Study on Karakhanid State and state organization

This research deals in detail with the historical evolution of the Qarakhanids State, its cultural texture and its importance in terms of political science. The Qarakhanids are the representatives of an important Turkic-Islamic state that started from the rich steppes of Central Asia and extended to the lands of Central Asia and the Maveraunnehir. However, there are uncertainties and gaps in existing research on this state, so this study aims to fill these gaps. The research provides a detailed overview of the Qarakhanid state by examining its origins, political evolution, institutional structure and social interactions. It also emphasizes the state's contribution to and role in the historical process of Central Asia and the Maveraünnehir. Thus, it provides an important perspective on Turkish history, Central Asian civilization, and the cultural evolution of Central Asia and the Maveraunnehir. The study of the Qarakhanid state and its organization covers a multifaceted field that encompasses history, culture and political science. This chapter evaluates the findings, reviews the general framework of the research, discusses and seeks answers to important questions The origins of the Qarakhanids and the process of the establishment of the state have remained obscure throughout history. The transition from a nomadic society to a sedentary one has not been fully understood due to a lack of sources. This situation reveals a gap regarding the early periods of the state. In addition, wars and looting in the geography constituted a major obstacle to the classification and preservation of the sources. Due to the inadequacy and deficiency of the Qarakhanid sources, the researches and works on the contemporary states have been included in the sources of our research. These sources are mainly the sources that work on the Seljuks, Abbasids, Ghaznavids and Samanids. The gaps and uncertainties in the history of this important Turkish-Islamic state is one of the important reasons that led us to work in this field. This research aims to examine the history of the Qarakhanids State in depth and to understand its historical evolution, institutional structure and the functioning of its political organization. Since the Qarakhanids were dealt with on a departmental basis as political, religious, cultural, military and state organization, this study is the first study to focus on both the political history and the state organization of the Qarakhanids, and it is also the first study to collect the Qarakhanids under a single title. The first point that stands out in the studies on the Qarakhanids is that there is no consensus on the origin of the Qarakhanids. There are different opinions and claims on their origins. The general opinion is that they belonged to the Karluk tribe. The birth of the state, which was established under the leadership of Bilge Kül Kadir Khan, took place upon the destruction of the Uighurs, who were his contemporaries. The Qarakhanids, kneaded with the cultural characteristics of the Qarluq tribe and the Uyghurs, existed in these difficult lands and accomplished important works. The Qarakhanids, formed from the words 'Kara', which expresses nobility in Turkish, and 'Khan', which is given to the rulers, ruled in Mâverâünnehir and took place in an important geography. As a result of this geography, they had intense political relations with neighboring and contemporary states. These relations, which were based on interest, were multifaceted and sometimes kinship was established through marriages, while sometimes states chose to take advantage of each other's turbulent times. The process of the Qarakhanids making a name for themselves and spreading to the geography where they were located took place under the leadership of Satuq Buğra Khan. The most important step for the Qarakhanids in this period was undoubtedly the acceptance of Islam. It would not be wrong to say that the Qarakhanids' acceptance of Islam gave the Qarakhanids the right to be recognized and exist in the region. The Samanids were among the first states with which the Qarakhanids established relations. The other struggles of the Samanids, who experienced internal turmoil and rebellions, were with the Qarakhanid and Ghaznavid states. The Sāmānids, whose army was mainly composed of Turks (Usta, 2009:65) The Sāmānids, who came under the influence of the Ghaznavids, which they kept under their influence in form, lost Khorasan, one of the most important cities in this period, to the Ghaznavids and Bukhara to the Qarakhanids. When their efforts to recover the state failed, they were erased from the stage of history by the Qarakhanid ruler Ilig Nasser. The disputes over the lands of the Samanid State opened a new chapter in the Qarakhanid-Ghaznavid relations. Although agreements were made from time to time in relations with the Ghaznavids and friendship seemed to be established, trust could never be fully established and the parties always approached each other with suspicion. During the reign of Sultan Mahmud, the Ghaznavids were the more dominant party and they took the side of the Ghaznavids in determining the great khan. They tried to establish peace through kinship and established kinship through marriages (Özaydın, 2001:408) The Qarakhanid State could not achieve the desired results against the Ghaznavids due to its division into two and throne struggles. The Ghaznavid state was weakened in the struggles with the Seljuk State in the following period and was destroyed by the Ghurids. Seljuk-Qarakhanid relations coincide with the period when the Qarakhanids began to grow and expand. The Karakhanids captured Bukhara in this period. It is known that Oghuz tribes affiliated with the Seljuks were also involved in the capture of Bukhara (Sumer, 2009:389). These periods, when the Seljuks were newly seen in the region, were also the periods when they were in search of a homeland. The regional states, who thought that the Seljuks would pose a danger in the region, stood against the Seljuk expansion, especially the Ghaznavids. When we look at the process, it is seen that the Qarakhanid-Seljuk relations were softer than the Seljuk-Ghaznavid relations. Friendship and alliance developed between Ali Tegin of Qarakhanid and Arslan Yagbu of Seljuk. The Seljuks who took part in the Qarakhanid army in the battle of Debusiye against the Khwarazmshahs is a clear indication of this (Sumer, 2009:389). From this period onwards, Seljuk-Ghaznavid struggles mainly took place in the region. These small-scale wars between the two states continued until the Seljuk State achieved a decisive victory in the Dandanakan War in 1040. The Qarakhanids did not have a clear side due to their division into eastern and western parts and the great kagan struggles within themselves. The aspirations of the Qarakhanid ruler and his brothers to become the Great Khan were started to be used by other regional states and the regional states started to play an active role in these processes. Qarakhanid-Abbasids and Qarakhanid-Khwarazmshah relations were more limited compared to other regional states. Since the establishment of the Khwarazmshahs coincided with the years when the Qarakhanid state was divided into two, they were generally complex and fluctuated in the east-west balance. During the period when the Umayyads practiced a racist mawali policy, the Turks were the biggest obstacle to Arab progress in Central Asia. Turkish-Arab relations changed after the Abbasids took over the caliphate. The Abbasids, who did not pursue a racist policy, started to include Turks in their armies, and thanks to this situation, the Turks sided with the Abbasids in the Talas War with the Chinese in 751. This process also laid the foundation for the spread of Islam among the Turks. While Islam was spreading among the Turks, Islam spread to wider masses in the Qarakhanid state when the Qarakhanid ruler Satuk Buğra Khan accepted Islam under the name of 'Abdulkerim'.