Turgesh
Encyclopedia
The Türgesh, Turgish or Türgish (Old Turkic: Türügeš, 突騎施/突骑施, Pinyin
: tūqíshī, Wade-Giles
: t'u-ch'i-shih) were a Turkic
tribal confederation who emerged from the ruins of the Western Turkic Kaganate. In time, the Turgesh, themselves a branch of the greater Tardush (Tulu, Dulo
) subdivision of the On Okh (Onoq, Ten Arrows) or Western Turks, managed to build up a considerable if short-lived Kaganate (699-766), attested by minting of Türgesh coins. Presently, the ethnonym Türgesh survived in the name of seok (modern tribe) Tirgesh among Altaians.
Among them were the Chebishi (车鼻施), who were related to the Qibi tribe. The Qibi were dispersed shortly after the defeat of chief Gelang. In the east they were put under the rule of a tudun (吐屯) named Ashina Hubo (阿史那斛勃), who became known as the Chebi Qaghan.
According to the epigraphy of Qibi Song (契苾嵩), a Tiele
mercenary in Chinese service (730), The origin of the Qibi can be traced to the Khangai Mountains prior to their prescense at the Bogda Mountains
in the 6th century. They were related to the Jiepi (解批) of Gaoche, who were situated east of the Fufuluo.
In 610, Shekui subdued Tashkent, a vassal of Chuluo, and installed his tigin (特勤). He also formed a political marriage with Samarkand and subdued its surrounding cities. On the second year, he defeated Chuluo and established his capital over the Khan Tengri
(三弥山). After his death, his younger brother Tong Yabgu Qaghan took over. During his reign, the Western Qaghanate reached its height of power, reaching to Sassanid Persia to the west and Bagram
in the south. The capital was moved further west to the springs (千泉) north of Tashkent to secure the area beyond.
Tong attacked and occupied Tokharistan (吐火罗), and a royal from the Ashina
clan was sent over to command the region. Xuanzang
, a contemporary pilgrim who visited the area, related how the Turks had overlorded the country. A later pilgrim, Hyecho
, commented that both the ruling elite and troops in the region were the Tujue, whereas the natives were the Hu. Most of the local kings who came under the rule of the Turks at this time were converted to ilteber (颉利发), and supervised by the tudun. According to Chinese sources, under Tong the Turks advanced into the Sassanid empire and killed Khosrau II
. His son ascended to the throne but died a year later, and the Turks killed Khosrau II's daughter.
Tong seems to have been known as the Djeboukha-Khan by the Armenian author Moses (of Kaghankatouts).
In 621 he proposed a marriage alliance with the Chinese and planned an attack on the Eastern Qaghanate in the next winter, but the plan was obstructed by Illig. Another proposal was made in 625, when the Chinese state was under heavy attack.
Due to his failure to expand eastwards, his reputation among the Duolu tribes diminished. Many tribes including the Qarluq defected to the Eastern Qaghanate. In 630, he was murdered by his uncle Sipi, and for decades the Turks struggled among themselves for the throne.
Türgesh rebellion. The counter-Ashina movement of Türgeshes ended in 699 with a capture of Suyab
. The founder of the first dynasty of the Türgesh state before the enthronization was a Tutuk (commander) of the Talas
district and a town Balu, which name symbolizes some sacred relation to a divine or heavenly sphere. The first Türgesh Kagan was called Yuzlik (Chinese transcription means "black substance"), he was a leader of the Manichean consortium yüz er "hundred men". In 706 his son Sakal
inherited him. Both first Kagans had a church rank of Yuzlik. Their residence (Great horde) was in the city Suyab in the valley of the river Chu
. Sakal younger brother Chjenu dissented, but unable to take the throne in Suyab asked for military support from the Eastern Türkic Kapagan-Kagan
, starting a cruel Eastern Türkic campaign against Türgeshes in 708 that ended with the death of Chjenu.
Türük (singular form of Türküt) rule was shaky at best, since the entire Onoq quadrant teemed with rebellion. Despite defeating the rebels again in 714, the Göktürks/Türküt couldn't subdue them. Three years later the Kara Turgesh elected Suluk as their Kaghan. The new ruler moved his capital to Balasagun
in the Chu
valley, receiving the homage of several chieftains formerly bond to the service of Bilge
Kaghan of the Türküt. Suluk acted as a bulwark against further Umayyad
encroachment from the south: the Arabs had indeed become a major player in recent times, though Islam
hadn't made many converts in central Asia at the time (majority conversion would take another two to three centuries).
