesh
| The
Altai Republic (capital: Gorno-Altaysk) and the Altai Krai
(administrative center: Barnaul) are geographically connected but
politically different federal subjects of the Russian Federation that
should not be conflated. The official written language of the Altai
Republic is based on the southern dialect/language. Prior to 1948,
the Altai languages were confusingly named "Oyrot" after the subgroup
of Mongolic languages due to their interaction with the Dzungarians
in the 18th century. There are now 65.500 nominal speakers of the
Altai languages (2002), though most of them in fact speak Russian,
whereas the local dialect-languages quickly fall out of use. The Southern Altai subsubsubgroup may include at least the following languages: (1) Standard (South) Altai (proper); (2) Teleut (used as standard before 1917; only 2500 persons (1989)); and (3) Telengit. The Northern Altai subsubgroup includes: (1) Tuba (rather intermediate between North and South); (2) Kumandy (~1000 speakers); (3) Chalkan (850 persons, all bilingual in Russian); plus an undefined number of dialects. The Northern Altai languages seem to share certain features with Chulym, Shor, and Khakas languages (e.g. *S- > ch-). The Altai languages exhibit many features that make them rather intermediate between Siberian Turkic and Karluk-Kyrgyz languages, but the lexical basis was apparently of Siberian Turkic stock, and they probably separated at the same time as Tuvan (c. 800 AD?) |
 A Kumandy fisherman |
but
cholbon
togïs
un
(2) Western Turkic Languages
| The rest of the Turkic languages has formed a major taxon that includes (2a) Kimak-Karluk subgroup with such famous representatives as Tatar and Kyrgyz-Kazakh, and (2b) Orkhon Turkic languages that includes Uzbek, Uyghur, Turkmen, Azeri, and Turkish. These languages must have originally formed along the upper Irtysh River. Then, c. 300 AD (?), the Orkhon tribes must have separated and migrated toward Mongolia, whereas the Kimak-Karluks have stayed behind near the Irtysh. Both subgroups afterward expanded in the western direction. |
Subgroup 2a:
Kimak-Karluk (ex-Kipchak)
| Judging from historical sources, the Proto-Kimak-Karluk must have diversified c. 550-650 AD, but its modern descendants such as Tatar and Kyrgyz-Kazakh still seem to be very close lexically (up to 90% in Swadesh-200) which is attributed to the preservation of many archaisms due to the long isolation in the Kazakhstan steppes. Because of the close lexical proximity this subgroup has usually been known as "Kipchak" in the Baskakov's classification, but we believe the historical differences between Karluks and Kimaks to be greater than normally assumed, therefore the subgroup should be divided into (2aa) the Karluk subsubgroup, and (2ab) the Kimak subsubgroup |
The Karluks that migrated toward the Tian-Shan
The Karluk Confederation descendants
|
The Kimak-Karluk descendants
that migrated to the Tian Shan formed the Karluk
Confederation (766 –840), a medieval state located in Zheti-Su
(Seven Waters), a historical region between the Tian Shan and Lake
Balkhash near the present-day Kyrgyzstan. Originally, the Karluks
were probably a clan from the Altai Mountains that c. 665 migrated
towards the Irtysh River and finally reached the Western Turkic
Kaganate (c. 550-650) c. 700 AD. After the famous Battle of Talas
in 751, when the Chinese forces were defeated by the Arabs, the
Karluks were able to occupy Suyab, the capital of the Western Gökturk
Kaganate, in 766 and accordingly gained control over the northern
part of the Silk Road and the Zheti-Su region. The Karluks were
partly converted to Islam c. 780. In 840, the Karluk Kaganate was
subdued by a second migration wave of the Yenisei Kyrgyz (from the
Altai?), further increasing their cultural influence in the region.
By 940, the country was captured by the Karakhanids. A Turkic tribe
named "Kirkiz" from the Tian Shan region was first mentioned
at least as early as 1072 by Makhmud al-Kashgari. |
| Kyrgyzstan (capital: Bishkek) is a small mountainous country in the Tian Shan near Lake Issyk-Kul, formed along the northeastern part of the Silk Road. The legendary history of the Kyrgyz people, including battles against Kitays and Kalmyks, is described in the Epic of Manas, an extremely long, orally transmitted poem first mentioned in the 16th century and written down in 1885. Kyrgyzstan was integrated into Russia in 1876, but eventually became independent in 1991. Youngsters often no longer speak Russian, which is good for the sociolinguistical status of the Kyrgyz language. C. 4 million speakers. |
| Kazakhstan
(capital: Astana; prominent city: Almaty located in
the Tian Shan) is just that giant spot on the map of Central Asia.
