Turkmens in the context of Syrian Turkmen

Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian suffix "-stan" (meaning 'land') in both respective native languages and most other languages. The region is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the southwest, European Russia to the northwest, China and Mongolia to the east, Afghanistan and Iran to the south, and Siberia to the north. Together, the five Central Asian countries have a total population of around 76 million.

In the pre-Islamic and early Islamic eras (c. 1000 and earlier) Central Asia was inhabited predominantly by Iranian peoples, populated by Eastern Iranian-speaking Bactrians, Sogdians, Chorasmians, and the semi-nomadic Scythians and Dahae. As the result of Turkic migration, Central Asia also became the homeland for the Kazakhs, Kyrgyzs, Tatars, Turkmens, Uyghurs, and Uzbeks; Turkic languages largely replaced the Iranian languages spoken in the area, with the exception of Tajikistan and areas where Tajik is spoken.

The Iraqi Turkmen (Turkish: Irak Türkmenleri, عراق تورکمنلری; Arabic: تركمان العراق), also referred to as Iraqi Turks, (Turkish: Irak Türkleri, عراق توركلری; Arabic: أتراك العراق) are the third largest ethnic group in Iraq. They make up to 10%–13% of the Iraqi population. Iraqi Turkmens are descendants of Turkish settlers from the time of Ottoman Iraq, and are closely related to Syrian Turkmens. Iraqi Turkmens in Iraq do not identify with the traditionally-nomadic Turkmens of Central Asia.

The Oghuz Turks (Middle Turkic: ٱغُز, romanized: Oγuz) were a western Turkic people who spoke the Oghuz branch of the Turkic language family. In the 8th century, they formed a tribal confederation conventionally named the Oghuz Yabgu State in Central Asia. Today, much of the populations of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are descendants of Oghuz Turks. The term Oghuz was gradually supplanted by the terms Turkmen and Turcoman (Ottoman Turkish: تركمن, romanized: Türkmen or Türkmân) by the 13th century.

The Oghuz confederation migrated westward from the Jeti-su area after a conflict with the Karluk allies of the Uyghurs. In the 9th century, the Oghuz from the Aral steppes drove Pechenegs westward from the Emba and Ural River region. In the 10th century, the Oghuz inhabited the steppe of the rivers Sari-su, Turgai and Emba north of Lake Balkhash in modern-day Kazakhstan.

The Kayı (Karakhanid: قَيِغْ, romanized: qayïġ; Turkish: Kayı boyu, Turkmen: Gaýy taýpasy) were an Oghuz Turkic ethnic group and a sub-branch of the Bozok tribal federation. In his Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, the 11th century Kara-Khanid scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari cited Kayı as of one of 22 Oghuz tribes, saying that Oghuz were also called Turkomans.

The name Kayı means "the one who has might and power by relationship" and a Turkmen proverb says that "the people shall be governed by Kayı and Bayat tribes" (Turkmen: Il başy - gaýy-baýat).

Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). According to annual estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, as of July 1, 2024, the Asian population was estimated at 22,080,844, representing approximately 6.49% of the total U.S. population, making them the fastest growing and fourth largest racial and ethnic group in the United States after African Americans, Hispanic and Latino Americans and non-Hispanic White Americans.

Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous peoples of the continent of Asia, the usage of the term "Asian" by the United States Census Bureau denotes a racial category that includes people with origins or ancestry from East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia. It excludes people with ethnic origins from West Asia, who were historically classified as "white" and will be categorized as Middle Eastern Americans starting from the 2030 census. Central Asian ancestries (including Afghan, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, and Uzbek) were previously not included in any racial category but have been designated as "Asian" as of 2024.

Bayat (Azerbaijani: Bayat tayfası; Persian: بیات; Turkish: Bayat boyu; Turkmen: Baýat taýpasy) is one of the Oghuz tribes in Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. When Oghuz Turks started to migrate from the Aral steppes to Khorasan in the 11th and 13th centuries, Bayat people spread throughout the region. They are sub-ethnic groups of Turkmens and Azerbaijanis. The Bayats are Muslim and speak a southern dialect of Azerbaijani language in Azerbaijan and Iran, or their own dialect of Turkish in Turkey, and Ersari dialect of Turkmen in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The ancient Turkmen proverb says: "Kayı and Bayat tribes shall lead the people" (Turkmen: "Il başy - gaýy-baýat").

Turkmen (türkmençe, түркменче, تۆرکمنچه‎, [tʏɾkˈmøntʃø] or türkmen dili, түркмен дили, تۆرکمن ديلی‎, [tʏɾkˈmøn dɪˈlɪ]) is a Turkic language of the Oghuz branch spoken by the Turkmens of Central Asia. It has an estimated 4.7 million native speakers in Turkmenistan (where it is the official language), and a further 359,000 speakers in northeastern Iran and 1.2 million people in northwestern Afghanistan, where it has no official status. Turkmen is also spoken to lesser varying degrees in Turkmen communities of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and by diaspora communities, primarily in Turkey and Russia.

Turkmen is a member of the Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages. It is closely related to Azerbaijani, Gagauz, Qashqai, and Turkish, sharing varying degrees of mutual intelligibility with each of those languages. However, the closest relative of Turkmen is considered Khorasani Turkic, spoken in northeastern regions of Iran and with which it shares the eastern subbranch of Oghuz languages, as well as Khorazm, the Oghuz dialect of Uzbek spoken mainly in Khorezm along the Turkmenistan border. Elsewhere in Iran, the Turkmen language comes second after the Azerbaijani language in terms of the number of speakers of Turkic languages of Iran.

