Artuqid Dynasty

There was also a third branch that acquired Harput in 1112 and was independent between 1185-1233.

The dynasty was founded by Artuq, son of Eksük, a general originally

under Malik Shah I and then under the Seljuk emir of Damascus, Tutush

I. Tutush appointed Artuq governor of Jerusalem in 1086. Artuq died in

1091, and his sons Sokman and Ilghazi were expelled from Jerusalem by

the Fatimid vizier al-Afdal Shahanshah in 1098; the Fatimids lost the

city to the crusaders the following year.

Sokman and Ilghazi set themselves up in Diyarbakır, Mardin, and

Hasankeyf in the Jezirah, where they came into conflict with the

sultanate of Great Seljuk. Sokman, bey of Mardin, defeated the

crusaders at the Battle of Harran in 1104. Ilghazi succeeded Sokman in

Mardin and imposed his control over Aleppo at the request of the qadi

Ibn al-Khashshab in 1118. In 1119 Ilgazi defeated the crusader

Principality of Antioch at the Battle of Ager Sanguinis.

In 1121 a Seljuk-Artuqid alliance, commanded by Mehmed I of Great

Seljuk and Ilghazi, was defeated by Georgia at the Battle of Didgori.

Ilghazi died in 1122, and although his nephew Balak nominally

controlled Aleppo, the city was really controlled by Ibn al-Khashshab.

Al-Kashshab was assassinated in 1125, and Aleppo fell under the control

of Zengi of Mosul. After the death of Balak, the Artuqids were split

between Diyarbakır, Hasankeyf and Mardin. Sokman’s son Davud, bey of

Hasankeyf, died in 1144, and was succeeded by his son Kara Aslan. Kara

Aslan allied with Joscelin II of Edessa against the Zengids, and while

Joscelin was away in 1144, Zengi recaptured Edessa, the first of the

Crusader states to fall. Hasankeyf became a vassal of Zengi as well.

Kara Aslan’s son Nur ad-Din Muhammad allied with the Ayyubid sultan

Saladin against the Sultan of Rum Kilij Arslan II, whose daughter had

married Nur ad-Din Muhammad. In a peace settlement with Kilij Arslan,

Saladin gained control of Artuqid territory, although the Artuqids were

still technically vassals of Mosul, which Saladin did not yet control.

With Artuqid support Saladin eventually took control of Mosul as well.

The Artuklu dynasty still nominally controlled the upper Mesopotamia but their power declined under Ayyubid rule.

Art

Despite their constant preoccupation with war, members of the Artuklu dynasty left brilliant architectural monuments.

They made the most significant additions to Diyarbakır City Walls. Urfa

Gate was rebuilt by Muhammad, son of Kara Arslan. In the same area of

the western wall, south of Urfa Gate, two imposing towers, Ulu Beden

and Yedi Kardeş were commissioned in 1208 by the Artuklu ruler Salih

Mahmud who designed the Yedi Kardeş tower himself and apposed the

Artukid double-headed eagle on its walls.

A large caravanserai in Mardin as well as the civil engineering feat of

Malabadi Bridge are still in regular use in our day. The partially

standing Hasankeyf Bridge was built in 1116 by Kara Arslan.

The Great Mosques of Mardin and Silvan were possibly but in any case

considerably developed over the 12th century by several Artuklu rulers

on the basis of existing Seljuk edifices. The congregational mosque of

Dunaysir (now Kızıltepe) was commissioned by Artuklu Bey Yülük Arslan

(1184-1203) and completed after his death in 1204 by his brother Artuk

Arslan (1203-1239).

Eurasian Avars

History

The 6th Century historian Menander Protector noted that the language of

the Avars was the same as that of the Huns, appearing as an Oghuric

Turkic branch like modern Chuvash or Turkic Bulgarian and Khazar. It

has been argued that their ruling class was related to the presumably

Mongolic Rouran,although this is questioned (mainly on geographical and

chronological grounds), while the majority were part of the Turkic

peoples. Nevertheless, historian Walter Pohl asserted in 1998,

instancing the detailed attempts made by H. W. Haussig in 1953 and K.

Czeglèdy in 1983 and his own methodological objections: "It is

pointless to ask who exactly the forefathers of the European Avars

were. We only know that they carried an ancient, very prestigious name

(our first hints to it date back to the times of Herodotus); and we may

assume that they were a very mixed group of warriors who wanted to

escape domination by the Turks."

The Avars were driven westward when the Sassanid Persians – allied with

the Göktürks – defeated the Hephthalites in the 550s and the 560s. They

entered Europe in the 6th century A.D., subjugating peoples such as the

Kutrigur Huns as they went. Their first recorded official contact with

the Roman world was in the winter of 558/59, when their embassy arrived

in Constantinople and negotiated a treaty by which they were to subdue

unruly gentes on behalf of the Empire, and receive payments and rights

in return.Having been bought off by the Eastern Emperor Justinian I,

they pushed north into Germany (as Attila the Hun had done a century

before), eventually reaching as far north as the Baltic.

Finding the country unsuited to their nomadic lifestyle (and the Franks

stern opponents), they turned their attention to the Pannonian plain,

which was then being contested by two Germanic tribes, the Lombards and

the Gepids. Siding with the Lombards, they destroyed the Gepids in 567

and established a state in the Danube River area. Their harassment soon

(ca. 568) forced the Lombards to try their luck in northern Italy, an

invasion that marked the last Germanic mass movement in the Migrations

Period.According to Menander, the Avar leader Bayan (c565 – c600) then

commanded 10,000 Kutrigurs to sack Dalmatia in 568, effectively cutting

Byzantium’s land link with North Italy and the West. By about 580,

Bayan had established his supremacy over practically all the various

groups of "barbarian" warbands -which included numerous Slavs, Kutrigur

Bulgars, and Germanic tribes- along the Balkan frontier, a monopoly of

power that only Attila had briefly enjoyed before him.When the Eastern

Roman Empire found itself unable to pay subsidies or hire Avar

mercenaries, the Avars took to raiding Roman communities in the Balkans

as well. Initial Avar success in the 580’s was followed by setbacks in

the 590’s during Maurice’s Balkan campaigns. Being defeated in their

own homeland, some Avars even defected to the Byzantines in 602,but the

Emperor Maurice’s decision to maintain his army camp beyond the Danube

throughout the winter instead of returning home as was customary caused

the army to revolt (602), thus giving the Avars a desperately needed

respite. The ensuing civil war prompted an opportunistic Persian

invasion and gave the Avars a free hand in the now undefended Balkans

after 615. An invasion of northern Italy was also attempted in 610.

