The Türgesh, Turgish or Türgish were a Turkic tribal confederation. Once belonging to the Duolu wing of the Western TurkicOn Oq elites, Turgshes emerged as an independent power after the demise of the Western Turks and established a khaganate in 699. The Turgesh Khaganate lasted until 766 when the Karluks defeated them. Turgesh and Göktürks were related through marriage.
Tribal Composition
By the 7th century, two or three sub-tribes were recorded: "Yellow" Sarï Türgesh tribe Alishi and the "Black" Qara Türgesh tribe 娑葛 - 莫賀. To the Black Türgesh sub-tribe, Chebishi , belonged 8th century Türgesh chor and later khagan Suluk. The Turgesh Khaganate also contained Western Turkic remnants: Suluk's subordinate Kül-chor belonged to the Duolu tribeChumukun, who lived south of Lake Balkash between Türgesh and Qarluq lands. Tang general Geshu Han was of Duolu Turgesh extraction and bore the Nushibi tribal surname Geshu. Chinese historians, when naming the Duolu Turk tribes, might have mentioned Khalajes alongsides Türgesh, under the common appellation 突騎施-賀羅施.
Timeline
Foundation of the Turgesh Khaganate
Prior to independence, the Turgesh were ruled by a subordinate tutuk, later shad, of the Western Turkic Khaganate's Onoq elites. Turgesh leaders belonged to Duolu division and held the title chur. A Turgesh commander of the Talas district and the town of Balu possesses a name symbolizes some sacred relation to a divine or heavenly sphere. The first Turgesh Kaghan Wuzhile was a leader of a Manichaean consortium known as yüz er "hundred men". He established the Turgesh Khaganate in 699. In 703, the Turgesh captured Suyab from the Tang dynasty. In 706 his son Saqal succeeded him. Both khagans had a church rank of Yuzlik according to Yuri Zuev. Saqal attacked the Tang city of Qiuci in 708 and inflicted a defeat on the Tang in 709. However Saqal's younger brother Zhenu rebelled and sought military support from Qapagan Khaghan of the Second Turkic Khaganate in 708. Qapaghan Khagan defeated the Turgesh in 711 in Battle of Bolchu and killed both Saqal and Zhenu. The defeated Turgesh fled to Zhetysu. In 714 the Turgesh elected Suluk as their khagan.
Timeline of Suluk
In 720 Turgesh forces led by Kül-chor defeated Umayyad forces led by Sa'id ibn Abdu'l-Aziz near Samarkand. In 722 Suluk married the Tang Princess Jiaohe. 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 on the so-called "Day of Thirst", Muslim hardly managed to reach Samarkand with a handful of survivors, as the Turgesh raided freely. In 726 the Turgesh attacked Qiuci. In 727 the Turgesh and the Tibetan Empire attacked Qiuci. In 728 Suluk defeated Umayyad forces while aiding the Sogdians in rebellion and took Bukhara. In 731 the Turgesh defeated the Umayyads again in the Battle of the Defile. In 735 the Turgesh attacked Ting Prefecture. In the winter 737 Suluk, along with his allies al-Harith, Gurak and men from Usrushana, Tashkent and Khuttal attacked the Umayyads. He entered Jowzjan but was defeated by the Umayyad governor Asad at the Battle of Kharistan.
Kül-chor
Following his defeat Suluk was murdered by his relative Kül-chor. When Suluk was killed the Kara and Sary Turgesh began a civil war. Kül-chor of the Sary Turgesh vanquished his rival Tumoche of the Kara Turgesh. In 740 Kül-chor submitted to the Tang dynasty but rebelled anyway when he killed the Turgesh puppet sent by the Tang court in 742. He was then defeated and executed by the Tang in 744. The last Turgesh ruler declared himself a vassal of the recently established Uyghur Khaganate. In 766 the Karluks conquered Zhetysu and ended the Turgesh Khaganate.
Legacy
and Azi might be remnants of the Türgesh, according to Gardizi, as well as Khalaj,. Even so, it's unclear whether the ethnonym Tuhs is of Turkic origin; meanwhile the Azi were proposed to be originally Yeniseian-speaking. The Turgesh-associated tribe Suoge, alongsides Chuyue and another unnamed tribe, participated in the ethnogenesis of Shatuo Turks. According to Baskakov, the ethnonym Türgesh survives in the name of the seokTirgesh among Altaians.
