Karluks
The Karluks (also Qarluqs, Qarluks, Karluqs, Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰺𐰞𐰸, Qarluq, Para-Mongol: Harluut, simplified Chinese: 葛逻禄; traditional Chinese: 葛邏祿 Géluólù ; customary phonetic: Gelu, Khololo, Khorlo, Persian: خَلُّخ, Khallokh, Arabic: قارلوق Qarluq) were a prominent nomadic Turkic tribal confederacy residing in the regions of Kara-Irtysh (Black Irtysh) and the Tarbagatai Mountains west of the Altay Mountains in Central Asia. Karluks gave their name to the distinct Karluk group of the Turkic languages, which also includes the Uzbek, Uyghur and Ili Turki languages.
| Languages | |
|---|---|
| Karluk languages | |
| Religion | |
| Tengrism, Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Toquz Oghuz and Basmyl Modern: Uzbeks, Uyghurs, Hazaras |
Karluks were known as a coherent ethnic group with autonomous status within the Göktürk khaganate and the independent states of the Karluk yabghu, Karakhanids and Qarlughids before being absorbed in the Chagatai Khanate of the Mongol Empire.
They were also called Uch-Oghuz meaning "Three Oghuz". Despite the similarity of names, Mahmud al-Kashgari's Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk wrote: "Karluks is a division of nomadic Turks. They are separate from Oghuz, but they are Turkmens like Oghuz." Ilhanate's Rashid al-Din Hamadani in his Jami' al-Tawarikh mentions Karluks as one of the Oghuz (Turkmen) tribes. Kafesoğlu (1958) proposes that Türkmen might be the Karluks' equivalent of the Göktürks' political term Kök Türk.