Valley, and disappears after 766. The Turgesh Kaganate seems to have come into existence towards the end of the 7th century, after a massive revolt against the Western Turkic khan, a Chinese puppet. The Turgesh leader was Ushyly (Wushile), who titled himself Baga Tarkhan and led a strong army to victory, putting the puppet khan to full speed flight. His power soon spanned from present-day Zhetysu area to Turpan and Kucha
.
Ushyly Kaghan then decided to ally with Tang
China and the Kyrgyz people to stem the rise of the Second Göktürk Empire, ruled by Khapghan Kaghan. Turgesh and Göktürks/Türküts clashed in 698 in a battle fought at Bolchu (in modern Dzungaria
) where the latter side, led by Bilge Tonyukuk
, prevailed: the Yabgu (Ruler of West) and Shad (Ruler of East) of the Turgesh were killed and Ushyly Kaghan himself was taken prisoner and had to concede vassalage.
Eight years after this burning defeat, Ushyly died and was replaced by his son, Soko, who fought to retain independence from the Göktürks/Türküts. He was defeated in 701 in Transoxiana
, southeast of Samarkand
, again by Tonyukuk, and finally in 711, when he was killed at Bolchu against Kül Tigin
and Bilge Shad as he was trying to strike an alliance with Tang China. The Turgesh were put under the rule of Bars Bek; as we know from the Orkhon Inscriptions
in those years the main subdivision in Kara (Black) and Sary (Yellow) Turgesh was established. Maybe sensing the impending disaster, Soko's brother Chenu had revolted even before the battle and fled to the court of Kapagan Kaghan.
refugees in Khujand
, causing an influx of refugees towards the Turgesh. In 724 Caliph Hisham sent a new governor to Khorasan
, Muslim ibn Sa'id, with orders to crush the "Turks" once and for all, but, confronted by Suluk, Muslim hardly managed to reach Samarkand with a handful of survivors, as the Turgesh raided freely.
A string of subsequent appointees of Hisham were soundly defeated by Suluk, who in 728 took Bukhara
and later on still inflicted painful tactical defeats such as the Battle of the Defile
upon the Arabs, discrediting Umayyad rule and maybe putting the foundations for the Abbasid
revolution. The Turgesh state was at its apex of glory, controlling Sogdiana, the Ferghana Valley It was only in 732, that two powerful Arab expeditions to Samarkand managed, if with heavy losses, to reestablish Caliphal authority in the area; Suluk renounced his ambitions over Samarkand and abandoned Bukhara, withdrawing north.
In 734 an early Abbasid follower, al-Harith ibn Surayj, rose in revolt against Umayyad rule and took Balkh
and Marv
before defecting to the Turgesh three years later, defeated. In 738 Suluk, along with his allies al-Harith, Gurak (a Turco-Sogdian leader) and men from Usrushana, Tashkent
and Khuttal to launch a final offensive. He entered Jowzjan but was defeated by the Umayyad governor Asad at the Battle of Sa'n or Kharistan.
clan, the "legitimate" puppet Kaghan in Tang service. The Chinese reacted by supporting the rebellious Kara Turgesh, which in 742 found in Iltutmish Kutlug Bilge a new Kaghan, later succeeded by Tengrideh Bolmysh in 753. This last ruler declared himself a vassal of Moyun Chor, the ruling Kaghan of the recently born Orkhon Uyghur empire. The Turgesh civil war came to a sudden end only in 766, when annals record that the Karluk
s smashed the Turgesh Kaganate. Their name simply disappears from history.
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: tūqíshī, Wade-Giles
Wade-Giles
Wade–Giles , sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a romanization system for the Mandarin Chinese language. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Wade during the mid-19th century , and was given completed form with Herbert Giles' Chinese–English dictionary of 1892.Wade–Giles was the most...
: t'u-ch'i-shih) were a Turkic
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
tribal confederation who emerged from the ruins of the Western Turkic Kaganate. In time, the Turgesh, themselves a branch of the greater Tardush (Tulu, Dulo
Dulo
Dulo may refer to:#The Dulo clan or House of Dulo, from which descended the earliest Bulgarian Dynasty;#Dulo, Mandara, the capital of the historical African state of Mandara in what is now Cameroon....