Despite its large size, most of Kazakstan's land is semidesert continental
steppe occupied by the Kazakh nomads between the 15-19th centuries.
Historically, the Kazakhs seem to be those Kyrgyz nomads that spread
beyond their original "Seven Rivers" homeland near the Tian-Shan and
whose language was accordingly affected by the Tatar-Kipchak-Noghai
dialects of the Golden Horde. Since the 1820s, Russians
in Kazakhstan began to use this territory for coal mining, agriculture,
nuclear tests, and launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Kazakhstan
became independent in 1990, emerging as a huge Central Asian power
with rapidly growing economy and relatively high level of urbanization.
The Kazakhs understand the Kyrgyz language to a very considerable
extent; curiously, they were even named "Kaisak-Kyrgyz" between the
1730s and 1920s. Cf. an old Kazakh saying, "Kazakh and Kyrgyz
are one kin, but who in the world made Sart? (=a Chagatai city dweller,
trader)" (/qazaq qyrGyz bir tuGan, sart shirkindi kim tuGan/).
C. 12 mln speakers. |
|
 |
| Karakalpak (an autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan in Uzbekistan, capital Nukus) is basically a dialect of Kazakh located near the southwestern coasts of the Aral Sea, which has now shrunk and almost disappeared causing terrible deterioration in the region. The name literally means "black hats" (= brave warriors). |
|
The Kimak Kaganate descendants
The Kimaks (Kimeks), which included
Kimeks Proper (Yemeks, Imeks), Tatars, and Kipchaks
among others, occupied the vast Eurasian steppe from the Altai
Mountains to the Black Sea. These peoples now speak "Tatar-like"
languages, as opposed to, for instance, the Oghuz (Seljuks) who
conquered the territory of the Byzantine Empire and Persia mostly
to the south of the Tian-Shan-Pamir-Caucasus mountain system and
who now speak "Turkish-like" languages. The Kimak and Oghuz languages
are not mutually intelligible (no more than by 30% in real speech),
therefore learning, say, Kazan Tatar is not sufficient to understand
Turkish and vice versa (75% of common words in Swadesh-200). On
the other hand, the Kimak languages still display a very considerable
amount of internal mutual intelligibility among themselves, as well
as with Kazak and Kyrgyz languages (over 90% similarity in Swadesh-200).
The name Tatar (whence Chinese
"da-da") was first attested in 732 in a Kül-Tegin monument;
it's also mentioned in al-Kashgari's work (1072), but finally became
a frequent misnomer, especially because of the further association
with the Greek Tartarus by European historians. The name may have
been rather ambiguously applied to various ethnic groups, such as
in "Transcaucasian Tatars" instead of Azeris, and finally
stuck to the descendants of the Golden Horde. What is now known
as Tatars may
in fact be various Kimak ethnicities scattered all over Eastern
Europe and Western Siberia, of which Kazan Tatars are the
largest and most famous. (Actually, Kazan Tatars used the self-appellation
"Bolgars" and "Kazans" until the late 19th century.)
During the Soviet period many of these Kimak ethnic communities
were taught Kazan Tatar as a common standard, and their languages
may now be strongly contaminated by it. |
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The Kimaks that stayed near the Irtysh River
Siberian Kimek (?)
pir
äki
öch
pêsh
bêsh
yêdi
segiz
toGiz
un
| Baraba
Tatars is one of the several groups of Siberian Tatars
(basically, Kimeks) in southwestern Siberia. They inhabit the Novosibirsk
Oblast between the Irtysh and Ob rivers, mainly along the Om River
(hence, the name of the city of Omsk, founded in 1716) and in the
adjacent Baraba Steppe (probably from *Parama < *Parma "Don't go").
The Baraba were attested by 1595. They are often seen as descendants
of the Khanate
of Sibir (1495-1582), but may have also descended from the
Kimak Kha(ga)nate
(743-1210) directly. The Baraba are a settled, non-nomadic population
who lived in wooden homes. Religion: originally shamanism; then Islamicized.