Walter Pohl notes that payments in gold and goods reached the record

sum of 200,000 solidi shortly before 626.

In 626, the Avars and the Persians jointly besieged but failed to

capture Constantinople. Following this defeat, the Avars retreated to

Pannonia, leaving most of the Balkans in the hands of Slav tribes, with

neither Avars nor Byzantines able to reassert control. Most of the

Avars’ subject peoples became independent, with just Pannonia remaining

under direct Avar rule.

By the early 9th century, internal discord and external pressure

started to undermine the Avar state. It was finally liquidated during

the 810s by the Franks under Charlemagne and the First Bulgarian Empire

under Krum. After the fall of the Avar Empire around 800 the name Avar

and the self-identified constructed ethnicity it carried disappeared

within a single generation. An Avar presence in Pannonia is still

certain in 871 but thereafter the name is no longer used by

chroniclers: "It simply proved impossible to keep up an Avar identity

after Avar institutions and the high claims of their tradition had

failed."The Avars are also likely to have merged with Slavs, who had

formed new states in the region: the principality of Nitra in the north

(later Great Moravia) and the Balaton Principality in the central parts

of Pannonia. Their remnants were probably the Huns encountered by the

invading Magyars in the 10th Century. Their hypothetical descendants,

the Szekely (who apparently preserved the Avar Dragon Totem well into

the 15th century , were relocated to Transylvania in the 12th century.

In the Republic of Hungary there are a number of Avar ruins, mostly

burial mounds, that display symbols nearly identical to those of the

Caucasian Avars.

Some claim that the Avars were the first tribe to introduce the stirrup

to Europe. However, the subject is under debate and other candidates

for the importers include the Huns.

Language of the Eurasian Avars

The extinct language of the Eurasian Avars is now classified as

belonging to the Oghur-Turkic subgroup, and the language itself is

referred to as Turkic Avar or Eurasian Avar in order to distinguish it

from the North-Caucasian Avar spoken by the modern Caucasian Avars.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

   "There are two Mustafa Kemals. One the flesh-and-blood Mustafa Kemal who now stands before you and who will pass away. The other is you, all of you here who will go to the far corners of our land to spread the ideals which must be defended with your lives if necessary. I stand for the nation's dreams, and my life's work is to make them come true."

Emerging as a military hero at the Dardanelles in 1915, he became the charismaticleader of the Turkish national liberation struggle in 1919. He blazed across the worldscene in the early 1920s as a triumphant commander who crushed the invaders of hiscountry. Following a series of impressive victories against all odds, he led his nation tofull independence. He put an end to the antiquated Ottoman dynasty whose tale had lastedmore than six centuries – and created the Republic of Turkey in 1923, establishing a newgovernment truly representative of the nation's will.

   As President for 15 years, until his death in 1938, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk introduced abroad range of swift and sweeping reforms – in the political, social, legal, economic, andcultural spheres – virtually unparalleled in any other country.

   His achievements in Turkey are an enduring monument to Ataturk. Emerging nationsadmire him as a pioneer of national liberation. The world honors his memory as a foremostpeacemaker who upheld the principles of humanism and the vision of a united humanity.Tributes have been offered to him through the decades by such world statesmen as LloydGeorge, Churchill, Roosevelt, Nehru, de Gaulle, Adenauer, Bourguiba, Nasser, Kennedy, andcountless others. A White House statement, issued on the occasion of "The AtaturkCentennial" in 1981, pays homage to him as "a great leader in times ofwar and peace". It is fitting that there should be high praise for Ataturk, anextraordinary leader of modern times, who said in 1933: "I look to the world withan open heart full of pure feelings and friendship".

 

Gokturks

The Göktürk rulers originated from the Ashina tribe, an Altaic people

who lived in the northern corner of the area presently called Xinjiang.

Under their leadership, the Göktürks rapidly expanded to rule huge

territories in north-western China, North Asia and Eastern Europe (as

far west as the Crimea). They were the first Turkic tribe known to use

the name "Turk" as a political name.

The state’s most famous personalities other than its founder Bumin were

princes Kül Tigin and Bilge and the General Tonyukuk, whose life

stories were recorded in the famous Orkhon inscriptions.

Etymology

The name Tujue (like that of Ashina) appeared in Chinese sources

relatively late, the first record being dated 542 meaning "strong" or

"powerful".Kök-Türks is said to mean "Celestial Turks", but this is

contested. Alternate meanings are "Blue Turks", and "Numerous Turks";

as kök meant both "sky" and "blue" in the Köktürk language, and a

similar sounding word stands for "root". This is also consistent with

"the cult of heavenly ordained rule" which was a pivotal element of the

Altaic political culture before being imported to China.Similarly, the

name of the ruling Ashina dynasty probably derives from the Khotanese

Saka term for "deep blue", āšše(i)na.The name might also derive from a

Tungusic tribe related to Aisin.

According to the ancient East Asian cosmology outlined in the theory of

the Five Elements,to which the Turks have also ascribed since ancient

times, the color blue is a symbol representing the eastern direction,

and it is associated with good omens. The Guardian Deity of the Eastern

Direction is the Azure Dragon. Thus, it would not be surprising if the

Göktürks had chosen to call themselves "Blue Turks" in the primary

sense of "East Turks", with all the associated connotations of "first,"

"rising," "dawning," "auspicious," and so forth.

Origins

Four hundred years after the collapse of northern Xiongnu power in

Inner Asia, leadership of the Turks was taken over by the Göktürks

after rebelling against the Rouran. 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.

First unified empire

The Turks’ rise to power began in 546 when Bumin Khan made a

pre-emptive strike against the Uyghur and Tiele tribes who were

planning a revolt against their overlords, the Rouran. For this service

he expected to be rewarded with a Rouran princess, i.e. marry into the

royal family. Disappointed in his hopes, Bumin allied with the Wei

state against Rouran, their common enemy. In 552, Bumin defeated the

last Rouran Khan, Yujiulü Anagui. He also subdued the Yenisei Kyrgyz

and the Khitans of Western Manchuria, was formally recognized by China,

and married the Wei princess Changle.

