ABSTRACT
In none of the countries dominated by the Turks in the Middle Ages did they form a majority; a fundamental distinction must however be made. In the Arab lands and part of Iran they were an army imposed upon the native population, detached from the society of which they originally formed part, and integrated to some small extent in that of the country where they settled. By contrast in Asia Minor as in north-western Iran, if there remained a native population of whatever proportion, there took place the immigration of a people with women, children, animals, traditions and organization brought from their home in Central Asia. As regards the native population on the other hand, there was not a single people but several distinct ones, each occupying a part of the territory, while the Turks were almost everywhere, thus forming a ‘Turkey’ above zones that were more or less Greek, Armenian and so on. A marked characteristic of this ‘Turkey’ was the utilization of the various peoples for the benefit of the dominant group, but it cannot be said that there was any fusion.
