Ötüken

Ötüken or Otuken ({{langx|otk|𐰇𐱅𐰜𐰤:𐰖𐰃𐱁|Ötüken yïš|lit=Ötüken forest}}[http://irq.kaznpu.kz/?lang=e&mod=1&tid=1&oid=16&m=1 Bilge kagan's Memorial Complex, TÜRIK BITIG] or {{lang|otk|𐰵𐱅𐰜𐰤:𐰘𐰼}}, {{small|romanized:}} {{lang|otk|Ötüken jer}}, {{lit}} 'land of Ötüken'; {{langx|oui|𐰵𐱅𐰜𐰤:𐰘𐰃𐱁|Ötüken yïš}};{{cite journal | last=Alyılmaz|first=Cengiz | title=Karı Çor Tigin Inscription | journal=International Journal of Turkish Literature Culture Education |language=tr| volume=2/2 | issue=2 | year=2013| doi=10.7884/teke.188 | pages=1–61|url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/teke/issue/12846/155655 }} {{zh|t=於都斤}}) was the capital of the First Turkic Khaganate, the Second Turkic Khaganate and the Uyghur Khaganate. It has an important place in Turkic mythology and Tengrism.

Ötüken is located within the borders of the Arkhangai Province and Övörkhangai Province of present-day Mongolia.{{cite web | url=https://www.trtavaz.com.tr/haber/tur/avrasyadan/turklerin-tarihi-baskenti-otuken/617b88b501a30a10a4e18f84# | title=Türklerin tarihî başkenti: Ötüken - Avrasya'dan - Haber }}

Mountain

The word was used to describe the sacred mountain of the ancient Turks. It was mentioned by Bilge Khagan in the Orkhon inscriptions as "the place from where the tribes can be controlled". A force called qut was believed to emanate from this mountain, granting the local potentate the divine right to rule all the Turkic tribes.Franke, Herbert. The Cambridge History of China. Cambridge University Press, 1994. {{ISBN|0-521-21447-5}}. Page 347.

Although never identified precisely, Ötüken probably stretched "from the Khangai Range of Central Mongolia to the Sayan Mountains of Tuva, at the centre of which is the Orkhon Valley",Jarich G. Oosten, Henri J. M. Claessen. Ideology and the Formation of Early States. Brill Academic Publishers, 1996. {{ISBN|90-04-10470-4}}. Pages 124-125. which for centuries was regarded as the seat of the imperial power of the steppes.

Primary sources

= ''Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk'' =

Ötüken ({{lang|xqa|اتوكان}}){{cite book|title=Divanü lûgat-it-Türk tercümesi|volume=1|lang=tr|year=1939|editor=Besim Atalay|publisher=Alâeddin Kiral Basimevi|page=138}} in Mahmud al-Kashgari's Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk:{{cite book|title=A Historical-Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Russian Habitation Names of the Crimea|page=1040|year=2006|author=Henryk Jankowski|isbn=978-90-474-1842-9}}

{{blockquote|Name of a place in the deserts of Tatār near Uighur.}}

= Tonyukuk inscriptions =

File:TonyukukInscriptions (13).jpg in Mongolia.]]

The Tonyukuk inscriptions clearly show the sacred importance of the region, as evidenced by the statement of Tonyukuk:{{cite journal|title=Breaking the Orkhon Tradition: Kirghiz Adherence to the Yenisei Region after A. D. 840|journal= Journal of the American Oriental Society|jstor=605932|last1=Drompp |first1=Michael R. |year=1999 |volume=119 |issue=3 |pages=390–403 |doi=10.2307/605932 }}

{{blockquote|If you stay in the land of the Ötüken, and send caravans from there, you will have no trouble. If you stay at the Ötüken Mountains, you will live forever dominating the tribes!}}