Göktürk civil war

The Göktürk civil war (or Turkic interregnum) was an important crisis in Central Asia during the 580s, which resulted in the split of the Göktürk Khaganate and the creation of separate western and eastern khaganates.

The Turkic Khaganate or Göktürks, was a vast empire stretching between the Chinese Empire and the Black Sea. The name of the ruling dynasty was Ashina. The khagans were appointed by the kurultay (council of tribe leaders).

In 581, the fourth khagan Taspar Qaghan died. There were four claimants to throne. The personal and regnal names are shown below:

(Chinese reading)

(Turkic reading by Gumilev)

Prince Anlo was Taspar Qaghan's son, Talopien (Apa Qaghan) and Shetu (Ishbara Qaghan) were Taspar's nephews, while Tien-chueh (Tardu) was Taspar's cousin. (see Göktürk family tree)

Before dying, Taspar Qaghan had announced his preference for Talopien to succeed him instead of his son Anlo, although he had no right to determine the succession. During the kurultay after Taspar Qaghan's death, Shetu, who was also a claimant, saw that he had no chance and supported the pacifist Anlo on the ground that Talopien's mother was not of noble birth. He threatened the kurultay that in case of Talopien's election he would revolt. Thus the kurultay appointed Anlo as the new khan. However Anlo's regency was short-lived because of the reaction of Talopien's partisans. Anlo quickly renounced the title on behalf of his powerful ally Shetu who became the khan with the regnal name Ishbara Qaghan.

Ishbara Qaghan was the central khagan, residing in the holy forest Ötüken in central Mongolia. But the other claimants were not subdued. The second khagan was Tardu, now called Tardush Qaghan, who chose the Tien Shan mountains in western China as his seat, and became the de facto ruler of all western territories. The third khagan was Anlo, who controlled the region around the Tuul River in Mongolia. Talopien, now called Apa Qaghan, was sovereign in the northern territories.

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