Old Turkic language in the context of "Tengri"

The Sayan Mountains (Mongolian: Соёны нуруу, Soyonii nuruu; Old Turkic: 𐰚𐰇𐰏𐰢𐰤, romanized: Kögmen) are a mountain range in southern Siberia spanning southeastern Russia (Buryatia, Irkutsk Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Tuva and Khakassia) and northern Mongolia. Before the rapid expansion of the Tsardom of Russia, the mountain range served as the border between Mongolian and Russian cultures and cultural influences.

The Sayan Mountains' towering peaks and cool lakes southwest of Tuva give rise to the tributaries that merge to become one of Siberia's major rivers, the Yenisei River, which flows north over 3,400 kilometres (2000 mi) to the Arctic Ocean. This is a protected and isolated area, having been kept closed by the Soviet Union since 1944.

The Pannonian Avars (/ˈævɑːrz/ AV-arz) were an alliance of several groups of Eurasian nomads of various origins. The peoples were also known as the Obri (modern Russian: обры, Obry) in the chronicles of the Rus, the Abaroi or Varchonitai (Greek: Βαρχονῖται, romanized: Varchonitai), or Pseudo-Avars in Byzantine sources, and the Apar (Old Turkic: 𐰯𐰺) to the Göktürks. They established the Avar Khaganate, which spanned the Pannonian Basin and considerable areas of Central and Eastern Europe from the late-6th to the early-9th centuries.

The name "Pannonian Avars" (after Pannonia in the upper Danube basin where they eventually settled) is used to distinguish them from the Avars of the Caucasus, a separate people with whom the Pannonian Avars may or may not have had links. Although the name Avar first appeared in the mid-5th century, the Pannonian Avars entered the historical scene in the mid-6th century, on the Pontic–Caspian steppe as a people who wished to escape the rule of the Göktürks. They are probably best known for their invasions and destruction in the Avar–Byzantine wars from 568 to 626 and for their influence on the Slavic migrations to the Balkans.

Khagan or Qaghan (Middle Mongol:ᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ; Khaan or Khagan; Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰍𐰣 Kaɣan) is a title of imperial rank in Turkic, Mongolic, and some other languages, equal to the status of emperor and someone who rules a khaganate (empire). The female equivalent is Khatun.

It may also be translated as "Khan of Khans", equivalent to King of Kings. In Bulgarian, the title became known as Khan, while in modern Turkic, the title became Khaan with the g sound becoming almost silent or non-existent; the ğ in modern Turkish Kağan is also silent. After the division of the Mongol Empire, monarchs of the Yuan dynasty and the Northern Yuan held the title of Khagan. Kağan, Hakan and Kaan, Turkish equivalents of the title are common Turkish names in Turkey.

The Yenisei Kyrgyz (Old Turkic: 𐰶𐰃𐰺𐰴𐰕:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, romanized: Qyrqyz bodun) were an ancient Turkic people who dwelled along the upper Yenisei River in the southern portion of the Minusinsk Hollow from the 3rd century BCE to the 13th century CE. The heart of their homeland was the forested Tannu-Ola mountain range (known in ancient times as the Lao or Kogmen mountains), in modern-day Tuva, just north of Mongolia. The Sayan Mountains were also included in their territory at different times.

The Göktürks (Old Turkic: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, romanized: Türük Bodun; Chinese: 突厥; pinyin: Tūjué; Wade–Giles: T'u-chüeh), also known as Türks, Celestial Turks or Blue Turks, were a Turkic people in medieval Inner Asia. The Göktürks, under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan (d. 552) and his sons, succeeded the Rouran Khaganate as the main power in the region and established the First Turkic Khaganate, one of several nomadic dynasties that would shape the future geolocation, culture, and dominant beliefs of Turkic peoples.

The Western Turkic Khaganate (Chinese: 西突厥; pinyin: Xī Tūjué) or Onoq Khaganate (Old Turkic: 𐰆𐰣:𐰸:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, romanized: On oq budun, lit. 'Ten arrow people') was a Turkic khaganate in Eurasia, which formed as a result of the wars during the beginning of the 7th century (593–603) after the First Turkic Khaganate, which was founded in the 6th century on the Mongolian Plateau by the Ashina clan, split into a western and eastern khaganate.

The confederation as a whole was called Onoq, meaning "ten arrows". According to a Chinese source, the Western Turks were organized into ten divisions.