Origins

Oguz origins are of particular importance as the Seljuqs and the majority of their Türkmen affiliates stemmed from them. Also they finally destroyed the Great Seljuq Empire before going on to found three more: the Ottoman (1299-1923), Akkoyunlu (1378-1508) and Safavid (1501-1736). Uz, Guzz and Gur, also Guz and Gurr, come up repeatedly in the works of Muslim and other chroniclers and geographers with reference to the Oguz, the Ogur and the Uygur, Turkic polities that not only knew each other but also intermingled. Turkic nomenclature further complicates the problem of ascertaining their whereabouts at any specific time. The root for Oguz and Ogur appears to have been og-or ogu-, as in the Argu ogla for youth or hero (Atalay 1992/I: 129), or ogul for son (Atalay 1992/I: 51, etc.). Ogul initially meant human child (Arat IA/9: 376-8), so that urı oglan was a male child (Ibid.; also Atalay 1992/I: 88, 251) and kız oglan a female child (Ibid.). Appropriately, ogulçuk was womb (Atalay 1992/I: 149). Oguş meant family, or more correctly kin as in clan or relative (Atalay 1992/I: 61, 88 and II: 83, 103). Consequently, Og-or better still Ogu-and the collective suffix –z or –r are thought to mean the clans (Sümer 1992: 13-14; Kafesoğlu 1994: 141-2; Divitçioğlu 1994: 11). The collective suffix –z originated east of the Altay while –r prevailed westward (Kafesoğlu 1994: 51, 185-6; Yüce IA/12/2: 445ff; Bozkurt 1992). Interestingly enough, one meaning of ogur was to split a bone and separate its parts and another was felicity/statecraft (Atalay 1992/I: 53). Turko-Mongol

differentiation between those descended from the White and Black Bone, Ak and Kara Kamag Budun, namely noble and commoners is well known (Sümer 1992; Kafesoğlu 1994), as is the connection between felicity and statecraft (Atalay 1992/I: 92, 301, 304, 320, 508 and II: 229). Possibly as a variation of og-, ok or arrow denoted a share of an inheritance (Atalay 1992/I: 37, 48). The Orkhun stone inscriptions refer to the Western Kök Türk as the On Ok (Tekin 1988: 13, etc.). Chinese annals mention that the Kök Türk kagan resident in the East presented the leader of each ruling lineage in the West with an arrow (Sümer 1992: 20), which is interpreted to denote that they were subordinate to him (Kafesoğlu IA/12/2: 219). Chinese annals refer to the Ogur, but not the Oguz. Initially mentioned between the Sayan and T’ien-shan mountains in the third century BCE, the Ogur seem to have spread westward as far as the Urals by the second century CE (Kafesoğlu 1994: 185-7). As for the Oguz, they and the Kıpçak are thought to have been the Wu-huan that Chinese annals mention immediately east of the Altay, between the Tannu-ola and Hangay mountains (Esin 1980a: 7). The earliest known reference to the Oguz, to be more precise the Altı (Six) Oguz under a certain Öz Yigen Alp Turan, is on the Yenisei stone inscriptions dated to the sixth and seventh centuries (Sümer IA/9: 378). The Yenisei River flows north from the Tannu-ola Mountains. The Oguz are next referred to on the eighth-century Orkhun stone inscriptions; the Tokuz Oguz are mentioned on the Tonyukuk inscription (Tekin 1994: 4, 5) and the Üç (Three) Oguz on the Bilge Kagan inscription (735) (Tekin 1988: 49). As is clear from these inscriptions (Tekin 1988: 13, 45 and 1994: 6), at the time the Tokuz Oguz were situated in present-day Mongolia. This is where Kutlug or Ilteriş Kagan (682-91) re-established the Kök Türk Empire by defeating their newly appointed Baz Kagan (Sümer 1992: 16; see Tekin 1994: 5). Although Baz can mean stranger (Atalay 1992/III: 148, 159), or subjugated (Divitçioğlu 1987: 184), in this context most likely it denoted the species of the goshawk, an Oguz avian emblem (Esin 1994: 202). Having said that, prior to this defeat the Tokuz Oguz were allied with the Otuz (Thirty) Tatar and the Chinese, going so far as to migrate to northern China (Tekin 1988: 51), where some are thought to have stayed. However, archaeological evidence suggests that others migrated westward from Inner Asia, reaching the region between Lakes Balkash and IssykKöl during the sixth to seventh centuries (Esin 1980a). The Oguz migration to Central Asia may explain the reference to the On Ok’s successors, the Türgiş (Tekin 1988: 13, 19, 23, 33, 43, 47), who, according to the Orkhun stone inscriptions, were represented at Bilge Kagan’s funeral (731) by a Makaraç tamgaçı and an Oguz Bilge tamgaçı (Tekin 1988: 23). Possibly Makaraç is a title derived from maharac (more commonly maharaja) (Tekin 1988: 153). Bilge means knowledgeable/wise, while tamga is seal (Atalay 1992/IV: 92, 567). On the other hand, of the six lineages that made up the Türgiş, who were originally on the Left Wing of the On Ok, four were headed by patriarchs with the title of Çor, which may indicate that they were of the Şul (from Çöl or desert, and hence Çor (Esin 1980a: 62-3)). The Şul are thought to have been in Jurjan, southeast of the Caspian Sea, from at least as early as the fifth century (Ibid.). As far

