Turkish-Tibetan relations during Uighuric Kingdoms (8th-13th)

Since historical times, many Turkish states have had some socio-cultural and political relations with foreign nations. Looking at the relations of the Turks and Tibetan tribes, it can be traced back to the Xiongnu and their contemporaries Qiang. The Western Qiang are shown as the ancestors of the Tibetans in Chinese sources. Many academics who are experts in the field have also confirmed this idea. The Tibetans, who came before them as close neighbors of many Turkish states from the Xiongnu to the Göktürks, and from the Göktürks to the Uighurs, were often rivals of the Turks in the political arena. It is possible to say that a political, social and religious interaction started in the 8th century, especially for Uyghurs and Tibetans. The Tibetan Empire rose to the political arena in the 7th century. One of the most serious rivals of the Uyghurs, who became state in 744, was the Tibetans. The Uyghurs and Tibetans, who first encountered in the internal revolts in China in the 8th century, gradually entered into a struggle in the Central Asia. Uyghurs and Tibetans have fought for present-day East Turkistan for centuries. Sometimes Tibetans and sometimes Uyghurs dominated East Turkistan. Apart from East Turkistan, there was also a struggle for domination between Uyghur and Tibet in Gansu. The fall of the Tibetan Empire and the Uighurs coincides with the 9th century. Along with this century, Tibet and Uyghur states continued as each other's rivals in the political arena. Uyghur and Tibetan migrations, gathered in Gansu and Qinghai, became neighbors and even coexisted in these areas. Especially in the period of Gansu Uyghurs, interactions with Tibetans were made in both religious and political fields. There were breathtaking struggles between the Gansu Uighurs and the Tanguts, which were seen in the political arena in the 10th century and became a powerful state in the 11th century. Although the Tanguts also came from Tibetan tribes, they were built on the remainder of the old Tibetan state. During this period, Uighurs and Tibetans mostly acted together against Tanguts. The most fundamental thing that unites these two communities in the 11th and 12th centuries is Buddhism. With the arrival of the Mongols in the 13th century, the Uighurs and Tibetans, who lost their sovereignty, merged over time and formed communities that even resources could not separate.