Less than 8000 persons, but few actual native speakers. Note the phonological
influence of the Khakas subgroup, especially Chulym (as in üts
: üts "three"). The language may have been contaminated by Kazan
Tatar during the Soviet period. In addition to Baraba, there exist other Siberian Kimak-Tatar ethnicities, such as Tomsk Tatars and Tobol-Irtysh Tatars. |
The Kimaks that spread to the Great Steppe
Tatar
zhide
| The Kazan Tatar language emerged inside the Kazan Khanate (1438-1552), a state that formed when the Mongol army, probably along with Tatar soldiers, attacked and destroyed Volga Bulgaria in 1232-36, possibly causing intense Chuvash-Bulgar emigration. The Kazan Khanate was later conquered by the troops of Ivan the Terrible in 1552 and became part of Russia (in fact, the famous Saint Basil's Cathedral on Red Square was built to commemorate the capture of Kazan); it is now the Republic of Tatarstan (capital: Kazan). Note the presence of the archaic *S-, which is preserved before- i- (hence "Jir" earth, "Jil" wind), but changed to y- before other vowels ("yafraq" leaf, " yul" road, "yïlan" snake, "yörek" heart); J- in the latter position may also appear in the dialects of Tatar. The Tatar participation in the Mongol invasion is still remembered in the Russian language culture (cf. sayings "An uninvited guest is worse than a Tatar"; "Mamai/the Tatars went over it" as about raising havoc; "the Tataro-Mongol Yoke", etc), consequently the Tatar language seems to, unfortunately enough, have a rather low social status, whereas nationalistic theorists sometimes attempt to get rid of these unsuitable historical and political issues. Religion: Sunni Islam. Over 5 million speakers, >70-90% bilingual in Russian. |  |
|
 |
|
| The Kazan Kremlin today as if 500 years ago; The Qolsharif Mosque (inaugurated in 2005) (above) is the largest mosque in Russia | ||||
| Bashkir is spoken in the Republic of Bashkortostan (capital: Ufa) in the southern Ural Mountains. Basically, it's nearly a Ural dialect of Kazan Tatar with 97% of matches in Swadesh-200. The deviant Bashkir phonology (ch > s, s > h, z > ð) is sometimes explained by the absorption of a Finno-Ugric substratum. Note some shared phonological innovations: Tat. tugïz, Bash. tughïð; dürt < *dört; un < *on. Nomadic animal husbandry until the 18th century. Religion: Islam since the 950s, now mostly atheic. 1.3 million speakers, 80% bilingual in Russian. |  |
 |
 Bashkir horsemen (staged) |
 This photo: c.1910 |
| On the origins of the ethnonym "Bashkir" (a hypothesis): Bashkirs were mentioned in several Arab sources since c.840; at the time the "Bashkirs" were said to occupy the territory to the south of the Ural Mountains (from the Volga and Kama to the Tobol Rivers). Ibn-Fadlan clearly mentions certain "Bashkirs" located in the present-day Tatarstan near the Kama river as early as 922 ["We arrived in the land of the Turks called al-Bashgird... these were the most foul of all Turkic peoples... when one of them meets a man, he cuts his head..."], as well as near the Emba river (to the south of the Urals) ["...to protect them from the Baskirs in case they capture them (the carts)..."]. Herein, we can note that the name "bash+kyr" probably meant just "headcutter (-splitter, -buster)" > gangster > caravan robber, and could have been ambiguously applied to different Kipchak groups, but finally stuck to the present-day Bashkirs. Alternatively, the autonym "Bashkort" is frequently explained as "bash" + Oghuz "kurt" (head-wolf), where "kurt" is tabooistic for "wolf" and originally meant "worm", however that doesn't seem to make much sense. Also, cf. a jocular Russian phrase "bashka kirdyk" (as in "adios, muchachos") < Tatar "bash-ga kyrdyk" (we smashed/busted his head) borrowed at least as early as the 19th century during one of the many Russo-Turkic wars. This example confirms that the reference to headhunters/headbusters was quite frequent forming a naturally occuring exonym, which should not have necessarily referred to the present-day Bashkirs, but originally could have been a generic, exonymic reference to Kimak caravan robbers. |
yapraq
yuqla-
müyüz
dört, tört
besh
Jedi?
| The Crimean Khanate (1441-1783) with the capital of Bakhchisaray ("Garden Palace") (see fig.) was a Kipchak post-Golden-Horde state situated in the Crimean Peninsula and the Pontic steppes. The khanate maintained massive slave trade with the Ottoman Empire making raids into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia. Only the northern Crimean dialects can be viewed as Crimean Tatar proper, and should not to be confused with Crimean Turkish in the south. Presently, Crimean Tatar in the north (Kipchak) has been mixed up with Crimean Turkish ("Oghuz") in the south in a attempt to build "a mutually intelligible" literary language. However, the actual dialectical situation is more complicated. Although the pure dialects may still survive in vivo, not enough field work on them has been done. Crimean Tatars are also famous for being resettled and persecuted by Stalin as "Nazi collaborators". C. 260.000 persons in Crimea, 170.000 elsewhere. |  |
 Crimean Tatars (c. 1820s) |
 Succession home of the Crimean Khans |
yulduz
yukla-
dyort'
biesh
| Crimean
Karaites are a rather odd and presently very small branch of Crimean
Kipchaks that includes adherents of Karaite Judaism; essentially,
they seem to be descendants of a Kipchakicized Jewish sect. Originally,
they were centered only in Crimea, but then were partly relocated
as captives to Lithuania in 1392. Presently, only c. 600 persons in
Crimea (2002), 257 in Lithuania (1997), c. 1000 in other countries.
