ABSTRACT
An examination of the linguistic map of the Near and Middle East at reveals the extent of Turkish speaking peoples from the Balkans, across Anatolia, Adharbayjan, and Khurasan, into northern Afghanistan and Central Asia. This chapter explores the existence of Turks as an important element of the population in the districts between the mountains of Khurasan, the Yaxartes river, and India already in pre-Islamic and pre-Saljuq times. It considers only a number of items on the role of the Turks in opposing the Arabs which are of significance to the subject. The activity of the Turkicization of the Near Bast, including the regions of Khurasan and Transoxania, is generally supposed to have started with the advent of the Saljuqs. The presence of Turks in the regions of Khurasan and Transoxania before the Saljuqs is recognized by scholars, but it is usually qualified.
