During the period of disintegration of the Sabir State in the east of Europe, a new Turkish state called the Khazars came into existence. The Khazars, who were considered to be the continuation of the Western Gokturks, took over their military and civilian organizations. This state, which ruled for over 300 years bears the name of "Turk" in Arabian, Syrian and Byzan- tine sources. The Khazars acted as an allied force of the Byzantines in the war between Byzantium and Iran. It is observed that the Arabs who occupied Azerbaijan around the beginning of the eighth century, also raided Khazar territories and occupied their capital city Belencer (in Dagestan).

The war between the Khazars and the Caliphate continued for almost 25 years. The Khazar armies once again went to the south of the Caucasus from 762 AD and occupied all of Azer- baijan and Armenia, and Ras Tarhan, the Khazar commander advanced up to Georgia. The Khazars were threatened afterwards by other Turkish tribes, and especially by the Russians. Their state collapsed towards the end of the tenth century due to their long lasting wars against the Pechenegs.

Another Turkish tribe living in Eastern and Southeastern Europe and the Balkans was the Pechenegs. The Pechenegs, an Oghuz tribe, whose initial settlement around Balkhash Lake moved on to the nearby Aral Sea during the fight between the Gokturks and Uigurs. Then they moved further towards the West and fought against the Khazars. They occupied the Cuman plains and expelled the Hungarians ruling the lands between the Don and Dnieper Rivers towards the West. Giving assistance to the Russians in their fights with the Khazars, they played a role in the founding of this state. The Pechenegs, who ruled a territory extending from the Don River to the Danube River in the tenth century, made raids on Byzantine territories from the middle of the eleventh century. However, they were decisively defeated by the joint forces of the Cumans and Byzantines beside the Lower Maritsa River in 1091. Some of the separate Pecheneg groups who could not represent a political existence after this defeat, were settled in the territories of the Byzantine Empire. Those who stayed in the Balkans and Hungary settled there and were assimilated.

Turkish History in the Islamic Period
After the decline of the Uigur State, the Karahanid State was founded in 840 by the Turkish tribes such as the Karluks, Cigils and Arguls. The reign of the Karahanids is considered to be a turning point in Turkish history, because Islam was accepted as the official religion during the reign of Satuk Bugra Khan, the Karahanid leader. Being the first Muslim Turkish state established in Central Asia, they laid the foundations of an historical development called Turkish-Islamic culture and civilization.

The Karahanids, whose first city of governance was Kash- gar and second was Balasagun to the north, was divided between two brothers in 1042: the Eastern Karahanids and the Western Karahanids. The Eastern Karahanid State surviv- ed until 1211 and then accepted the sovereignty of the Great Seljuk State. Islamic-Turkish literature was developed during the rule of the Karahanid State which was custom- arily governed by just, religious, and culture loving Khans and Kashgar and Balasagun became important cultural centers.

At the time of the rule of the Karahanids, there was another Turkish state of which the capital city was Ghazna in Afghanistan. The most powerful period of the Ghaznavid State (936-1187) was the reign of Mahmud of Ghazna who used the title of "Sultan" for the first time. Sultan Mahmud, who organized many campaigns to India, took these places under Turkish rule, Islamized them and laid the foundation for today's State of Pakistan. The rulers succeeding Sultan Mahmud could not maintain this brilliant period. The Ghaznavids had to retreat to India after the Dandanakan War with the Seljuks in 1040 and finally came under the sovereignty of the Seljuks.

Another great Turkish state was the Seljuk State (1040-1157) founded by the Seljuk Bey who was a member of the Kinik tribe of the Oghuz Turks. The borders of the state covered an area from the Marmara Sea to the Balkhash Lake in Central Asia and from the Caucasus, the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea to the borders of India and Yemen. There- fore, it was named the Great Seljuk State.