The Nogais (90.000) and Kumyks (500.000 speakers) are two ethnic groups that occupy the steppe along the northwestern coast of the Caspian Sea in northern Dagestan. The name Nogai is derived from Nogai Khan, a Mongol-Kipchak general. The Nogais are the remnants of the Nogai Horde (c. 1392-1639), a loose nomadic confederation that was centered in Saray-Juk near the Ural (Yaik) River delta and probably partly related to the Astrakhan Khanate (1466-1556) defeated by Ivan the Terrible. They were attacked by the Dzungarians (Kalmyks) and then forced to resettle by Russians in the 18-19th cent. There is some Kazakh influence in Nogai (cf. Ng. yapïrak : Kz. zhapïraq; sh > s). The precise origins of Kumyks are less clear. |
 Karaites |
 Nogai (light blue), Kumyk (dark blue) |
Karachay-Balkar (North Caucasus)
| Karachay-Balkar is spoken in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic (capital: Cherkessk) and the Kabardino-Balkar Republic (capital: Nalchik) created rather artificially in 1922, the other two ethnic groups of the republics (Cherkeses and Kabardins) being of North Caucasian origin. The Karachay-Balkars have been present in the Caucasus at least since the Mongol invasion c. 1220s, having probably settled there a few centuries earlier as the Kipchaks (Cuman-Polovtsians) were moving into the Pontic steppes. Non-nomadic population; Islamicized only by 18-19th c. In 1943, they have been forcibly resettled to Kazakhstan by Stalin, which led to mass starvation, but returned after 1957. Karachay-Balkar has a few Kabardino-Cherkes basic lexis borrowings and Caucasian phonology. There are two dialects, which among other features, differ in the pronunciation of *S as follows: /J-/, /ch-/ [Karachaylï+ Balkar Taulu dialetcs (< from /tau/ "mountain") ] and /dz-, z-/, /ts-/ [the Malqarlï dialect of Balkars]. C. 300.000 speakers (~80% bilingual in Russian). |  A modern tower in Kabardino-Balkaria |
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 This photo c. 1910 |
Subgroup 2b:
Orkhon Turkic
|
The Orkhon Turkic
languages is the most populous, historically famous, and economically
developed subgroup of the Turkic languages. It originated in Mongolia,
and then spread in the westward direction, forming (4a) the Karakhanid-Chagatai
subsubgroup including Uzbek and Uyghur, and (4b) the Oghuz-Seljuk
subsubgroup including Turkish, Azeri, and Turkmen. Only the representatives
of this taxon seem to be historically known as Turks (Türkler),
so it could properly be called "Turkic" if that name had
not been taken by the language group in general.
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The Turks that moved from
Mongolia to the
Tian Shan
The Göktürk Kaganate
descendants
Old Turkic+
eki
| Long before the spread of the Mongols, there existed a Eurasian Empire centered in Mongolia that was nearly as great and as powerful as that of Genghis Khan. It is known as the Göktürk Kaganate (552-744 AD), and it controlled the Silk Road as far west as the Black Sea. European historians rarely mention this state, probably because the Göktürks (Blue or Celestial Turks) have not reached western Europe directly, still their influence on Central Asia was profound. A subgroup of Turkic languages has formed from the spread and collapse of the Göktürk Empire, which is similar to the formation of the Romance languages after the fall of Rome. The Eastern Kaganate (capital: Ordu-Baliq,, population 100.000, 3 miles across) had been centered in the sacred and fertile Orkhon Valley. Curiously, the Genghis Khan's capital Karakorum was also afterwards located in the very same place, only 10 miles away from the Ordu-Baliq ruins, apparently because, just like the Turkic peoples, the Mongols believed in the divine force emanating from the Orkhon Valley and mythical Mount Ötüken. The Western Kaganate, which existed until 659, was ruled from a Silk Road outpost city Suyab in today's Kyrgyzstan. The Göktürk Empire was overrun by the Chinese (659-681), and then by the Uyghurs who founded the Uyghur Kaganate (744-840), but these rather seem to be changes in the ruling dynasties, not language or culture. After a period of political decline, Ordu-Baliq and other eastern cities were razed by the Yenisei Kyrgyz horsemen in 840, which probably affected the spread of the Turkic languages pushing them to the west. The Gökturks and Uyghurs used the Old Turkic (Okhon-Yenisei) runiform alphabetic script (attested since the 720s). It was carved on stone obelisks thus preserving the Orkhon language in detail. |  From a Genghis Khan film (2007) |
