Suluk (doorstep)

Suluk (also called Su-lu , ruled approx. 715-738) was the third ruler ( Khaqan ) over the tribal association of the Türgesch .

He held the Arab invasion in Transoxania on for about fifteen years. Under him, the Türgesch gained control of the Seven Rivers and the area between Issyk-Kul and Lake Balkhash with the main towns of Suyab and Balasagun .

Suluk served the second Türgesch leader Saqal (ruled 706-11) as a general and soon after his defeat against the eastern Kök Turks took power. The expansion pressure of the Kök Turks eased in the face of several rebellions of subordinate tribes and the external pressure (Chinese and Tibetans), so that Suluk could act independently in contrast to his predecessors. For this purpose he formally subordinated himself to Tang China in 717 and also concluded marriage alliances with the Kök Turks and the Tibetans , especially to defend against the Arabs.

Despite his nominal vassal status vis-à-vis China (e.g. renewed in 722 with a marriage), he repeatedly attacked the Chinese in their advanced posts in the Tarim Basin and on the Tienschan , once even with the help of the Tibetans, who, however, did not remain allies of the Doors for long. Aided by the murder of the Arab general Qutaiba ibn Muslim (715), however, he turned mainly against the Arabs and drove them out of their newly conquered Transoxanic principalities ( Sogdia ). For example, he defeated them in 724 on the day they were thirsty in the Ferghana Valley , forced them to retreat over the Syr Darya and repeatedly reached Samarkand in 721-32 .

His reputation among his followers was undermined in old age by the increasing expenses for his wives and his court, as well as by stroke or illness and by tensions with his sons and leaders. In addition, there were the first defeats: in 735/736 one of the usual attacks on the Chinese garrisons (in the jungle and in the Tarim Basin) failed and in 737 he and his Sogdian and Tocharian allies were defeated by the Arabs on their advance on Balkh .

Soon after the defeat, he was murdered by two relatives and rivals. His death led to a repeated power struggle between their two Türgesch clans, whereby by (at the latest) 766 the Karluken established themselves as the new regional power in the Siebenstromland . With him the most important leader of the resistance against the advancing Arabs died.

literature

• Robert G. Hoyland : In God's Path. The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2015, pp. 181 ff.