THE COMMON ties of us Karachay Turks and marcars

   In the central part of the Caucasus, the issue of when and where the Karachay-Balkar Turks, who live in the mountainous land located in the east and west of Elbrus, the highest mountain of the Caucasus, came to this region, stands before us as an issue that has not yet been fully clarified in the scientific circles. Considered in terms of the language they speak, the Karachay-Balkars' languages ​​are included in the "Kipchak" dialects group, which constitutes the North-Western branch of the Turkic languages, and they are also a Turkic tribe of Kipchak origin, and therefore 12-13. It brought to mind the idea that they are the descendants of the Kipchak Turks who dominated the Caucasus in the centuries. However, considering that the ethnogenesis of the Karachay-Balkar Turks is Caucasian, they do not bring their ethnic names from outside, and they have their ethnic clan names in the Caucasus, it becomes clear that their historical and ethnic origins should be sought deeper.

The Caucasus is a geography where many ethnic groups from different ethnic backgrounds and speaking different languages ​​live together. Abkhazians, Adyghe (Circassian) tribes, Abazins, Karachay-Balkars, Ossetians, Chechen-Ingushs, Kumuks, Lezgins, Avars, Laks, Darghs living in the lands between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea have different ethnic origins and languages. and as a result of socio-cultural integration and interaction, they are united around a common culture and lifestyle. The peoples living in this ethnic and cultural geography, which we call the "Caucasian Cultural Area", form the society we call the "Caucasian Peoples".

The historical and ethnic origins of the socio-cultural structures of the peoples of the Caucasus are closely related to various civilizations and tribes that influenced the Caucasus from outside. In various periods of history, various tribes and civilizations that came to the Caucasus both from the north via the Siberia-Central Asia-South Russian steppes, from the south via Anatolia-Asia-Mesopotamia, and from the west via the Black Sea route, brought with them many cultural characteristics and they left the ethnic elements in the Caucasus and these socio-cultural features mixed with the indigenous elements of the Caucasus were extremely influential in the emergence and development of the socio-cultural structures of the Caucasian peoples.

 

From prehistoric times to the Middle Ages, ancient Anatolian and Mesopotamian tribes, Greek, Roman and Genoese trade colonies, proto-Turkish tribes such as Cimmerian-Scythians and Hun-Bulgarian, Alanian tribes who entered the Caucasus for trade, wars and conquest. Turkish tribes such as the Khazars, Khazars and Kipchaks brought the elements of civilization that form the cornerstones of the Caucasian socio-cultural structure to the Caucasus and played the most important role in shaping the socio-cultural structures of the Caucasian peoples.

It is necessary to start researching the ethnic and historical origins of the Karachay-Balkar Turks, who are an integral part of the Caucasian peoples and Caucasian culture, from the proto-Turkish tribes.

B.C. It is seen that the culture of a nomadic and warrior tribe gradually began to dominate in Central Asia since 1700. The creators of this culture, which covers the Altai and Tanrı Mountains and is called “Andronova people” by anthropologists, constituted the prototype of Turkish tribes.[1]

B.C. It is known that tribes belonging to the Andronova culture, which spread to the Yayık and Balkaş lakes, the Irtiş river lengths and the head parts of the Obi river, kept a large number of domestic animals, especially horses, sheep and cows, and developed mining, especially bronze (bronze).[2 ]

The ancestors of the Karachay-Balkar Turks, which we can trace from historical sources, begin with the Huns. The Huns were essentially a nomadic people. However, Chinese sources document that while they were busy with herds, they were also engaged in agriculture. Various water channels opened in the Hun period in the Altai region are the most obvious evidence of advanced agriculture. Plowshares, sickles and stones used for grinding grain are among the most important artifacts of this culture.[3]

 

Hun artifacts unearthed in the Caucasus, especially in Digorya and Vladikafkaz, which are within the borders of the present Republic of North Ossetia, show great similarities with the Hun age artifacts in Hungary. It is understood from the comparison of the captured buckle shapes that the Crimean and Kerch cultures had a very strong influence on the Caucasian finds of this period of the Huns.[4]

The Huns migrated from Central Asia to the west, A.D. It is known that they crossed the Volga river in 370-375 and took the Kuban Areas living in the north of the Caucasus under their yoke.[5]

The Bulgarian Turks, a branch of the Western Huns, in the 3-4th century. It is understood that they settled in the Kuban region in the centuries.[6] Byzantine historian Dionysius de Charax in the history of the Huns in 330