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 The Ordu-Baliq ruins |
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yetti
sekkiz
| After
the downfall of the Gökturk (Uyghur) Khanate (840 AD),
some of its inhabitants quickly migrated westward along the Silk Road
setting up: (1) a confederation of decentralized Buddhist states called
Kara-Khoja (Kocho) (capital: Beshbalïk) in the Tarim Basin
oases, with its Turfan language (also known as "türk uyGur
tili"), and (2) the Kara-Khanid
Khanate (845-1212) located further west in the Tian
Shan Mountains. The first capital of the Karakhanid Khanate was established
in the city of Balasagun
(3 miles across at the time) located near Lake Issyk-Kul (present-day
Kyrgyzstan) in the very same region as the Western Turkic Kaganate
with its capital Suyab; then the capital was moved to Kashgar (in
the Tarim Basin). The Karakhanid Khanate was converted to Islam in
934. Apparently, Orkhon, Karakhanid, and Turfan languages were separated
only geographically, and essentially constituted the same language
with minor dialectical differences; the latter two were eventually
displaced by Chagatai. We should mention here Mahmud al-Kashgari (c. 1029-1102?), the first Arabic Turkologist (a son of a city mayor related to the Karakhanid dynasty) born near Kashgar, who in 1072-74 wrote the first comprehensive 700-page dictionary of the Turkic language, the Diwan Lughat al-Turk (Arabic: "Compendium of the dialects of the Turks"), a very professional work of its time. [Figs: left to right: (1) A decoration with swastikas in fig. 4; (2) Burana Tower, Balasagun; (3) Aisha Bibi Mausoleum, Taraz, Kazakhstan; (4) Mausoleum in Uzgen, western Kyrgyzstan; (5) a Karakhanid Minaret in Bukhara (1127)]. |
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Chagatai
ayaG
quruG
yapurGaq
yapurGaG
|
The patchwork of Central Asian languages gets particularly complex at this point. Chagatai is essentially Middle Uzbek/Uyghur, and the continuation of Karakhanid. Originally, it was the language of the Chagatai Khanate (c. 1230-1700) established by the Mongols to replace the Turkic Karakhanid dynasty—Chagatai Khan was the second son of Genghis Khan. At their greatest extent, the Chaghatai Khanate domains spread from the Irtysh River in Siberia down to Ghazni in Afghanistan, and from Transoxana to the Tarim Basin. The period of classical Chagatai literature starts with the publication of Navai's [Nah-vah-EE](1441-1501) poetry. Moreover, Chagatai lived its heyday in the Timurid Empire. Consequently, between 1400 and 1920, the Chagatai language became a common sophisticated Central Asian koine written with the Perso-Arabic alphabet. Uzbek, which is in fact modern Chagatai, is still the most widely spoken Turkic language apart from Turkish and Azeri. Apparently, Chagatai was strongly influenced by the Karluk languages, hence, for instance, "öy" (house) instead of the Karakhanid "ev". Finally, the four cultures (Karakhanid, Karluk, Persian, and Arabic) mixed and blended, creating a "creolized" language with the distinct local flavor. |
mûgiz
|
The Republic of Uzbekistan
(capital Tashkent)
is mostly desert territory with life historically concentrated only
in the fertile Fergana
Valley and southern oases of arable land along the Zeravshan
River known as Sogdiana
with such prominent, large, ancient cities as Khujand
(founded by Alexander the Great in 329 BC), Bukhara
(since 500 BC) and Samarkand
(since 700 BC). The Arabic name for the region is "Mawarannahr"
meaning "beyond the river" (the Oxus, hence also Transoxana).
It was settled by the Karluks and Oghuzes in the north and the Karakhanids
in the south. The invasion of the Karakhanid Khanate by the Karluk
armies led by Mongols in 1219, estbalished the Chagatai Ulus and
introduced the Chagatai language. Timur/
Tamerlane, who was born near Samarqand and was famous for
his brutality, conquered much of Central Asia and founded
the Timurid
dynasty (1370-1585). In 1501-10, the region was conquered by
the Kipchaks. Presently, Uzbek is a robust, significant Central
Asian language with 24.7 million speakers and several dialects.