) subdivision of the On Okh (Onoq, Ten Arrows) or Western Turks, managed to build up a considerable if short-lived Kaganate (699-766), attested by minting of Türgesh coins. Presently, the ethnonym Türgesh survived in the name of seok (modern tribe) Tirgesh among Altaians.
Origins
The Turgesh were a group of Duolu tribes believed to have originated from the Turuhe tribe, who had appeared earlier on the banks of the Tuul River.Among them were the Chebishi (车鼻施), who were related to the Qibi tribe. The Qibi were dispersed shortly after the defeat of chief Gelang. In the east they were put under the rule of a tudun (吐屯) named Ashina Hubo (阿史那斛勃), who became known as the Chebi Qaghan.
According to the epigraphy of Qibi Song (契苾嵩), a Tiele
Tiele people
The Tiele or Tele , were a confederation of nine Turkic peoples living to the north of China and in Central Asia, emerging after the disintegration of the Xiongnu confederacy...
mercenary in Chinese service (730), The origin of the Qibi can be traced to the Khangai Mountains prior to their prescense at the Bogda Mountains
Bogda Feng
Bogda Peak or Bogda Feng is the highest mountain in the Bogda Shan range, in the eastern Tien Shan mountains, China, at 5,445 m ....
in the 6th century. They were related to the Jiepi (解批) of Gaoche, who were situated east of the Fufuluo.
In 610, Shekui subdued Tashkent, a vassal of Chuluo, and installed his tigin (特勤). He also formed a political marriage with Samarkand and subdued its surrounding cities. On the second year, he defeated Chuluo and established his capital over the Khan Tengri
Khan Tengri
Khan Tengri is a mountain of the Tian Shan mountain range. It is located on the China—Kyrgyzstan—Kazakhstan border, east of lake Issyk Kul. Its geologic elevation is , but its glacial cap rises to...
(三弥山). After his death, his younger brother Tong Yabgu Qaghan took over. During his reign, the Western Qaghanate reached its height of power, reaching to Sassanid Persia to the west and Bagram
Bagram
Bagram , founded as Alexandria on the Caucasus and known in medieval times as Kapisa, is a small town and seat in Bagram District in Parwan Province of Afghanistan, about 60 kilometers north of the capital Kabul. It is the site of an ancient city located at the junction of the Ghorband and Panjshir...
in the south. The capital was moved further west to the springs (千泉) north of Tashkent to secure the area beyond.
Tong attacked and occupied Tokharistan (吐火罗), and a royal from the Ashina
Ashina
Ashina was a tribe and the ruling dynasty of the ancient Turks who rose to prominence in the mid-6th century when their leader, Bumin Khan, revolted against the Rouran...
clan was sent over to command the region. Xuanzang
Xuanzang
Xuanzang was a famous Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator who described the interaction between China and India in the early Tang period...
, a contemporary pilgrim who visited the area, related how the Turks had overlorded the country. A later pilgrim, Hyecho
Hyecho
Hyecho , Sanskrit: Prajñāvikram; Hui Chao in Chinese Pinyin, was a Korean Buddhist monk from Silla, one the three Korean kingdoms of the period."You complain of the long way home to the west,and I sigh at the endless road to the east."...
, commented that both the ruling elite and troops in the region were the Tujue, whereas the natives were the Hu. Most of the local kings who came under the rule of the Turks at this time were converted to ilteber (颉利发), and supervised by the tudun. According to Chinese sources, under Tong the Turks advanced into the Sassanid empire and killed Khosrau II
Khosrau II
250px|thumb|Khosrau II 250px|thumb|Khosrau II 250px|thumb|Khosrau II (Khosrow II, Chosroes II, or Xosrov II in classical sources, sometimes called Parvez, "the Ever Victorious" – (in Persian: خسرو پرویز), was the twenty-second Sassanid King of Persia, reigning from 590 to 628...
. His son ascended to the throne but died a year later, and the Turks killed Khosrau II's daughter.
Tong seems to have been known as the Djeboukha-Khan by the Armenian author Moses (of Kaghankatouts).
In 621 he proposed a marriage alliance with the Chinese and planned an attack on the Eastern Qaghanate in the next winter, but the plan was obstructed by Illig. Another proposal was made in 625, when the Chinese state was under heavy attack.
