Genesis and Ethnic Connection of the Ethnonym Toghuz-Oghuz with Modern Turkic Peoples

Abstract

In the history of the Turkic peoples, the early medieval period still requires clarification and in-depth research. In the study of the history of each people, the issue of ethnogenesis plays a very important role. Unfortunately, the problem of the ethnogenesis of modern Turkic peoples has not yet been fully resolved. Therefore, the study of individual clans and tribes that make up the Turkic peoples and their ethnogenesis is one of the important topics for research.

Currently, the history of the Kazakh clans is only considered from the 12th-13th centuries. However, studying the earlier period presents difficulties, and it is hard to predict. The data obtained from Turkic historical sources are insufficient for researching the issue of ethnogenesis, and they cannot provide complete information. For example, the Orkhon-Yenisei inscriptions and the Talas inscriptions only describe individual historical events. As for Arabic sources, Arab travelers mainly limited themselves to the southern regions of Kazakhstan and did not visit Mongolia or China. Therefore, we cannot obtain much information related to our topic from Arabic sources. Ancient data about Turkic tribes is mostly available only from Chinese sources.

This article examines the composition of the tribes of the union of the Toquz Oghuz, found in early medieval historical sources, and analyzes the role of the Toquz Oghuz in the genesis of modern Turkic peoples.