A noticeable Karluk-Kipchak and Arabo-Persian influence; the loss
of vowel harmony. The Uzbeks were often known as "Sarts"
(townspeople) before 1924, whereas "Uzbeks" had in fact been a name
of the local Kipchak tribes akin to the name of Ozbeg Khan, a Golden
Horde ruler. [Fig. left to right: (1) Chai-khana (tea house) visitors
(an early color photo, c.1911!); (2) downtown Samarqand; (3) a pilaf
dish (4) The Emir of Bukhara (1911!); (5) Uzbeks as excellent market
traders.] |
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Uyghur is an eastern descendant of Chagatai and a language (or rather a language cluster) with pronounced dialectical differentiation spoken in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China (capital: Urumchi) along the edges of the Taklamakan Desert. The Silk Road here has just been ethnic running water, and Uyghur, a backward offshoot of the Chagatai language, was blended into an earlier 9th century Kara-Khoja Old Uyghur, Persian, and Chinese substrata. Long vowels (karGa > ka:Ga "crow"); the syllable final -r dropped. Before 1920s, all Chagatai-speaking Muslims in the region were known under different names, such as Kashgar (in the west); Moghols (ruling class), Sarts (merchants and townspeople), Taranchis (farmers), etc, whereas the designation "Uyghurs" was artificially created only in 1921. [Figs.: Kashgar; women at the mosque] |
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| Uyghur is very close to Uzbek (95% in Swadesh-200) and it seems to embrace several closely related dialect-languages, such as eastern Ili, Lop (Luobu, Lobnor); central dialect (Turfan, Kashgar); southern Khotan (Hotan); a special position belongs to Äynu. C. 9 million speakers. |
Salar (West China)
pyr, pir
ush
töt
pesh
alzhi
yizhi
togos
| A language of controversial classification. According to legends, the Salars are said to have moved into western China (Xunhua Salar Autonomous County, near the location of the Yughurs) from Samarqand or Khorasan (an Iran province) either in the 13th century during the Mongol invasion or in 1370 , obviously traveling along the Silk Road. Traditionally they were thought to be "Oghuz", but considerable phonological changes, strong Chinese influence (e.g. native numbers no longer in use), and the absence of certain western Oghuz-Seljuk innovations (such as "boynuz", u > ï ) seem to contradict the grouping with the Seljuk Empire descendants. More interestingly, there are many Kyrgyz-Chagatai grammatical features, e.g. the dative with -Gas; past tense with -Gan-, etc. By no means should Salar be mindlessly viewed as just "Oghuz", it seems to be a complex Kipchak-Karakhanid mixed language with strong Chinese and probably even Tibetan influence. Religion: Islam. C. 100.000 ethnic Salars, but the language is now mostly spoken only by the elder. |
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Khalaj (Iran)
jigär
biesh
sæk.kiz
toq.quz
uon
| Khalaj (not to be confused with a Northwest Iranian language of the same name) is a poorly classified Turkic language in wesetern Iran near Tehran (42 000 speakers; bilingual in Farsi), which is famous for several unusual features, such as an initial h-, intervocal -d-, and long vowels. Previously, Khalaj was thought to be "Oghuz" (as described in a legend by Mahmud al-Kashgari), but was then claimed not to be by Doerfer (1978). His classification, as published in Wiki, is obviously exaggerated – he nearly goes to the extent of viewing Khalaj as one of the most basic Turkic languages. Herein, it is tentatively classified as one of the early offshoots of the Karakhanid expansion, which is supported by (1) the post-Karakhanid sonorization pattern; (2) the presence of intervocalic -D- (as in "aDaq") in the Kharakhanid sources; (3) the lack of profound historical changes glottochronologically consistent with early separation. It also has some Seljuk-Oghuz grammatical innovations, such as -uq (1st plural, Present) as in Azeri -ug. Khalaj was probably influenced by a local Arabic and Iranian adstratum, hence most of its odd features. Cf. unusual changes in Salar and Yughur that were similarly strongly affected by an ad-/ superstratum. Economy: agriculture, nomadic sheep breeding. |
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The Turks that migrated
to China
The Ganzhou Kingdom descendants
Yugur (West
China)
| A small but strategically important subtaxon that seems to have migrated into southwestern China (Sunan Yugur Autonomous County) c. 800-850 AD after the downfall of the Uyghur Kaganate moving along the Silk Road. There, on the outskirts of China, they established a prosperous Ganzhou Kingdom (870-1036 A.D) with the capital near present-day Zhangye, and the economy based on the Silk Road trade. The classification is unclear and is often mispositioned. Pronounced Chinese influence: loss of conjugation, plural possesive, personal forms of copula; weak/strong consonants; aspiration (marked as /'/). Religion: Tibetan Buddism. The Oilyg Yugurs are nomadic cattle breeders in the steppes, the Taglyg – in the mountains. The Yugurs like to wear their traditional red hats. Only c. 4500 speakers remaining (2000). Self-appellation: Sarïg Yogïr (Yellow Uyghur). Not to be confused: (1) with the Shera-Yugurs, or Eastern Yugurs, who were Mongolized (c. 2800 speakers) and who, btw, wear a different hat style; (2) with the Yughu (the Sinicized Yugurs losing their ethnic roots). Also see this site for details. |  |
