Türgesh Khaganate

The Türgesh were a Turkic tribal confederation that emerged from the Duolu wing of the Western Turkic On Oq elite after the collapse of Western Turkic power. Led by Wuzhile, they established an independent khaganate in 699 and made Suyab, on the Chu River, their main capital. The Türgesh quickly took over the old Western Turkic lands and became a major power in Central Asia, controlling the trade routes between China, the steppe and Transoxiana. Their ruler Suluk, known as the Yellow Türgesh, fought a long series of campaigns against the Umayyad Caliphate, helping to halt Arab expansion beyond the Oxus and inflicting a serious defeat on the Umayyad army in 724. The khaganate also clashed with the Tang, whose influence in the Western Regions it long resisted. After Suluk's death in 738 the confederation was weakened by internal feuds, and in 766 the Karluks defeated the Türgesh and destroyed their khaganate. The Türgesh are remembered in Chinese, Turkic and Arabic sources as one of the great steppe powers of the eighth century.