Having excelled both in battle and diplomacy Bumin declared himself

Il-Qaghan ("great king of kings") of the new Göktürk empire at Otukan,

the old Xiongnu capital, but died a year later. It was his son Mukhan

who consolidated his conquests into an empire of global reach. Bumin’s

brother Istämi (d. 576) was titled yabghu of the west and collaborated

with the Persian Sassanids to defeat and destroy the White Huns, who

were allies of the Rouran. This war tightened the Ashina’s grip of the

Silk Road and drove the Avars into Europe.

Istämi’s policy of western expansion brought the Turks into Eastern

Europe. In 576 the Göktürks crossed the Cimmerian Bosporus into the

Crimea. Five years later they laid siege to Tauric Chersonesus; their

cavalry kept roaming the steppes of Crimea until 590. As for the

southern borders, they were drawn south of the Oxus River, bringing the

Ashina into conflict with their former allies, the Sassanids of Persia.

Much of Bactria (including Balkh) remained a dependency of the Ashina

until the end of the century. In 588 they were under the walls of Herat

but Bahram Chobin ably countered the invasion during the First

Perso-Turkic War.

In the eastern part of their extensive dominions, the Göktürk Empire

maintained close political ties with the Goguryeo Empire of Korea which

controlled southern Manchuria and the northern part of the Korean

Peninsula. Giving gifts, providing military support, and free trade

were some of the benefits of this close mutual alliance. Both rival

states in north China paid large tributes to the Göktürks from 581.

Civil war

This first Göktürk Empire split in two after the death of the fourth

Qaghan, Taspar Khan (ca. 584). He had willed the title Qaghan to

Mukhan’s son Talopien, but the high council appointed Ishbara in his

stead. Factions formed around both leaders. Before long four rival

khans claimed the title of Qaghan. They were successfully played off

against each other by the Sui and Tang dynasties of China.

The most serious contender was the Western Khan, Istämi’s son Tardu, a

violent and ambitious man who had already declared himself independent

from the Qaghan after his father’s death. He now titled himself as

Qaghan, and led an army to the east to claim the seat of imperial

power, Otukan.

In order to buttress his position, Ishbara of the Eastern Khanate

applied to the Chinese Emperor Yangdi for protection. Tardu attacked

Changan, the Sui capital, around 600, demanding from Emperor Yangdi to

end his interference in the civil war. In retaliation, Chinese

diplomacy successfully incited a revolt of Tardu’s Tiele vassal tribes,

which led to the end of Tardu’s reign in 603. Among the dissident

tribes were the Uyghur and Syr-Tardush.

Dual empires

The civil war left the empire divided into the eastern and western

parts. The eastern part, still ruled from Ötüken, remained in the orbit

of the Sui Empire and retained the name Göktürk. The khans Shipi

(609-19) and Khieli (620-30) of the East attacked China at its weakest

moment during the transition between the Sui and Tang dynasties. All in

all, 67 incursions on Chinese territories were recorded.Khieli was

brought down by a revolt of his Tiele vassal tribes (626-630), allied

with Emperor Taizong of Tang. This tribal alliance figures in Chinese

records as the Huihe (Uyghur). After the Khan was taken prisoner, the

Tang dynasty had his empire divided into protectorates.

The Western khans Shekuei and Tung Yabğu constructed an alliance with

the Byzantine Empire against the Persian Sassanids and succeeded in

restoring the southern borders along the Tarim and Oxus rivers. Their

capital was Suyab in the Chui River valley, about 60 km east of modern

Tokmok. In 627 Tung Yabğu, assisted by the Khazars and Emperor

Heraclius, launched a massive invasion of Transcaucasia which

culminated in the taking of Derbent and Tbilisi (see the Third

Perso-Turkic War for details). In April 630 Tung’s deputy Buri-sad sent

the Göktürk cavalry to invade Armenia, where his general Chorpan

Tarkhan succeeded in routing a large Persian force. Tung Yabğu’s murder

in 630 forced the Göktürks to evacuate Transcaucasia.

The Western Turkic Khaganate was modernized through an administrative

reform of Ishbara-Qağan (reigned 634-639) and came to be known as the

Onoq.The name refers to "ten arrows" that were granted by the khagan to

five leaders (shads) of its two constituent tribal confederations, Tulu

and Nushipi, whose lands were divided by the Chui River.The division

fostered the growth of separatist tendencies, and soon the Bulgarian

tribes under the Dulo chieftain Kubrat seceded from the khaganate. In

657, the eastern part of the khaganate was overrun by the Tang general

Su Ding Fang, while the central part had emerged as the independent

khaganate of Khazaria, led by a branch of the Ashina dynasty.

In 659 the Tang Emperor of China could claim to rule the entire Silk

Road as far as Po-sse (Persia). The Turks now carried Chinese titles

and fought by their side in their wars. The era spanning from 659-681

was characterized by numerous independent rulers – weak, divided, and

engaged in constant petty wars. In the east, the Uyghurs defeated their

one-time allies the Syr-Tardush, while in the west the Turgesh emerged

as successors to the Onoq.

Second empire

Despite all the setbacks, Ilteriş Şad (Idat) and his brother Bäkçor

Qapağan Khan (Mo-ch’o) succeeded in reestablishing the Khanate. In 681

they revolted against Chinese domination and, over the following

decades, steadily gained control of the steppes beyond the Great Wall

of China. By 705, they had expanded as far south as Samarkand and

threatened the Arab control of Transoxiana. The Göktürks clashed with

the Umayyad Califate in a series of battles (712-713) but, again, the

Arabs emerged as victors.

Following the Ashina tradition, the power of the Second Empire was

centered on Ötükän (the upper reaches of the Orkhon River). This polity

was described by historians as "the joint enterprise of the Ashina clan

and the Soghdians, with large numbers of Chinese bureaucrats being

involved as well".The son of Ilteriş, Bilge, was also a strong leader,

the one whose deeds were recorded in the Orkhon inscriptions. After his

death in 734 the empire declined. The Göktürks ultimately fell victim

to a series of internal crises and renewed Chinese campaigns.

