Turkish Mass Migration

Image description: Roundel with a mounted falconer and hare (12th-13th century)

PART 1: Turkish mass migration into the Middle East

After being neighbors to the Muslim world (phase 1), and acting as
military slaves in the Muslim Middle East (phase 2), the third phase of
migration of Turkish tribes sealed the transformation to political and
military rulers at the heart of the Middle East. It started in the second
half of 10th century. This phase included a wave of mass movement of
Turks to western Asia, conversion to Islam, and conquest of the Middle
East.

PART 2: The magnitude of the migration wave

We do not know how many Turks migrated. We do have estimates that

the number of Turkish soldiers in the mass migration was a few
thousands. This modest number, however, meant many more civilians.
But the Turkish migration was massive not only because of the sheer
number of people involved; it was also about continuity. The coming of
the Turks to the Middle East was not a one-off occurrence. Since the
crossing of the rivers in central Asia westwards, the Turks just kept
coming, and their numbers increasingly grew. At the same time, many
Turkish tribes stayed in central Asia. Some came in later; others would
remain there till today.

PART 3: The uniqueness of the Turkish migration into the Middle East
around year 1000

This phase stood out in comparison to the first two phases due to a
number of significant features.

 First: numbers and social composition. This time it was not just
single individuals who migrated. Whole tribal units with women,
children and the elderly, came along with their flocks.
 Second: reach. Previous Turkish tribal migrations stopped in
Transoxiana, but this time the Turks crossed the rivers into Iran
and the Middle East, the heart of the Muslim world.
 Third: status. The Turks who came now pushed their way into the
Middle East as powerful conquerors; they didn't arrive as slaves at
the bottom of the legal hierarchy, slaves who had had to gain
power by climbing military ranks.
 Fourth: religion. The Turks arriving now were already Muslims.
PART 4: Reason and causes leading to the conversion to Islam of the
Turkish migrating tribes

We do not know exactly how, why and through whom the migrating
Turks converted to Islam. The migrating Turks became Sunni Muslims, a
logical choice given the fact that Sunni Islam was widespread in
Transoxiana. Yet it was not the only possible choice as other religions,
such as eastern Christianity, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism, were also
active at the time in the region. Whatever the reason or the agents of
conversion to Islam were, this shift in religious affiliation carries critical
significance by dictating the religion of the Turks up to the present day.
Except for the Azari Turks, who are a Turkic-Shiite people in the
Caucasus, all Muslim Turkic peoples are Sunni.

PART 5: From migrating tribes to a Middle Eastern Empire

The Muslim world tended to call all the Turkish migrants by one name –
the Seljuks, after the first Turkish leader whom the Muslim Middle East
encountered. In reality, the Turkish migration was composed of several
different tribes. In 1040 the Seljuks won a decisive battle in Dandanaqan,
on the borders of Khorasan, the eastern province of Iran. As victors, this
battle opened the road into the Arab Middle East. In 1055 they entered
Baghdad by invitation of the reigning caliph. They established the Seljuk
Empire, a Turkish-Muslim nomadic state, which was a significant power
in the Middle East in the 11th and 12th centuries and beyond.