Köl-chür
| Kül-chor | |
|---|---|
| Khagan of the Turgesh | |
| Reign | 739–744 |
| Predecessor | Kut-chor |
| Died | 744 |
Kül-chor, known in Arabic sources as Kūrṣūl (كورصول) and identified with the Baga Tarkhan of the Chinese records, was one of the main Turgesh leaders under the khagan Suluk. His is chiefly known for his role in the Turgesh wars against the Umayyad Caliphate in Transoxiana, and for being responsible for the murder of Suluk in 738, precipitating the collapse of Turgesh power. After eliminating his rivals, he rose to become khagan himself, but soon fell out with his Chinese backers and was defeated and executed in 744. Some Arabic sources, however, record that he was killed by the Arabs in 739.
Along with the khagan himself—Suluk Chabish-chor or Su-Lu of the Chinese sources—Kül-chor, or "Kūrṣūl al-Turqashī" in Arabic, is one of only two Turgesh leaders to be mentioned by name in the Arab sources of the period. Kül-chor, usually identified with the Baga Tarkhan (pinyin: Mohe dagan quelü chuo) of Chinese sources, was the leader of a small Turkic tribe, known in the Chinese sources as Chu Muguen, living south of Lake Balkash between Turgesh and Qarluq lands.
Kül-chor first appears in spring 721, when, following the calls for aid of the Soghdian princes of Transoxiana against the expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate, he was sent to lead the first Turgesh attack on the Umayyad Arabs. Despite a setback at the fortress of Qasr al-Bahili, Kül-chor proceeded to raid deep into Transoxiana, mostly with the aid of the local population and their princes. Samarkand, which was too strong to be assaulted, was bypassed, but when at long last the unwarlike Umayyad governor, Sa'id al-Khudhayna, marched to meet him, Kül-chor inflicted a heavy defeat on the Arabs, and forced Sa'id to confine himself in the neighbourhood of Samarkand. Despite their success, however, the whole operation seems to have been, in the words of H.A.R. Gibb, "little more than a reconnaissance in force combined with a raiding expedition", and the Turgesh withdrew soon after, allowing the new Arab governor, Sa'id ibn Amr al-Harashi, to brutally suppress the local rebels and re-impose Arab authority on most of the region. Kül-chor appears again in the Siege of Kamarja in 729, when he was one of the high-ranking Turgesh hostages given to the Arab garrison of Kamarja as guarantee of safe passage.
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