The Ethnonym Apar in the Turkish Inscriptions of the VIII. Century and Armenian Manuscripts
Dr. Mehmet Tezcan
Late rulers of the second Turkish Qaghanate (682-745) left behind some inscriptions in Turkish in the mid of what is today Mongolia, known as commonly Turkish or Orkhon Inscriptions. The ethnonym Türk was firstly used by this state, and the word "Türk" first time occurs in Turkish in those inscriptions. During the short life of this qaghanate, its boundaries extended to vast areas from the Khingan Mountains in the east to the Sogdiana in the west, and Bilgä Qaghan (716-734), who erected those stones, ruled over a lot of Turkish and non-Turkish peoples in Central and Inner Asia. The inscriptions give very important information about the founding of the Qaghanate in 552, its following splendor, some specialties of early Turkish states, the period of the second Turkish Qaghanate, the neighboring kingdoms, and in short, human geography of Central Asia and the Near East in those ages.
In this article, I will tell on a place-name or ethnonym, (A)Par or Par, which still keeps its mystery, according to the Turkish inscriptions and some early Medieval Armenian sources.
We have not any formal documents written in Turkish about the first Turkish Qaghanate which was founded by Bumïn (552-553?) and Istemi (552-574?) in 552, and our data are based on only Chinese annals. However, the two inscriptions dated to the second qaghanate period fortunately give us very important and formal information through Bilgä Qaghan’s words.