When Kutluk Khan of the Uyghurs allied himself with the Karluks and

Basmils, the power of the Göktürks was very much on the wane. In 744

Kutluk seized Ötükän and beheaded the last Göktürk khagan Özmish Khan,

whose head was sent to the Chinese court.In a space of few years, the

Uyghurs gained mastery of Inner Asia and established the Uyghur

Khaganate.

Mentese

The Beylik was named after its founder, Menteşe Bey. The beylik’s core

territory corresponded roughly to present-day Muğla Province in Turkey,

including the province’s three protruding peninsulas.

Among important centers of the Beylik were the cities of Beçin, Milas,

Balat, Finike, Kaş, Mağrı (Fethiye after 1911), Muğla, Çameli,

Acıpayam, Tavas, Bozdoğan and Çine. The city of Aydın (formerly

Tralles) was controlled by this Beylik for a time and was named

Güzelhisar under the Menteşe. They later transferred it to their

northern neighbors of Aydınoğlu who re-named the city after the founder

of their dynasty. Beys of Menteşe also held Rhodes between 1300-1314

and were a serious regional naval power of their time. They also left

important works of architecture such as the Firuz Bey Mosque in Milas

and İlyas Bey Mosque in Balat.

Menteşe Beys submitted to Ottoman power for the first time in 1390

under the reign of Bayezid I the Thunderbolt. After 1402, Tamerlane

restored the beylik to Menteşeoğlu İlyas Bey, who later recognized

Ottoman sovereignty in 1414. It was incorporated into the Ottoman realm

in a definite manner in 1424.

The present-day Muğla Province of Turkey was named the sub-province

(sanjak) of Menteşe until the early years of the Republic of Turkey,

although the province seat was moved from Milas to Muğla with the

establishment of Ottoman rule in the 15th century.

Germiyan

For a brief period in the second half of the 14th century, Germiyan

Dynasty was second only to Karamanoğlu Dynasty in its rising power. But

they were later taken over by the neighboring Osmanoğlu dynasty, who

were to found the Ottoman Empire later.

Germiyans played a crucial role in settling Turkish populations along

the coastal regions of the Aegean Sea, the founders of the Beyliks of

Aydınoğlu, Saruhan, İnançoğlu and Menteşe having started out as

Germiyan commanders.

The beylik was probably established by members of the Afshar clan of

Oghuz Turks. Because of various factors arising from the Mongol

invasion, their branch of the clan had left the regions of Fars and

Kirman, and headed west into Anatolia, having remained for a time

around Malatya, and then moving to the Kütahya area, where their beylik

was formed rather rapidly.

They rebelled against the central power in 1283, upon the execution of

the sultan Kaykhusraw III by the Mongols, and placing of Mesud II on

the Seljuk throne. The struggle between combined Mongol-Seljuk forces

based in Konya and the rebel forces of Germiyan continued until 1290.

An agreement could only be reached in 1299, upon which the Germiyan

Dynasty also entered into possession of Ankara. When the Ilkhanid

governor Emir Çoban took over Anatolia in 1314, they declared

allegiance and concentrated on raids towards the regions to their west.

 Their western offshoots that were the Beyliks of Menteşe, Aydınoğlu,

İnançoğlu, Saruhan and Karesi were all subject to the Germiyan in the

early periods of their foundation, while the Beyliks of Sâhib Ata and

Hamidoğlu to the south had to rely on them for protection against

attacks from the Karamanoğlu. As for the northern regions of Anatolia,

Byzantine sources record Umur Bey, a commander and son-in-law to the

Germiyan family, to be the possessor of Paphlagonia, where Candaroğlu

dynasty was to rule only after Germiyan power weakened.

Their strong political entity was eventually surrounded by newer states

established by their own former commanders, leaving the Germiyan no

outlet to the coastline or to Byzantine territory. Their powerful

Karamanoğlu neighbors exerting constant pressure from the east,

Germiyan gradually fell under the rising influence of the Ottomans.

The actual Turkish province of Kütahya was called the sub-province

(sanjak) and later province (vilayet) of Germiyan until the early years

of the Republic of Turkey, when which it was re-named after its central

town.

The founding dynasty of the beylik produced descendants who illustrated

themselves either under the Ottoman Empire or in present-day Turkey, a

notable one among these being the 19th century grand vizier Abdurrahman

Nureddin Pasha.

Aydinoglu

It is named after its founder Aydınoğlu Mehmed Bey.

The Beylik of Aydınoğlu also held parts of the port of İzmir all

through their rule and all of the port city with intervals. Especially

during the reign of Aydınoğlu Umur Bey, the sons of Aydın were a

serious naval power of their time [1].

The Beylik was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire for the first time

in 1390, and after the passage of Tamerlane in Anatolia in 1402 and the

ensuing period of troubles that lasted until 1425, its territories

became again part of the Ottoman realm, this time definitely.

The Beys of Aydınoğlu left important architectural works, principally in Birgi and Ayasluğ (Selçuk), their capital cities.

The city of Aydın was named after the dynasty.

Huns

Huns remaining in Asia are recorded by neighboring peoples to the

south, east, and west as having occupied Central Asia roughly from the

4th century to the 6th century, with some surviving in the Caucasus

until the early 8th century.

Origin and identity

Research and debate about the Asian ancestral origins of the Huns has

been ongoing since the 18th century. For example philologists still

debate to this day which ethnonym from Chinese or Persian sources is

identical with the Latin Hunni or the Greek Chounnoi as evidence of the

Huns’ identity.

Hun identity is further complicated by the fame of the name, as

apparently many clans claimed to be Huns for the prestige of the name.

Similarly, Greek or Latin chroniclers may have used "Huns" in a more

general sense, to describe social or ethnic characteristics, believed

place of origin, or reputation."All we can say safely", says Walter

Pohl,"is that the name Huns, in late antiquity, described prestigious

ruling groups of steppe warriors".The older views come in the context

of the ethnocentric and nationalistic scholarship of past generations,

which often presumed that ethnic homogeneity must underlie a socially

and culturally homogeneous people.The modern opinion is that each of

the large confederations of steppe warriors (such as the Scythians,

Xiongnu, Huns, Avars, Khazars, Cumans, Mongols, etc.) were not

ethnically homogeneous, but rather unions of multiple ethnicities such

as Turkic, Tungusic, Ugric, Iranic, and Mongolic peoples.