Due to his failure to expand eastwards, his reputation among the Duolu tribes diminished. Many tribes including the Qarluq defected to the Eastern Qaghanate. In 630, he was murdered by his uncle Sipi, and for decades the Turks struggled among themselves for the throne.
Foundation of the Turgesh Kaganate
The foundation of the Türgesh Kaganate was precipitated by anti-AshinaAshina
Ashina was a tribe and the ruling dynasty of the ancient Turks who rose to prominence in the mid-6th century when their leader, Bumin Khan, revolted against the Rouran...
Türgesh rebellion. The counter-Ashina movement of Türgeshes ended in 699 with a capture of Suyab
Suyab
Suyab was an ancient Silk Road city located some 50 km east from Bishkek, and 8 km west southwest from Tokmok, in the Chui River valley, present-day Kyrgyzstan.- History :...
. The founder of the first dynasty of the Türgesh state before the enthronization was a Tutuk (commander) of the Talas
Taraz
Taraz , is a city and a center of the Jambyl Province in Kazakhstan. It is located in the south of Kazakhstan, near the border with Kyrgyzstan, on the Talas River...
district and a town Balu, which name symbolizes some sacred relation to a divine or heavenly sphere. The first Türgesh Kagan was called Yuzlik (Chinese transcription means "black substance"), he was a leader of the Manichean consortium yüz er "hundred men". In 706 his son Sakal
Sakal
Sakal is a Marathi language daily newspaper headquartered in Pune, Maharashtra, India. Sakal is the flagship newspaper of the foundation publication, Sakal Media Group. Present newspaper circulation of Sakal is approximately 1.5 million copies per day, mainly in Maharashtra...
inherited him. Both first Kagans had a church rank of Yuzlik. Their residence (Great horde) was in the city Suyab in the valley of the river Chu
Chu
Chu or CHU may refer to:Surname:* Chu , a common Chinese surname for 朱 , but it can also refer to any Chinese surname whose pinyin is "chu", such as 楚, 储, 褚, 初, 除 and other possible surnames....
. Sakal younger brother Chjenu dissented, but unable to take the throne in Suyab asked for military support from the Eastern Türkic Kapagan-Kagan
Qapagan Khaghan
Qapaghan Qaghan or Qapghan Qaghan was the second Khaghan of the Second Eastern Turkic Khaganate during Wu Zetian's reign...
, starting a cruel Eastern Türkic campaign against Türgeshes in 708 that ended with the death of Chjenu.
Türük (singular form of Türküt) rule was shaky at best, since the entire Onoq quadrant teemed with rebellion. Despite defeating the rebels again in 714, the Göktürks/Türküt couldn't subdue them. Three years later the Kara Turgesh elected Suluk as their Kaghan. The new ruler moved his capital to Balasagun
Balasagun
Balasagun was an ancient Soghdian city in modern-day Kyrgyzstan, located in the Chui River valley between Bishkek and Issyk-Kul Lake....
in the Chu
Chu
Chu or CHU may refer to:Surname:* Chu , a common Chinese surname for 朱 , but it can also refer to any Chinese surname whose pinyin is "chu", such as 楚, 储, 褚, 初, 除 and other possible surnames....
valley, receiving the homage of several chieftains formerly bond to the service of Bilge
Bilge
The bilge is the lowest compartment on a ship where the two sides meet at the keel. The word was coined in 1513.-Bilge water:The word is sometimes also used to describe the water that collects in this compartment. Water that does not drain off the side of the deck drains down through the ship into...
Kaghan of the Türküt. Suluk acted as a bulwark against further Umayyad
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
encroachment from the south: the Arabs had indeed become a major player in recent times, though Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
hadn't made many converts in central Asia at the time (majority conversion would take another two to three centuries).
Tang China
In Chinese sources the Türgesh name first appeared in 651, by that time they dwelt in IliIli
-Acronyms:* ILI: I Laugh Inside* Integrating Lifestyle Innovations, a home automation company specialising in the design and supply of systems in New Zealand to the world.* Irish Life International, part of Irish Life and Permanent...
