King of the first state with a Turk in its name: Who is Bilge Kagan?
With his monument, it was revealed that the Turks are a deep-rooted people with a written culture:
(683-734) Gokturk khan. He had the Orkhon inscriptions, one of the oldest examples of the Turkish language, erected. He is the eldest son of İltariş Kağan, who realized the second revival of the Göktük state in 681, and his mother is İlbilge Hatun. He was born in 683, according to some sources, in 684, and died in 734. He grew up with his younger brother, Kültikin, a year younger than him.
Bilge Qaghan (683 – 25 November 734) was the fourth Qaghan of the Second Turkic Khaganate. His accomplishments were described in the Orkhon inscriptions.
He was 8 years old when his wise father died (691). He was brought up during the reign of his uncle, Kapagan Khan, and when he was 14 years old, he became shad (administrator) over the Tardush in the right (west) wing. Thus, Bilge took charge in the administration of the Göktürk state after 697 and participated in most of the wars during the Kapağan Kagan period. During this period, he made a total of twenty-five campaigns and fought thirteen times.
He joined the army, which defeated the Turgish in Bolçu, in 698, just after he became Shad. The Türgiş were defeated and joined to the Göktürks. Then the Az tribe came under the rule of Gokturk. That year, he made an expedition against the Kyrgyz. They also joined the Göktürks. Thus, in a short time, various Turkish tribes, from the Kadırgan Forest in the east to the Aral tribes Kengü-Tarban in the west, joined the Göktürk state.
Sage joined the expedition against the Tanguts in 70Q. By defeating them, he took a lot of war booty. Among them were herds of horses, which were very important to the enemy.
In 701, he went on an expedition to the land of Sogdia. The Chinese helped the Sogdaks during this campaign against the Six Chub Sogdak tribes in the inscriptions. That's why he also fought with the Chinese army. Again in these years, a Gokturk army reached Demirkapi around Samarkand. Bilge fought the Basmıls in 702-703. The reason for this war was that Basmıls did not send a caravan. War was declared immediately against this behavior, which led to the economic weakening of the country. Basmıls were defeated and their dependence on Göktürks was reinforced.
When the Göktürk-Chinese relations became tense in 704-705, Bilge Kagan marched on China. In this great expedition, his brother Cult also showed significant usefulness.
The most important event of these years is the uprising of the Dokuz-oğuzlar. Starting from the end of 714, he had to fight the Dokuz-Oguz, one of the most important supporters of the Gokturks.
In the last years of Bilge Kağan, the Göktürks lived quite comfortably. However, the struggle against the Oghuz continued from place to place. Meanwhile, his brother Kültikin died at the age of 47 on February 27, 731. The death of his brother, who was his biggest helper, shook Bilge a lot. As a matter of fact, he himself says, "as soon as I saw it, my mind seemed to know it." He had a monument-kurgan built for his brother and had an inscription erected.
Bilge Kagan was poisoned by Meilu-ç'o (Buyruk-çor), the khanate minister and Chinese ambassador, in late 734. Until the poison took effect, he eliminated his poisoner and his collaborators. He died on 25 November 734. He was buried with a ceremony in the monument curve prepared on June 22, 735. On top of it was an inscription written by his nephew Yolıgtım, describing his life in his own words.
Bilge's two sons, who were successively khan after him, are known. These are the Turkish Bilge Kagan and Tengrihan, who are referred to as I-Jen in Chinese sources.
As a wise person, he was tolerant and docile. Although he had a military aspect, he transferred the military powers to his brother Kultikin during his khanate and attributed all his military achievements to him in the inscriptions.
He understood the importance of trade because he knew that the products grown in his country were not enough for his people. This is why the cessation of trade led to wars many times. It can be said that the development of agriculture and trade in the country and the increase in welfare led Bilge to the idea of moving to a settled life.
Bilge is also important in terms of creating the first great texts of Turkish literature by keeping the grave inscriptions long, which were quite short in the Göktürks. Thus, it also influenced Turkish and Turkish literature, leaving important documents to the later Turks in terms of both history and language.