Evidence from genetic and ethnogenesis research contrasts with

traditional theories based on Chinese records, archaeology, linguistics

and other indirect evidence. These theories contain various elements:

that the name "Hun" first described a nomadic ruling group of warriors

whose ethnic origins were in Central Asia, and was most likely in

present day Mongolia; that possibly they were related to, or part of,

the Xiongnu ; that the Xiongnu were defeated by the Chinese Han Empire;

and that this is why they left Mongolia and moved west, eventually

invading Europe 200 years later. Indirect evidence includes the

transmission of the composite bow from Central Asia to the west.

This narrative is ingrained in western (and eastern) historiography,

but the evidence is often indirect or ambiguous. The Huns left

practically no written records. There is no record of what happened

between the time they left China and arrived in Europe 150 years later.

The last mention of the northern Xiongnu was their defeat by the

Chinese in 151 at the lake of Barkol, after which they fled to the

western steppe at Kangju (centered on the city of Turkistan in

Kazakhstan). Chinese records between the 3rd and 4th century suggest

that a small tribe called Yueban, remnants of northern Xiongnu, was

distributed about the steppe of Kazakhstan.

One recent line of reasoning favors a political and cultural link

between the Huns and the Xiongnu. The Central Asian (Sogdian and

Bactrian) sources of the 4th century translate "Huns" as "Xiongnu", and

"Xiongnu" as "Huns"; also, Xiongnu and Hunnish cauldrons are virtually

identical, and were buried on the same spots (river banks) in Hungary

and in the Ordos.

The Huns may be of Turkic origin. This school of thought emerged when

Joseph de Guignes in the 18th century identified the Huns with the

Xiongnu or (H)siung-nu.It is supported by O. Maenchen-Helfen on the

basis of his linguistic studies.English scholar Peter Heather called

the Huns "the first group of Turkic, as opposed to Iranian, nomads to

have intruded into Europe".Turkish researcher Kemal Cemal bolsters this

assertion by showing similarities in words and names in Turkic and

Hunnic languages, and similarities in systems of governance of Hunnic

and Turkic tribes. Hungarian historian Gyula Nemeth also supports this

view.Uyghur historian Turghun Almas has suggested a link between the

Huns and the Uyghurs, a Turkic speaking people who reside in Xinjiang,

China.

History

2nd-5th centuries

Dionysius Periegetes describes a people who may be Huns living near the

Caspian Sea in the 2nd century. By AD 139, the European geographer

Ptolemy writes that the "Khuni" are next to the Dnieper River and ruled

by "Suni". He lists the century, although [[it is not known for certain

if these people were the Huns. The 5th century Armenian historian Moses

of Khorene]], in his "History of Armenia," introduces the Hunni near

the Sarmatians and describes their capture of the city of Balkh ("Kush"

in Armenian) sometime between 194 and 214, which explains why the

Greeks call that city Hunuk.

Following the defeat of the Xiongnu by the Han, Xiongnu history is

unknown for a century; thereafter, the Liu family of southern Xiongnu

Tiefu attempted to establish a state in western China (see Han Zhao).

Chionites (OIONO/Xiyon) appear on the scene in Transoxiana in 320

immediately after Jin Zhun overthrew Liu Can, sending the Xiongnu into

chaos. Later Kidara came along to lead the Chionites into pressing on

the Kushans.

In the west, Ostrogoths came in contact with the Huns in AD 358. The

Armenians mention Vund c.370: the first recorded Hunnish leader in the

Caucasus region. The Romans invited the Huns east of Ukraine to settle

Pannonia in 361, and in 372 they pushed west led by their king Balimir,

and defeated the Alans. In the east, in the early 5th century, Tiefu

Xia is the last southern Xiongnu dynasty in Western China and the

Alchon / Huna appear in what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan. At this

point deciphering Hunnish histories for the multi-linguist becomes

easier with relatively well-documented events in Byzantine, Armenian,

Iranian, Indian, and Chinese sources.

European Huns

The Huns appeared in Europe in the 4th century, apparently from Central

Asia. They first appeared north of the Black Sea, forcing a large

number of Goths to seek refuge in the Roman Empire; later, the Huns

appeared west of the Carpathians in Pannonia, probably sometime between

400 and 410, perhaps triggering the massive migration of Germanic

tribes westward across the Rhine in December 406.

The establishment of the 5th century Hunnic Empire marks a historically

early instance of horseback migration. Under the leadership of Attila

the Hun, the Huns achieved hegemony over several well-organized rivals

by using superior weaponry such as the composite bow, their highly

maneuverable hit-and-run tactics with their horsemanship, and a

well-organized system of taxation. Supplementing their wealth by

plundering wealthy Roman cities to the south, the Huns maintained the

loyalties of a diverse number of tributary tribes.

Attila’s Huns incorporated groups of unrelated tributary peoples. In

Europe, Alans, Gepids, Scirii, Rugians, Sarmatians, Slavs and Gothic

tribes all united under the Hun by Ardaric’s coalition at the Battle of

Nedao in 454, at modern day Nedava.

Memory of the Hunnish conquest was transmitted orally among Germanic

peoples and is an important component in the Old Norse Völsunga saga

and Hervarar saga, and the Middle High German Nibelungenlied, all of

which portray Migrations period events a millennium before their

written recordings. In the Hervarar saga, the Goths make first contact

with the bow-wielding Huns and meet them in an epic battle on the

plains of the Danube.

In the Nibelungenlied, Kriemhild marries Attila (Etzel in German) after

her first husband Siegfried was murdered by Hagen with the complicity

of her brother, King Gunther. She then uses her power as Etzel’s wife

to take a bloody revenge in which not only Hagen and Gunther but all

Burgundian knights find their death at festivities to which she and

Etzel had invited them. After defending quite successfully for days

against the Huns who outnumber them by an enormous ratio, the remaining

tired Burgundians are finally defeated not by the Huns but by Rüdeger

(Austrian), who dies in the fight too, and Dietrich von Bern

(Helvetic), both being vassals to Etzel and actually very reluctant to

fight against their Burgundian friends but caught in personal dilemmas

forcing them to do so.

