Turkic Khaganates
The Türgesh were a Turkic confederation that filled the Central Asian power vacuum after the Western Göktürk collapse, controlling the Syr Darya and Zhetysu regions of modern Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Their Khagan Sulu led the most effective military resistance against Umayyad Arab expansion into Central Asia — a confrontation that determined whether Islam or the steppe tradition would dominate Transoxiana.
2 Rulers
The founding faction of the Türgesh confederacy, the Yellow Türgesh under Uche established the khaganate and consolidated Türgesh control over the former Western Göktürk heartland in Zhetysu.
Founder of the Türgesh Khaganate; seized authority over the former Western Göktürk tribes in Zhetysu following the Tang consolidation of the region; established the Yellow Türgesh as the dominant faction and negotiated early relations with the Tang court
Read the profileExpanded Türgesh territory westward toward Sogdia; his reign saw the first significant Türgesh military engagements with the advancing Umayyad forces in Transoxiana, establishing the khaganate as the primary indigenous military obstacle to Arab expansion
Read the profile4 Rulers
The Black Türgesh faction, under the leadership of Sulu, became the primary military force resisting Umayyad expansion into Central Asia. Sulu's campaigns (715–738 AD) represented the steppe world's most organized military response to the Arab conquests and directly shaped the political boundaries of Islam in Central Asia.
The greatest Türgesh Qaghan and one of the most consequential commanders in Central Asian history; waged continuous warfare against Umayyad forces for over two decades; his victory at the Battle of the Pass (724 AD) temporarily halted Arab expansion into Sogdia; the Arab sources called him 'Abu Muzahim' — Father of Troubles; defeated the combined Umayyad–Turgesh engagement at the Battle of the Day of Thirst (724) and at Khujand; held Tang, Arab, and Tibetan powers in balance simultaneously through skillful diplomacy and rapid cavalry warfare; assassinated in 738 by Baga Tarqan, a rival Türgesh chief
Read the profileCommander, usually identified with Kül Chor, who murdered Sulu in 738; won the civil war with Tang help, then broke with the Tang and was executed by them in 744.
Read the profileSulu's son, raised as qaghan by his father's supporters after the murder; overthrown in 739 by Baga Tarqan and his Tang allies.
Read the profileLast Türgesh qaghan; ruled through Talas and the An Lushan Rebellion, until the Karluks conquered Zhetysu in 766 and ended the khaganate.
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