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pïr
shïkï
dürt
türt
zhetä
un
per
ïshqï
wïsh
t'ört
pes
a'ltï
yïtï
sa:qïs
toqïs
on
| "Yellow Uighur" is not usually mentioned as a separate language, yet some sources cite different data; these inconsistencies could be due either to different transcriptions of the same allophones or dialectical splitting. Note that "b", "g", "d", and "p", "t", "k" are pronounced as in Mandarin: /p/ slightly voiced and /p'/ pre- or postaspirated. |
The
Turks that migrated to the Aral-Caspian region
| The
Oghuz-Seljuk subgroup, which includes languages closely related
to Turkish, has traditionally been known as Oghuz. The name
"Oghuz" has stuck, although the designation "Oghuz-Seljuk
languages" may in fact be more historically correct. The Seljuk-Oghuz
subroup may be distinguished by: (1) a specific voicing pattern (tört
> dört; yetti > yedi); (2) the m > b trend (müNüz
> *büNüz > buynuz; Azeri "men" > Turkish
"ben"); (3) the loss of -G (*quruG > Guru) and -G- (-Gan
> -an, -Ga > -a as in suffixes); (4) the tendency to form the
-yor/yar present tense as in Turkish "bil-iyor-um" (I know);
(5) a past participle with -mysh-, etc. Some of these features were
mentioned as early as 1072 by Mahmud
al-Kashgari.as part of his short description of the Oghuz language,
which indicates that at the time Karakhanid and Oghuz were consistently
different Turkic dialects with a noteable temporal separation. It should also be noted that the importance of the Oghuz-Seljuk languages with their extensive number of speakers has been traditionally overestimated in modern and ancient Turkology, for this reason the present classification has been deliberately rebuilt upside down with Bulgaric and Siberian languages at the top to stress their exclusive significance in the historical reconstructions. |
Oghuz
| Oghuz is an ethnonym of obscure origin [presumably, a personal name of a progenitor; possible Old Turkic cognates are: uq "tribe, kin", oq "arrow", ög "mother", and especially öküz "ox", etc.]. It seems to originally refer to the Orkhon Gökturks and their nomadic tribal confederations. It was first attested as "Altï Oghuz" (The Six Oghuz) in a Yenisei inscription and then mentioned again as the "Toquz Oghuz" (The Nine Oghuz) and "Sekkiz Oghuz" (The Eight Oghuz) in the Orkhon writings of Mongolia or as the "Üch Oghuz" (The Three Oghuz) near Kyrgyzstan, where they probably interacted with the Kimak tribes which is evident from a number of shared features. By 775, the Oghuzes are first attested near Talas in Sogdiana, so we may assume they have arrived there as part of the Turkic migration to the Western Gökturk Kaganate. Apparently, they eventually travelled along the Syrdarya (Yaxartes) River towards its delta in the Aral Sea where they formed the Transoxanian Oghuz confederation with its capital Yangi Kent and a ruler titled Yabgu (=prince) eventually expanding as far as the Caspian Sea. Here in the Transoxanian steppes, they were witnessed by many Arab visitors, including a vivid description by Ibn-Fadlan in 922. Mahmud al-Kashgari (1072) mentioned several Oghuz cities, some of which are now rediscovered by archaeologists; he also claimed that "Turkmen" and "Oghuz" meant essentially the same. The Oghuz dialect-language is documented in Al-Kashgari's writings mostly as separate words and phrases. In the course of the 11th century, the Transoxanian Oghuzes dissipated due to the Kipchak expansion to the west, possibly producing the Pecheneg raids into the Kievan Rus, but the origins of the latter ethnic group are controversial. |
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| Juvara, remnants of an Oghuz city discovered near the Aral Sea in 2008 |
shox
|
Turkmenistan (capital Ashgabad, built from a village
only in 1918) is in fact a thin strip of arable land between the Karakum
("Black Sand") Desert and the Kopet-Dag mountain range inhabited by
the Turkmen nomads (Türkmeler)–originally this name applied
to all Islamicized Turks–at least since the period of the Seljuk
Empire (1037-1077). When Russia
took control of Turkmenistan in the 1880s, the Transcaspian Railway
was built along the path of the Silk Road. In 1948, Ashgabad was destroyed
by an earthquake. In the 1950s, the Qaraqum Channel, the largest in
the world irrigation system, was established diverting the waters
of the Amu Darya towards Ashgabat thus contributing to the collapse
of the Aral Sea. C. 7 mln Turkmens, of which 2 mln live in
Afghanistan and Iran. |
