Turkmen tribes
Turkmen tribes
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Turkmen tribes

The major modern Turkmen tribes are Teke, Yomut, Ersari, Chowdur, Gokleng, and Saryk. The most numerous are the Teke.

The origin of all of these tribes is traced to 24 ancient Oghuz tribes, among which the Salur tribe played a prominent role as its people are considered the ancestors of modern Turkmen tribes such as Teke, Yomut and Ersari.

Seljuks, Khwarazmians, Qara Qoyunlu, Aq Qoyunlu, Ottomans, and Afsharids are also believed to descend from the early Oghuz Turkmen tribes of Qiniq, Begdili, Yiwa, Bayandur, Kayi, and Afshar respectively.

The Teke ("billy goat" in Turkmen) constitute the largest and historically one of the most influential modern Turkmen tribes. The Teke descended from the Oghuz tribe of Salur in the 11th or 12th century. The tribe is subdivided into two, the Ahal Teke and Mary Teke. British Lt. Col. C.E. Stuart in 1830s also noted a subdivision into four clans, the Wakil (another variant is Wekil), Beg, Suchmuz, and Bukshi:

"The Wakil and Beg clans are collectively called Toghtamish, as they are descended from a person of that name. The Suchmuz and Bukshi clans are collectively called Otamish..."

Stuart estimated in 1881 the number of "Akhal Tekke" at "25,000 tents" and of "Merv Tekke" at "40,000 tents", which latter number included "Salor (5000 tents)". He estimated five people per tent, implying a total Teke tribal population of about 325,000 in that year.

The Teke militarily resisted, mostly successfully, Persian incursions in the 19th century. The Teke came under Russian colonial rule in the 1880s. Though the Turkmen tribes defeated Russian troops during the first incursion in 1879, a subsequent invasion between 1880 and 1881, culminating in the second Battle of Gökdepe, resulted in imposition of Russian Imperial authority. Following the surrender, the Teke commander, Ovezmurat Dykma-Serdar, was commissioned a major in the Russian Imperial Army. Russia's conquest of the Teke was completed in 1884 with the taking of Merv.

Today members of Teke tribe are found predominantly in the southeastern regions of Turkmenistan. They represent over a third of Turkmenistan's population (more than 1.6 million, as of 2014).

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