In the Völsunga saga, Attila (Atli in Norse and Etzel in German)

defeats the Frankish king Sigebert I (Sigurðr or Siegfried) and the

Burgundian King Guntram (Gunnar or Gunther), but is later assassinated

by Queen Fredegund (Gudrun or Kriemhild), the sister of the latter and

wife of the former.

Successor nations

Many nations have tried to assert themselves as ethnic or cultural

successors to the Huns. For instance, the Nominalia of the Bulgarian

khans may indicate that they believed themselves to have been descended

from Attila. The Bulgars certainly were part of the Hun tribal alliance

for some time, and some have hypothesized that the Chuvash language

(which is believed to have descended from the Bulgar language) is the

closest surviving relative of the Hunnic language.

The Magyars (Hungarians) also have laid claims to Hunnish heritage.

Because the Huns who invaded Europe represented a loose coalition of

various peoples, it is possible that Magyars were part of it. Until the

early 20th century, many Hungarian historians believed that the Székely

people (the Hungarians’ "brother nation" who live in Transylvania) were

the descendants of the Huns.

The names "Hun" and "Hungarian" sound alike, but differ in etymology.

The name "Hungarian" is derived from a Turkish phrase "onogur" which

means "ten tribes", which possibly refers to a tribal covenant between

the different Hungarian tribes that moved into the area of today’s

Hungary at the end of the 9th century.

In 2005, a group of about 2,500 Hungarians petitioned the government

for recognition of minority status as direct descendants of Attila. The

bid failed, but gained some publicity for the group, which formed in

the early 1990s and appears to represent a special Hun(garian)-centric

brand of mysticism. The self-proclaimed Huns are not known to possess

any distinctly Hunnish culture or language beyond what would be

available from historical and modern-mystical Hungarian sources.

While it is clear that the Huns left descendants all over Eastern

Europe, the disintegration of the Hun Empire meant they never regained

their lost glory. One reason was that the Huns never fully established

the mechanisms of a state, such as bureaucracy and taxes, unlike the

Magyars or Golden Horde. Once disorganized, the Huns were absorbed by

more organized polities.

Historiography

The term "Hun" has been also used to describe peoples with no historical connection to what scholars consider to be "Huns".

On July 27, 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion in China, Kaiser Wilhelm

II of Germany gave the order to "make the name ‘German’ remembered in

China for a thousand years, so that no Chinaman will ever again dare to

even squint at a German". This speech, wherein Kaiser Wilhelm invoked

the memory of the 5th-century Huns, coupled with the Pickelhaube or

spiked helmet worn by German forces until 1916, that was reminiscent of

ancient Hun (and Hungarian) helmets, gave rise to later English use of

the term for the German enemy during World War I. This usage was

reinforced by Allied propaganda throughout the war, and many pilots of

the RFC referred to their foe as "The Hun". The usage resurfaced during

World War II.

Karamanoglu

History

The Karamanids traced their ancestry back to Hoca Sadeddin and his son

Nure Sufi, who emmigrated from Azerbaijan to Sivas. He moved from there

to the western Taurus Mountains, near the town of Larende, where he

worked as a woodcutter. Nure Sufi’s son, Kerimeddin Karaman Bey, gained

a tenuous control over the mountainous parts of Cilicia in the middle

of the 13th century. A persistent but spurious legend, however, claims

that the Seljuk Sultan of Rum, Kayqubad I instead established Karaman

in these lands.

Karaman expanded his territories by capturing castles in Ermenek, Mut,

Gülnar, Mer, and Silifke. As a reward for this expansion of Seljuk

territory, the sultan Kilij Arslan IV gave the town of Larende (now

Karaman in honor of the dynasty) to Karamanoğlu. In the meantime,

Bunsuz, brother of Karaman Bey, was chosen as a bodyguard (Candar) for

Kilij Arslan IV. Their power rose as a result of the unification of

Turkish clans that lived in the mountainous regions of Cilicia with the

new Turkish elements transferred there by Kayqubad.

Good relations between the Seljuks and the Karamanids did not last. In

1261, on the pretext of supporting Kaykaus II who had fled to

Constantinople as a result of the intrigues of the chancellor Pervâne,

Karaman Bey and his two brothers, Zeynül-Hac and Bunsuz, marched toward

Konya, the capital of Seljuks, with 20,000 men. A combined Seljuk and

Mongol army, led by the chancellor Mu’in al-Din Suleyman, the Pervane,

defeated the Karamanoğlu army and captured Karaman Bey’s two brothers.

After Karaman Bey died in 1262, his older son, Şemseddin Mehmet I,

became the head of the house. He immediately negotiated alliances with

other Turkmen clans to raise an army against the Seljuks. During the

1276 revolt of Hatıroğlu Şemseddin Bey against Mongol domination in

Anatolia, Karamanoğlu also defeated several Mongol-Seljuk armies. In

the Battle of Göksu in 1277 in particular, the central power of the

Seljuk was dealt a severe blow. Taking advantage of the general

confusion, Mehmed Bey captured Konya on 12 May and placed on the throne

a pretender called Jimri who claimed to be the son of Kaykaus. In the

end, however, Mehmed was defeated by Seljuk and Mongol forces the same

year, and executed with some of his brothers.

Despite these blows, Karamanoğlu continued to increase their power and

influence, largely aided by the Mamluks of Egypt, especially during the

reign of Baybars. Karamanoğlu captured Konya on two more occasions in

the beginning of the 14th century, but were driven out the first time

by emir Chupan, the Ilkhanid governor for Anatolia, and the second time

by Emir Chupan’s son and successor Timurtas. An expansion of

Karamanoğlu power occurred after the fall of the Ilkhanids. A second

expansion coincided with Karamanoğlu Alâeddin Ali Bey’s marriage to

Nefise Sultan, the daughter of the Ottoman sultan Murad Idaughter, the

first important contact between the two dynasties.

As Ottoman power expanded into the Balkans, Aleaddin Ali Bey captured

the city of Beyşehir which had been an Ottoman city. However, it did

not take much time for the Ottomans to react and march on Konya, the

capital city of Karamanids. A treaty between the two kingdoms was made

and peace existed until the reign of Bayezid I.

