Oghuz Turks
The Oguz or Ghuzz Turks (Middle Turkic: ٱغُز, "Oγuz", ) were a western Turkic people that 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. The name "Oghuz" is a Common Turkic word for "tribe". Byzantine sources call the Oghuz the Uzes (Οὐ̑ζοι, "Ouzoi"). By the 10th century, Islamic sources were calling them Muslim Turkmens, as opposed to shamanist or Buddhist. By the 12th century this term had passed into Byzantine usage and the Oghuzes were overwhelmingly Muslim. The term "Oghuz" was gradually supplanted among the Turks themselves by Turkmen and Turcoman, ( or "Türkmân") from the mid 10th century on, a process which was completed by the beginning of the 13th century.

The Oghuz confederation migrated westward from the Jeti-su area after a conflict with the Karluk allies of the Uyghurs. Today, a percentage of the residents of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are descendants of Oghuz Turks and their language belongs to the Oghuz group of the Turkic languages family. Kara-Khanid scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari wrote that of all the Turkic languages, that of the Oghuz was the simplest. He also observed that the Oghuz had been separated for so long from the eastern Turks, that the language of the Turks in the east could be clearly distinguished from the language of the Oghuz and Kipchak further west.

In the 9th century, the Oghuzes from the Aral steppes drove Bechens from the Emba and Ural River region toward the west. In the 10th century, they inhabited the steppe of the rivers Sari-su, Turgai, and Emba to the north of Lake Balkhash of modern-day Kazakhstan. A clan of this nation, the Seljuks, embraced Islam and in the 11th century entered Persia, where they founded the Great Seljuk Empire.
Similarly in the 11th century, a Tengriist Oghuz clan—referred to as Uzes or Torks in the chronicles of Rurikid Kievan Rus'—overthrew Pecheneg supremacy in the steppes of Rus' Khaganate. Harried by another Turkic people, the Kipchaks, these Oghuz penetrated as far as the lower Danube, crossed it and invaded the Balkans, where they were struck down by an outbreak of plague, causing the survivors either to flee or to join the Byzantine imperial forces as mercenaries (1065).
The Oghuz seem to have been related to the Pechenegs, some of whom were clean-shaven and others of whom had small 'goatee' beards. According to the book "Attila and the Nomad Hordes", "Like the Kimaks they set up many carved wooden funerary statues surrounded by simple stone "balbal" monoliths." The authors of the book go on to note that "Those Uzes or Torks who settled along the Russian frontier were gradually Slavicized, though they also played a leading role as cavalry in 1100- and early 1200-era Russian armies, where they were known as "Black Hats"... Oghuz warriors served in almost all Islamic armies of the Middle East from the 1000s onwards, in Byzantium from the 800's, and even in Spain and Morocco." In later centuries, they adapted and applied their own traditions and institutions to the ends of the Islamic world and emerged as empire-builders with a constructive sense of statecraft.

Linguistically, the Oghuz belong to the Common Turkic speaking group, characterized by sound correspondences such as Common Turkic /-š/ versus Oghuric /-l/ and Common Turkic /-z/ versus Oghuric /-r/.Within the Common Turkic group, the Oghuz languages share these innovations: loss of Proto-Turkic gutturals in suffix anlaut, loss of /ɣ/ except after /a/, /g/ becoming either /j/ or lost, voicing of /t/ to /d/ and of /k/ to /g/, and */ð/ becomes /j/.

Apart from the Seljuks, dynasties of Khwarazmians, Qara Qoyunlu, Aq Qoyunlu, Ottomans and Afsharids are also believed to descend from the Oghuz-Turkmen tribes of Begdili, Yiva, Bayandur, Kayi and Afshar respectively.

The Ottoman dynasty, who gradually took over Anatolia after the fall of the Seljuks, toward the end of the 13th century, led an army that was also predominantly Oghuz. The Ottomans proved to be superior to other local Oghuz Turkish states. Ahmed Bican Yazıcıoğlu, in early 15th century, traced Osman's genealogy to Oghuz Khagan, the legendary ancient ancestor of Turkic people, through his eldest grandson of his eldest son, so giving the Ottoman sultans primacy among Turkish monarchs.
Q6841639
Middle Turkic
Concept
Q83328
Turkic people
Concept
Q494600
Oghuz branch
Concept
Q34090
Turkic language family
Concept
Q7855217
tribal confederation
MEDIA
Q1099731
Oghuz Yabgu State
LOC
Q1126028
Common Turkic
Concept
Q12544
Byzantine
LOC
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Turkmens
Concept
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Turcoman
UNK
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Jeti-su
LOC
Q831218
Uyghurs
LOC
Q43
Turkey
LOC
Q227
Azerbaijan
LOC
Q874
Turkmenistan
LOC
Q494600
Oghuz
Concept
Q34090
Turkic languages
Concept
Q494354
Kara-Khanid
LOC
Q563564
Mahmud al-Kashgari
PER
Q682597
Kipchak
MEDIA
Q35883
Aral
LOC
Q181752
Bechens
Concept
Q517670
Emba
LOC
Q80240
Ural River
LOC
Q626
Sari-su
LOC
Q658832
Turgai
LOC
Q134485
Lake Balkhash
LOC
Q232
Kazakhstan
LOC
Q3708255
Seljuks
LOC
Q432
Islam
Concept
Q794
Persia
LOC
Q3708094
Great Seljuk Empire
LOC
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Tengriist
PER
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Rurikid
LOC
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Kievan Rus'
LOC
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Pecheneg
Concept
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Rus' Khaganate
LOC
Q682597
Kipchaks
MEDIA
Q1653
Danube
LOC
Q12544
Byzantine
LOC
Q181752
Pechenegs
Concept
Q2014570
goatee
Concept
Q1082670
Kimaks
UNK
Q861737
"Black Hats"
ORG
Q1126028
Common Turkic
Concept
Q3657773
Proto-Turkic
Concept
Q1534578
guttural
Concept
Q494510
voicing
Concept
Q486918
Khwarazmians
LOC
Q324470
Qara Qoyunlu
LOC
Q555994
Aq Qoyunlu
Concept
Q2359535
Ottomans
PER
Q388739
Afsharids
LOC
Q814282
Begdili
UNK
Q812650
Bayandur
UNK
Q1417344
Kayi
MEDIA
Q1436196
Afshar
ORG
Q2359535
Ottoman
PER
Q853309
other local Oghuz Turkish states
Concept
Q4585036
Ahmed Bican Yazıcıoğlu
PER
Q83100
Osman
PER
Q2118293
Oghuz Khagan
MISC
Q83328
Turkic people
Concept
Q494462
Oghuz Turks
LOC
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1100
DATE
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part of
native language
country
country