as the Kök Türk’s great kagan was concerned, it seems that the Türgiş were the senior members of the Left Wing or eastern On Ok. The Right Wing or western On Ok, the Nu-she-pi, appears to have consisted of three lineages, namely the A-si-kie, the Ko-shu (the Ezkiş or Ezgiş) and the Paysay-kan. These are thought to have become the Üç (Three) Ok of the Oguz, which included the Kınık. Once again, however, there is a link to Inner Asia. The regent of the tenth-century Oguz polity between the Caspian and Aral seas was called Kül Erkin (also Kuzerkin), the title of the senior rulers of the A-si-kie and Ko-shu. The Karluk, at the time situated from the northern slopes of the Pamir and central T’ien-shan Mountains toward the Irtish River, also called their regent Kül Erkin (Sümer 1992: 21, 33, 35-7; Togan 1982: 137; Kafesoğlu 1994: 137 and IA/12/2: 165; Divitçioğlu 1992: 130; Şeşen 1975: 37). The question of whether or not the Oguz were related to their namesakes in Inner Asia is confused further by the origins of the Uygur, who as the On (Ten) Uygur, namely nine Oguz and one Uygur were well known to the Khazar, most probably due to the Uygur merchants who plied the Silk Route. Uy-meant to go along, to ally (Atalay 1992/III: 146), and uya-relative/brother (Atalay 1992/I: 85). Accordingly, Uy+(o)gur (Uygur) would be allied/related/brotherly clans (Kafesoğlu 1994: 122; Bozkurt 1992: 66). The –r suffix suggests an origin to the west of the Eurasian mountain complex, which appears to be confirmed by Chinese sources that mention them in the Ili River valley north of Issyk-Köl (50-43 BCE) (Esin 1980a: 204). The Uygur re-emerge in present-day Mongolia during the initial collapse of the Kök Türk Empire. Having been recognized by the Chinese court (646), they seem to have reinforced their independence of the Kök Türk by helping defeat remnants of the On Ok (657), advancing as far as Tashkent. Around this time some of the Tokuz Oguz already appear affiliated to the Uygur (Kafesoğlu IA 12/2: 180). They are thought to have consisted of the Buku, Bayırku, Siker, K’i-pi, Ediz, Izgil (or Sse-ki (Divitçioğlu 1994: 11)), the Toñra, Kunı and one other (Divitçioğlu 1987; Sümer 1992: 33). The Izgil are singled out in the Orkhun stone inscriptions as having been dispersed by Kül Tekin (Tekin 1988: 21). Thus the Esgil/Isgil mentioned in association with the Bulgar polity established on the Volga during the ninth and tenth centuries may possibly be of the Izgil and hence of the Karluk’s Çiğil (see ‘The Türkmen’ below). There is also the final collapse of the Kök Türk Empire and the ensuing struggle to consider (744-55). This may have given impetus to the westward migration mentioned earlier and explain an unconfirmed reference to the Oguz in conjunction with al-Muqanna’s (c. 776-83) revolt against the caliphate in Transoxania (Kafesoğlu 1994: 143; Divitçioğlu 1994: 13-14). Although during this struggle the Basmıl’s leader Iduk Kutu, a relation of the imperial Kök Türk A-shih-na clan (Tekin 1988: 47), declared himself kagan after defeating the Kök Türk Tengri Kagan’s successor, their allies, the Uygur and Karluk did not accept this. The Basmıl lineages were beaten, never to recover. The Uygur next defeated the Üç Karluk, consolidating their ascendancy. The Karluk (most likely the Çiğil and Yağma lineages) migrated south-west from between Lake Zaysan and Lake Ulungur, where the current borders of Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and Russia

meet in the Altay, displacing the Peçenek toward the Caspian Lowlands (Sümer 1992: 28ff; Divitçioğlu 1992: 131). Peçenek derives from Becenek (currently bacanak), meaning brother-in-law, but in the context of men who have married sisters. They are thought to have been initially of the Left Wing of the On Ok because two of the eight Peçenek lineages were called Çor and Çoban (Çopan), which were the titles of the Left Wing chiefs of the On Ok other than the Türgiş (Sümer 1992: 21, 44). Thus the Peçenek recorded as a lineage of the Üç Ok Oguz (Sümer 1992: 169-71; also Atalay 1992/I: 57), are thought to be a branch of the main body subsequently driven from between the Ural and Volga rivers by the Khazar and the Oguz in 898-902 (Sümer 1992: 45). Although there is an eighth-century reference to a Ba-cha-neg affiliation north-east of the Orkhun River, noted as having been at war with the Uygur, these may have been a branch that migrated eastward rather than westward. Consequently, as Sümer proposed (1992: 21, 33, 35-7), most likely the Oguz of the tenth century were Turkic people of western Eurasian origin with whom in time other Turkic people from Inner Asia became affiliated. The senior lineage of the Üç Ok Oguz, the Bayandır, for instance, whose name stems from bay, meaning rich (Atalay 1992/I: 349, III: 158, 239), thus from a rich place, are considered to have been originally of the Kimek. Lastly, the Eymür clans, also of the Üç Ok Oguz, are possibly the Aymur clans of the Uygur (Divitçioğlu 1994: 12-13).