Timur gave control of the Karamanid lands to Mehmet Bey, the oldest son

of Aleaddin Ali Bey. After Bayezid died in 1403, the Ottoman Empire

went into a political crisis. During this time, the Ottoman family fell

prey to an internecine strife. It was an opportunity not only for

Karamanoğlu, but also for all of the Anatolian beyliks. Mehmet Bey

assembled an army to march on Bursa. He captured the city and damaged

it; this would not be the last Karamanid invasion of Ottoman lands.

However, Mehmet Bey was captured by Bayezid Pasha and sent to prison.

He apologized for what he had done and was forgiven by the Ottoman

ruler.

Ramazanoğlu Ali Bey captured Tarsus while Mehmet Bey was in prison.

Mustafa Bey, son of Mehmet Bey, retook the city during a conflict

between the Emirs of Sham and Egypt. After that, the Egyptian sultan

sent an army to retake Tarsus from the Karamanids. The Egyptian Mamluks

damaged Konya after defeating the Karamanids, and Mehmet Bey retreated

from Konya. Ramazanoğlu Ali Bey pursued and captured him; according to

an agreement between the two leaders, Mehmet Bey was exiled to Egypt

for the rest of his life.

During the Crusade of Varna against the Ottomans in 1443-4, Karamanid

İbrahim Bey marched on Ankara and Kütahya, destroying both cities. In

the meantime, the Ottoman sultan Murad I was returning from Rumelia

with a victory against the Hungarian Crusaders. Like all other Islamic

emirates in Anatolia, the Karamanids were accused of treason. Hence,

İbrahim Bey accepted all Ottoman terms. The Karamanid state was

eventually terminated by the Ottomans in 1487, as the power of their

Egyptian allies was declining.

Flag

According to the A. Cresques’ Catalan Atlas of 1375, flag of

Karamanoğlu consists of a blue 6-edged star.The flag of Karamanoğlu may

confuse with Star of David, the Jewish symbol, used by Israel today.

However, it is not a Jewish symbol. In medieval times, this star was an

Islamic symbol known as the Seal of Solomon (Suleiman) and was

extremely popular amongst the Turkish Beyliks of Anatolia. The seal was

also used by Ottomans in their mosque decorations, coins and personal

flags of pashas, including Hayreddin Barbarossa.Another state known to

use the seal on their flag was the Candaroğlu.

Power of the Karamanid state in Anatolia

According to Mesâlik-ül-Ebsâr, written by Şehâbeddin Ömer, the

Karamanid army had 25,000 riders and 25,000 saracens. They could also

rely on some Turkmen tribes and their warriors.

Their economic activities depended mostly on control of strategic

commercial areas such as Konya and the ports of Lamos, Silifke, Anamur,

and Manavgat.

Karamanid architecture

66 mosques, 8 hammams, 2 caravanserais and 3 medreses built by the

Karamanoğlu reached our day. Some among notable works of Karamanoğlu

architecture are as follows:

    * Hasbey Medrese (1241)

    * Şerafettin Mosque (XIII century)

    * İnce Minare (Dar-ül Hadis) Medrese (1258-1279)

    * Hatuniye Medrese

List of rulers

   1. Kerîmeddin Karaman Bey (Capital City: Ermenek) (1256?-1261)

   2. Şemseddin I. Mehmed Bey (1261-1277)

   3. Güneri Bey (1283-1300)

   4. Bedreddin Mahmud Bey (1300-1308)

   5. Yahşı Han Bey (1308-1312) (Capital City: Konya)

   6. Bedreddin I. İbrahim Bey (1312-1333, 1348-1349)

   7. Alâeddin Halil Mirza Bey (1333-1348)

   8. Fahreddin Ahmed Bey (1349-1350)

   9. Şemseddin Bey (1350-1351)

  10. Hacı Sûfi Burhâneddin Musa Bey (Capital City: Mut) (1351-1356)

  11. Seyfeddin Süleyman Bey (1356-1357)

  12. Damad I. Alâeddin Ali Bey (1357-1398)

  13. Sultanzâde Nâsıreddin II. Mehmed Bey (Gıyâseddin)(1398-1399)

  14. Damad Bengi II. Alâeddin Ali Bey (1418-1419, 1423-1424)

  15. Damad II. İbrahim Bey (1424-1464)

  16. Sultanzâde İshak Bey (1464)

  17. Sultanzâde Pîr Ahmed Bey (1464-1469)

  18. Kasım Bey (1469-1483)

  19. Turgutoğlu Mahmud Bey (1483-1487)

Uyghur Empire

The Rise of Uyghurs in Mongolia

A rebellion in 742 against the ruling Göktürk Khaganate by the Uyghur,

Karluk, and Basmil tribes left an immense power vacuum in Mongolia and

Central Asia. The Basmils captured the Göktürk capital Ötügen and their

king Özmish Khan in 744, effectively taking charge of the region.

However a Uyghur-Karluk alliance against the Basmils was formed later

the same year. The coalition defeated the Basmils and beheaded their

king. The Basmil tribes were effectively destroyed; their people sold

to the Chinese or distributed amongst the victors. The Uyghurs took

control of Mongolia, with the Karluk tribes given lands further West.

The Uyghur chief Kutluk bilge köl (Glorious, wise, mighty) had himself

crowned as the supreme ruler (khagan) of all Altaic tribes and built

his capital at Ordu Baliq.

In 747, Kutluk bilge köl died, leaving his youngest son, Bayanchur Khan

to reign as Khagan El etmish bilge ( State settled, wise). After

building a number of trading outposts with the Chinese, Bayanchur Khan

used the profits to build the capital Ordu Baliq (City of Court) and

another city, Bai Baliq ( Rich City), further up the Selenga River. The

new khagan then embarked on a series of campaigns to bring all the

steppe peoples under his banner. During this time the Empire vastly

expanded, with Sekiz Oghuz, Qïrghïz, Qarluqs, Türgish, Toquz Tatars,

Chiks and the remnants of the Basmïls coming under Uyghur rule. It was

also during this time that Tang China started a process of withdrawal

from Central Asia. Bayanchur Khan acted quickly and took over the

fertile Tarim Basin.