Valley, and disappears after 766. The Turgesh Kaganate seems to have come into existence towards the end of the 7th century, after a massive revolt against the Western Turkic khan, a Chinese puppet. The Turgesh leader was Ushyly (Wushile), who titled himself Baga Tarkhan and led a strong army to victory, putting the puppet khan to full speed flight. His power soon spanned from present-day Zhetysu area to Turpan and Kucha
Kucha
Kuchaor Kuche Uyghur , Chinese Simplified: 库车; Traditional: 庫車; pinyin Kùchē; also romanized as Qiuzi, Qiuci, Chiu-tzu, Kiu-che, Kuei-tzu from the traditional Chinese forms 屈支 屈茨; 龜玆; 龟兹, 丘玆, also Po ; Sanskrit: Kueina, Standard Tibetan: Kutsahiyui was an ancient Buddhist kingdom...
.
Ushyly Kaghan then decided to ally with Tang
Tang
-Chinese name:* Tang Dynasty , Chinese dynasty* Later Tang Dynasty , Turkic dynasty in ancient China* King Tang of Shang , the Shang dynasty ruler, who lived around 1660 BCE...
China and the Kyrgyz people to stem the rise of the Second Göktürk Empire, ruled by Khapghan Kaghan. Turgesh and Göktürks/Türküts clashed in 698 in a battle fought at Bolchu (in modern Dzungaria
Dzungaria
Dzungaria, also called Zungaria, is a geographical region in northwest China corresponding to the northern half of Xinjiang. It covers approximately , lying mostly within Xinjiang, and extending into western Mongolia and eastern Kazakhstan...
) where the latter side, led by Bilge Tonyukuk
Tonyukuk
Tonyukuk Tonyukuk Tonyukuk (Old Turkic: , Bilge Tuňuquq, died c. 724 AD, (暾欲穀/暾欲谷, Pinyin: tūnyùgǔ, personal name: Ashide Yuanzhen 阿史德元珍, āshǐdé yuánzhēn, a-shih-te yüan-chen) was the yabgu and commander-in-chief of four Göktürk khagans, the best known of whom is Bilge Khan. He played a major role...
, prevailed: the Yabgu (Ruler of West) and Shad (Ruler of East) of the Turgesh were killed and Ushyly Kaghan himself was taken prisoner and had to concede vassalage.
Eight years after this burning defeat, Ushyly died and was replaced by his son, Soko, who fought to retain independence from the Göktürks/Türküts. He was defeated in 701 in Transoxiana
Transoxiana
Transoxiana is the ancient name used for the portion of Central Asia corresponding approximately with modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, southern Kyrgystan and southwest Kazakhstan. Geographically, it is the region between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers...
, southeast of Samarkand
Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
, again by Tonyukuk, and finally in 711, when he was killed at Bolchu against Kül Tigin
Kul Tigin
Kul Tigin Kul Tigin Kul Tigin (Old Turkic:, Kultegin, (闕特勒/阙特勤, Pinyin: quètèqín, Wade-Giles: chüeh-t'e-ch'in, ? - 575 AD) was a general of the Second Turkic Kaganate. He was a second son of Ilterish Shad and the younger brother of Bilge Kagan....
and Bilge Shad as he was trying to strike an alliance with Tang China. The Turgesh were put under the rule of Bars Bek; as we know from the Orkhon Inscriptions
Orkhon inscriptions
"Orkhon inscription" may refer to:*two monuments in the Orkhon valley, see Khöshöö Tsaidam Monuments*inscriptions in the Old Turkic "Orkhon alphabet" in general, see Old Turkic epigraphy...
in those years the main subdivision in Kara (Black) and Sary (Yellow) Turgesh was established. Maybe sensing the impending disaster, Soko's brother Chenu had revolted even before the battle and fled to the court of Kapagan Kaghan.
Umayyad Caliphate
Suluk's aim was to reconquer all of Transoxiana from the Arab invaders - his war was paralleled, much more westwards, by the Khazar empire. In 721 Turgesh forces, led by Kül Chor, defated the Caliphal army commanded by Sa'id ibn Abdu'l-Aziz near Samarkand. Sa'id's successor, Al-Kharashi, massacred Turks and SogdianSogdiana
Sogdiana or Sogdia was the ancient civilization of an Iranian people and a province of the Achaemenid Empire, eighteenth in the list on the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great . Sogdiana is "listed" as the second of the "good lands and countries" that Ahura Mazda created...
refugees in Khujand
Khujand
Khujand , also transliterated as Khudzhand, , formerly Khodjend or Khodzhent until 1936 and Leninabad until 1991, is the second-largest city of Tajikistan. It is situated on the Syr Darya River at the mouth of the Fergana Valley...
