State Formations in Ancient Turkic Steppe Societies

The Turks are one of the oldest nations of the world, and there is evidence that they had established states very early in their history. The masses of the Turks living a nomadic life in the steppes had formed political structures diff erent from the state systems of settled societies, and we can call these "steppe states". The most important feature of the steppe states was that they did not have fi xed centers and ruled over expansive territories using their well-trained armies. Nomadic steppe states were unions of tribes. They were established not by settled states or cities, but by the gathering of nomads who had the power of war. A family with authority torule ("kut" in ancient Turkic), which was received from God and could be held by legitimacy, established the state. The strength of the centralized structure depended on the ability to intervene in the remote corners of the state; otherwise, the dynamics of the steppe would bring about the rebellion of the connected tribes. The Turkic state existed in tribes formed by families connected to each other by blood kinship, and the state emerged from the tight, disciplined cooperation among these tribes. This gave the state a military character. Since the soldiers, horses and weapons were always ready for war, the expansion of the state was inevitable. Starting from the Huns until the 9th century, the center of these great states, which had a nomadic structure before Islam came onto the scene, was Ötüken, which was originally thought to be in the Orkhun Valley. After the 9th-10th centuries, Turkic states were established by Muslim horse warriors who combined urban and nomadic steppe traditions, making rich trade networks their political centers.