The Chinese defeat at the Battle of Talas combined with a series of

rebellions, the largest being of An Lushan, forced the Chinese emperor

to turn to Bayanchur Khan for assistance. Seeing this as an ideal

opportunity to meddle in Chinese affairs, the khagan agreed, quelling

several rebellions and defeating an invading Tibetan army from the

south. As a result, the Uyghurs received tribute from the Chinese and

Bayanchur Khan was given the daughter of the Chinese Emperor to marry

(princess Ningo).

In 756, the Uyghurs turned their attentions to a rival steppe tribe,

the Kyrgyz to the north. Bayanchur Khan destroyed several of their

trading outposts before slaughtering a Kyrgyz army and executing their

Khan.

Finally, in 759, after drinking heavily at a celebration, Bayanchur

Khan died. His son Tengri Bögü succeeded him as Khagan Kutluk tarkhan

sengün.

Golden Age

In 762, in alliance with the Tang, Tengri Bögü (Chinese transcription

Idigan ) launched a campaign against the Tibetans. He recaptured for

the Tang Emperor the western capital Luoyang. Khagan Tengri Bögü met

with Manichaean priests from Iran while on campaign, and was converted

to Manicheism, adopting it as the official religion of the Uyghur

Empire.

In 779 Tengri Bögü, incited by sogdian traders, living in Ordu Baliq,

planned an invasion of China to take advantage of the accession of a

new emperor. Tengri Bögü’s uncle, Tun Bagha Tarkhan opposed this plan,

fearing it would result in Uyghur assimilation into Chinese culture .

Bagha Tarkhan led a rebellion against his ruler, beheading him and his

closest followers (about 2,000 nobles). Tun Bagha Tarkhan ascended the

throne as Alp kutluk bilge ( Victorious, glorious, wise ) and enforced

a new set of laws, which he designed to secure the unity of the

khaganate, relations with China were designated as relations between "

nephew " and " uncle ". He also moved against the Kyrgyz once more,

finally bringing them under the Uyghur Khaganate’s control.

Decline

In 795 the khagan, bearing title Kutluk bilge, died and the Yaghlakar

(Chinese transcription Yao-lo-ko) dynasty came to an end. The Uyghur

empire started to fragment before a new ruler, a general named Kutluk,

declared himself as the new khagan under the title Ai tengride ülüg

bulmïsh alp kutluk ulugh bilge ( Greatly born in moon heaven,

victorious, glorious, great and wise ), founding a new dynasty, the

Ediz (Chinese transcription A-tieh). With solid leadership once more,

the Khaganate averted collapse. Kutluk became renowed for his

leadership and management of the Empire. Although, he consolidated the

empire, he failed to restore it to its previous power. On his death in

808, the empire began to fragment once again. He was succeeded by his

son, who went on to improve trade in inner Asia. The last great khagan

of the Empire was a khagan with unknown name, bearing the title Kün

tengride ülüg bulmïsh alp küchlüg bilge ( Greatly born in sun heaven,

victorious, strong and wise), whose achievements included improved

trade, uptill the region of Sogdiana, and on the battlefield he

repulsed a force of invading Tibetans. This khagan died in 824 and was

succeeded by a brother, Qasar, who was murdered in 832, inaugurating a

period of anarchy. In 839 the legitimate khagan was forced to commit

suicide, and a usurping minister named Kürebir seized the throne. In

the same year there was a famine that killed much of the livestock the

Uyghur economy was based on.

Collapse

The following spring, in 840, the Kyrgyz tribe invaded from the north

with a force of around 80,000 horsemen. They sacked the Uyghur capital

at Ordu Baliq, razing it to the ground. The Kyrgyz captured the Uyghur

Khagan, Kürebir (Hesa) and promptly beheaded him. The Kyrgyz went on to

destroy other Uyghur cities throughout their empire, burning them to

the ground. The last legitimate khagan, Öge, was assassinated in 847,

having spent his 6-year reign in fighting the Kyrgyz and the supporters

of his rival Ormïzt, a brother of Kürebir. The Kyrgyz invasion

destroyed the Uyghur Empire, causing a diaspora of Uyghur people across

Central Asia.

After the Empire

The three kingdoms of Gansu (848-1036), Turfan (856-1369) and

Karakhanids (850-1212) were formed by the Uyghurs who fled (southwest,

west and further west respectively) from the Yenisei Kyrgyz, several

years after the fall of the empire. None of these states became as

powerful as the Uyghur Empire but did hold artistic, scientific and

commercial achievements to their name. The Uyghurs became important

civil servants in the later.

Mongol Empire, which adopted the Uyghur script as its official script.

List of Uyghur Khagans

The following list is based on Dennis Sinor, "The Uighur Empire of

Mongolia," Studies in Medieval Inner Asia, Variorum, 1997, V: 1-25.

Because of the complex and inconsistent Uyghur and Chinese titulatures,

references to the rulers now typically include their number in the

sequence, something further complicated by the non-inclusion of an

unnamed ephemeral son of 4 between 5 and 6 in 790, and the inclusion of

a spurious reign between 7 and 9.

   1. 744–747 Qutlugh bilge köl (K’u-li p’ei-lo)

   2. 747–759 El-etmish bilge (Bayan Chur, Mo yen ch’o), son of 1

   3. 759–779 Qutlugh tarqan sengün (Tengri Bögü, Teng-li Mou-yü), son of 2

   4. 779–789 Alp qutlugh bilge (Tun bagha tarkhan), son of 1

   5. 789–790 Ai tengride bulmïsh külüg bilge (To-lo-ssu), son of 4

   6. 790–795 Qutlugh bilge (A-ch’o), son of 5

   7. 795–808 Ai tengride ülüg bulmïsh alp qutlugh ulugh bilge (Qutlugh, Ku-tu-lu)

   8. 805–808 Ai tengride qut bulmïsh külüg bilge (spurious reign: tenure belongs to 7, name to 9)

   9. 808–821 Ai tengride qut bulmïsh külüg bilge (Pao-i), son of 7

  10. 821–824 Kün tengride ülüg bulmïsh alp küchlüg bilge (Ch’ung-te), son of 9

  11. 824–832 Ai tengride qut bulmïsh alp bilge (Qasar, Ko-sa), son of 9

  12. 832–839 Ai tengride qut bulmïsh alp külüg bilge (Hu), son of 10

  13. 839–840 Kürebir (Ho-sa), usurper

  14. 841–847 Öge, son of 9