Old Turkic Inscriptions as a Source for Understanding the Categories of Social Status, Social Inequality, and Memory among Early Medieval Turks in Central Asia

In the early medieval, the Turks emerged as a political and military force, forming a political elite that consolidated the essential components of resources and governance under their control, paving the way for the establishment of large empires. The political elite, along with the military stratum under their command, played a crucial role. They not only utilized military power but also engaged with local elites, creating a complex administrative system by actively involving the middle stratum aristocracy in resource allocation and management. This system gathered the best experiences of nomadic empires and provided the possibility of integrating local elites into the Turkic elite. During the process of building empires, the ancient Turks, firstly, assimilated some traditions and social values, forming new social realities through interactions with conquered folks. As a result, there was a significant divergence between the political elite, the middle aristocracy, and the common people. Simultaneously, positive changes occurred in the spiritual sphere, contributing to cultural development – new religions, forms of art, civilizations, writings, and writing traditions emerged. While in ancient Turkish society, writing primarily served individual, family, and ceremonial memory preservation, during the imperial period, it began to play a role in legitimization, settling in sedentary areas, aligning with settled peoples, and initiating relations based on writing in adminis- trative governance, monetary transactions, economic management, legal codification, and cultural and religious life.