Жу-Юп Лидің «Әлем тарихындағы түркі халықтары» атты жаңа кітабы

Abstract

The article is a review of the recently published book “The Turkic Peoples in World History” by Yoo-Yup Lee (Routledge, 2024, “Themes in World History” Series) which can be seen as an introduction to the history of the Turkic peoples and is addressed to both students and the general reader, as well as professionals, since the author’s approach to the topic is non-trivial, and the book contains many insights and interesting facts. Noting that Turkic peoples played an important role in the history of Eurasia as the creators of many empires (including the Mongol) and states, the author focuses on the history of separate Turkic peoples with a distinct identity and traces the transformation of these groups into the Turkic peoples of modern times. He emphasizes that in the pre-modern era, the Turkic peoples were not aware of their ethnolinguistic unity and did not call themselves Turks, having separate identities, and the process of expansion of the Turkic peoples (that is, their history) was accompanied by the Turkization of numerous non-Turkic-speaking groups and by processes of mixing and integration. Describing Turkic peoples based on their origins and identity, the author identifies four categories corresponding to the chapters of the book. These are the early Turkic peoples (Tiele, Türks and Uyghurs); peoples who appeared in the Eurasian steppe belt because of Turkic migrations (Qirghiz, Bulghars, Khazars, Qarakhanid Türks and Qipchaqs); the Oghuz Turkic peoples; the Turkic-Mongolian peoples (Chaghatay/Moghuls, Uzbeks, Qazaqs and Crimean Tatars). Specifically, the author calls the Qazaqs the direct descendants of the Jochid ulus, which was the result of amalgamation of Mongolian groups with non-Mongolian ones, and primarily with Turkic ones, in the Qipchaq steppe. The early Qazaqs and Shibanid Uzbeks had the same Chingizid-Mongol identity, but at the turn of the 16th century their paths diverged when the Qazaqs included the Moghul and Mangit nomads in their composition, and the Shibanid Uzbeks began to merge with the settled Iranian population of Central Asia. Genetically, modern Qazaqs (Kazakhs) are close to the Mongols. In general, the book shows the heterogeneous nature of the formation of most Turkic peoples of modernity and the Middle Ages