, causing an influx of refugees towards the Turgesh. In 724 Caliph Hisham sent a new governor to Khorasan
Greater Khorasan
Greater Khorasan or Ancient Khorasan is a historical region of Greater Iran mentioned in sources from Sassanid and Islamic eras which "frequently" had a denotation wider than current three provinces of Khorasan in Iran...
, Muslim ibn Sa'id, with orders to crush the "Turks" once and for all, but, confronted by Suluk, Muslim hardly managed to reach Samarkand with a handful of survivors, as the Turgesh raided freely.
A string of subsequent appointees of Hisham were soundly defeated by Suluk, who in 728 took Bukhara
Bukhara
Bukhara , from the Soghdian βuxārak , is the capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. The nation's fifth-largest city, it has a population of 263,400 . The region around Bukhara has been inhabited for at least five millennia, and the city has existed for half that time...
and later on still inflicted painful tactical defeats such as the Battle of the Defile
Battle of the Defile
The Battle of the Defile or Battle of the Pass was fought over three days in the Tashtakaracha Pass between a large Umayyad army and the Turgesh in July 731 CE...
upon the Arabs, discrediting Umayyad rule and maybe putting the foundations for the Abbasid
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate or, more simply, the Abbasids , was the third of the Islamic caliphates. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphate from all but the al-Andalus region....
revolution. The Turgesh state was at its apex of glory, controlling Sogdiana, the Ferghana Valley It was only in 732, that two powerful Arab expeditions to Samarkand managed, if with heavy losses, to reestablish Caliphal authority in the area; Suluk renounced his ambitions over Samarkand and abandoned Bukhara, withdrawing north.
In 734 an early Abbasid follower, al-Harith ibn Surayj, rose in revolt against Umayyad rule and took Balkh
Balkh
Balkh , was an ancient city and centre of Zoroastrianism in what is now northern Afghanistan. Today it is a small town in the province of Balkh, about 20 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif, and some south of the Amu Darya. It was one of the major cities of Khorasan...
and Marv
Marv
Marv is a fictional character in the graphic novel series Sin City, created by Frank Miller. In the 2005 film adaptation, he is played by Mickey Rourke. He first appears in The Hard Goodbye and follows with appearances in A Dame to Kill For, Just Another Saturday Night, and Silent Night...
before defecting to the Turgesh three years later, defeated. In 738 Suluk, along with his allies al-Harith, Gurak (a Turco-Sogdian leader) and men from Usrushana, Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
and Khuttal to launch a final offensive. He entered Jowzjan but was defeated by the Umayyad governor Asad at the Battle of Sa'n or Kharistan.
Decline and internecine strife
The defeat meant death for Suluk - as soon as he was back in Balasaghun he was murdered at the hands of Baga Tarkan Kül Chor, leader of the Sary (Yellow) Turgesh. This, in turn, laid the foundations for the early demise of the Turgesh empire, who had so far challenged the might of the Caliphate. When Suluk was killed the Kara and Sary (Black and Yellow) Turgesh began a civil war. Kül Chor of the Sary Türgish vanquished his rival Tumoche of the Kara Turgesh and ascended to khanship. In 739 he enriched his criminal record by killing Hin of the Göktürk AshinaAshina
Ashina was a tribe and the ruling dynasty of the ancient Turks who rose to prominence in the mid-6th century when their leader, Bumin Khan, revolted against the Rouran...
clan, the "legitimate" puppet Kaghan in Tang service. The Chinese reacted by supporting the rebellious Kara Turgesh, which in 742 found in Iltutmish Kutlug Bilge a new Kaghan, later succeeded by Tengrideh Bolmysh in 753. This last ruler declared himself a vassal of Moyun Chor, the ruling Kaghan of the recently born Orkhon Uyghur empire. The Turgesh civil war came to a sudden end only in 766, when annals record that the Karluk
Karluk
Karluk can refer to many different things:* HMCS Karluk, a ship crushed and sunk by Arctic ice in January 1914* Karluk, Alaska, a town in the USA* Karluk River, a river on Kodiak Island in Alaska...
s smashed the Turgesh Kaganate. Their name simply disappears from history.