Kandahar is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southern part of the country, sharing a border with Balochistan, Pakistan, to the south. It is surrounded by Helmand in the west, Uruzgan in the north and Zabul Province in the east. Its capital is the city of Kandahar, Afghanistan's second largest city, located on the Arghandab River. The greater region surrounding the province is called Loy Kandahar. The Emir of Afghanistan sends orders to Kabul from Kandahar making it the de facto capital of Afghanistan, although the main government body operates in Kabul. All meetings with the Emir take place in Kandahar, meetings excluding the Emir are in Kabul.

The province contains about 18 districts, over 1,000 villages, and approximately 1,431,876 people (the 6th most populous province), which is mostly tribal and a rural society. The main inhabitants of Kandahar province are the ethnic Pashtuns. They are followed by the Baloch people, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmens and Hazaras.

The Northern Alliance, officially known as the National United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan, was an Afghan military alliance of groups that operated between early 1992 and 2001 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It was formed by military leaders such as Ahmad Shah Massoud, Burhanuddin Rabbani, Abdul Rashid Dostum, Abdul Momim and Ali Mazari. It consisted mainly of ethnicities from northern Afghanistan, such as Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras, and Turkmens, as opposed to the Pashtun-led Taliban. At that time, many non-Pashtun Northerners originally with the Republic of Afghanistan led by Mohammad Najibullah became disaffected with Pashtun Khalqist Afghan Army officers holding control over non-Pashtun militias in the North. The alliance's capture of Mazar-i-Sharif and more importantly the supplies kept there crippled the Afghan military and began the end of Najibullah's government. Following the collapse of Najibullah's government, the Alliance would fall with a second civil war breaking out. However, following the Taliban's takeover of Kabul and establishment of their Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the United Front was reassembled.

The Northern Alliance fought a defensive war against the Taliban regime. They received support from Iran, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the United States and Uzbekistan, while the Taliban were extensively backed by the Pakistan Army and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence. By 2001, the Northern Alliance controlled less than 10% of the country, cornered in the north-east and based in Badakhshan province. The US invaded Afghanistan, providing support to Northern Alliance troops on the ground in a two-month war against the Taliban, which they won in December 2001. With the Taliban forced from control of the country, the Northern Alliance was dissolved as members and parties supported the new Afghan Interim Administration, with some members later becoming part of the Karzai administration.

The major modern Turkmen tribes are Teke, Yomut, Ersari, Chowdur, Gokleng, and Saryk. The most numerous are the Teke.

The origin of all of these tribes is traced to 24 ancient Oghuz tribes, among which the Salur tribe played a prominent role as its people are considered the ancestors of modern Turkmen tribes such as Teke, Yomut and Ersari.

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.

The majority of Uzbeks and Uyghurs indeed descend from Karluk tribes, and their languages are part of the Karluk subgroup, making them linguistically and historically distinct from other Turkic peoples like Kazakhs (Kipchak) or Turkmens (Oghuz).

Central Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from Central Asia. They include Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, and Uzbek individuals. People of Afghan, Baloch, and Uyghur descent are also sometimes classified as Central Asians. Although previously not mentioned under any category, Central Asians are now categorized as Asian Americans as of 2024.

The Central Asian revolt of 1916, also known as the Semirechye Revolt and as Urkun in Kyrgyzstan, was an anti-Russian uprising by the indigenous inhabitants of Russian Turkestan sparked by the conscription of Muslims into the Russian military for service on the Eastern Front during World War I. The rampant corruption of the Russian colonial regime and Tsarist colonialism with regard to its economic, political, religious, and national dimensions are all seen as contributing causes.

The revolt led to the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Kyrgyz and Kazakhs into China, while the suppression of the revolt by the Imperial Russian Army led to around 100,000 to 500,000 deaths (mostly Kyrgyz and Kazakhs, but also Tajiks, Turkmen, and Uzbeks) both directly and indirectly. Deaths of Central Asians were either the result of violence by the Russian army, disease, or famine. The Russian state was not able to restore order to parts of the Empire until after the outbreak of the October Revolution, and the subsequent Basmachi revolt (1916–1923) further destabilized the Central Asian region.

Sart was a term used in the history and ethnography of Iran and Central Asia. The term was commonly applied to sedentary Turks and Tajiks in Central Asia. Usually bilingual in Turkic and Persian, they belonged to the same cultural tradition and occupied the same economic role.

The Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and Turkmen, being proudly devoted to their rural, nomadic ways of life and values, strongly disliked the highly Persianized speech of Turkic by the Sarts. This instance is comparable to the prejudice the 11th century Turkic scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari had displayed toward Sogdianized urban Turks. Meanwhile, the Persian Tajik dialect had been adopting Turkic vocabulary and syntax, which caused it to shift away from standard Persian.

Abotsi (Armenian: Աշոցք, Georgian: აბოცი), ancient historical-geographical province of Armenia and Georgia. located south to Javakheti, in modern-day Armenia. In the late medieval period, as a result of influx of Turkoman tribes Abotsi was called Kaikuli, which was later one of the Sadrosho of Kartli Kingdom, ruled by Mouravi. In 1801, when Russia annexed eastern Georgia (Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti), Kaikuli (Abotsi) was included into Lori district of Georgian Governorate. In 1849, district was transferred to newly established Erivan Governorate.