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 Turkmens: man and wife, c. 1905 |
 Seljuk Monument |
 A Turkmen girl |
 The Arch of Independence, Ashgabad |
 Oil & Gas Ministry |
 Choban |
 A Turkmen village in Afghanistan |
 Seljuk Sultan Sanjar Mausoleum, 1157 AD, Merv |
 Turkmen carpets |
The
Turks that migrated to Iran and Anatolia
The Seljuk Empire descendants
Seljuk
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| The advance of the Turks caused the Byzantine emperors to desperately seek protection in Europe thus initiating the Crusades. It should be stressed that the Crusaders did not fight against Muslims, they were actually fighting against the Turkic threat from the East. The Seljuk language of this and later period, known as Old Anatolian Turkish, is written in Arabic script. The Turkish (Ottoman) Empire begins to rise by 1300, and to flourish with the capture of Constantinople in 1453, the year marking the collapse of the Byzantine Empire. The Turkish language from the 16th to 20th century is called Ottoman Turkish. |
| The Qashakai have traditionally been nomadic pastoralists who lived around Shiraz in southern Iran and who probably arrived there with the Seljuk invasion. Presently, mostly settled households. Over 1-1.5 million persons. Renowned for their magnificent pile carpets and other woven wool products. As with the Turkmens, many ancient customs may still be observed. [Fig (1) a Qashkai wedding (2) Qashkai nomads]. |
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Gax
| The Azerbaijanis (Azeris) are those linguistic descendants of the Seljuk-Oghuz tribes that conquered Persia by 1055 but did not migrate to Anatolia. They gradually Turkified the northwestern Persian and southern Caucasian population near the southwest coast of the Caspian Sea. After a series of Russo-Persian wars (1812, 1826-28) Iran lost some of its northern territories to Russia, which finally became independent in 1991 as the Republic of Azerbaijan (capital Baku). The north Iranian provinces also bear similar names (East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan) (see map of Iran) akin to the name of Atropates, a satrap who ruled this region of ancient Persia. Azerbaijani differs to some extent from Turkish (88% in Swadesh-200), but both languages are still largely mutually intelligible. Religion: Shi'a Islam. Speakers: 7.5 million Azeris in Azerbaijan + c. 15-20 million in Iran, though most of them now speak Russian or Persian as their 2nd language. |  |
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| Aida Makhmudova as an Azeri Princess (2005) | Baku (above); Urmiyye fruit market (Iran) | |||
jiGer;
baGïr
"chest"
| Ottoman Empire(c.1299-1922) was named after Osman I (1258-1326) who extended the frontiers of Seljuk settlement towards the edge of the Byzantine Empire, although Constantinople, its capital, would finally be captured by the Turks only in 1453. Slave trade and low literacy rate were part of the Turkish (Ottoman) society for centuries The Ottoman Empire entered WWI through the Ottoman-German Alliance in 1914, and was ultimately defeated. The occupation of Istanbul and Izmir by the Allies promoted the establishment of the Turkish national movement under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who is seen as a crucial historical figure and the founder of the Republic of Turkey (capital Ankara). An admirer of the Enlightenment, he sought to transform the anachronistic Ottoman Empire into a modern, democratic, secular nation-state. A Latin alphabet instead of the Arabic Ottoman script was introduced to increase literacy, and the Turkish language reform was initiated to exclude Arabic, French, and Persian borrowings. The language reform succeeded in excluding several thousand words, replacing them with sometimes contrived neologisms, as well as contributing to the absorption of a considerable amount of western lexical borrowings. Speakers: c. 70 million. [Figs.: views of Istanbul, except left below: Izmir] |  |
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Jiger
| The Turkish migration to the Crimean Khanate during the 15-18th c., when it was nominally subject to the Ottoman rule (1478-1774), led to the formation of the southern dialect of Crimean Tartar that could also be called "Crimean Turkish". Presently, largely dissolved and intermingled with the northen Crimean Tartar of Kipchak origin. |
| Gagauz is the westernmost Turkic language spoken mostly in Gagauzia, a small Autonomous Territorial Unit (since 1994) in Moldova, between Romania and Ukraine. Gagauzia includes only 2 towns and 27 villages. The Gagauz moved to this region from Bulgaria after the Russo-Turkish war (1806-1812); their origins in Bulgaria are poorly understood. Presumably, they may have been the followers of the Anatolian Seljuk Sultan Kaykaus II (1236-1276) that settled in Dobruja and gradually converted to Orthodox Christianity. C. 250.000 persons. |
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