The Khazars

The name Kuzarim (Khazars) was given to a Turkic tribe that entered world history and in a few centuries disappeared from history without leaving a trace, after converting to Judaism. It seems it was the Chinese who, telling the history of the Turks of the 6th century of our era, said that the descendants of the Sabirs, a branch of the 'Celestial Turks' (Göktürk), settled north of the Black Sea and for the first time used the name Khazar. The Sabirs are the ones who gave the name Siberia to the region so called. It is believed there are different explanations for the root of the name Kuzari or Khazar. Some say Kuzari comes from the Turkish word 'gezmek', meaning to wander (going from one place to another without settling, göçebe, gezer). Another meaning of the word 'kaz' is a person who is not tall and has slanted eyes (like the Chinese, çekik gözlü). The word Khazar, which in Russian is 'Kazar' and in Hungarian 'Huszár', means 'horseman', one who rides a horse. In Turkish we call the Caspian Sea Hazar Gölü — probably because the Khazars settled beside the Caspian, as far as the north of the Black Sea, dominating a large part of today's Ukraine.

Certain historians claim that the Georgians are descendants of the Khazars who converted to the Orthodox Christian religion. As part of the 'Celestial Turks' (Göktürk) branch, they helped the Byzantines against the Sassanids, the Iranians of the time. It was in the year 630 that they formed an independent state and advanced considerably into the region of the Caucasus (Kafkas), taking over the Crimean peninsula too. Khosrow I, the shah of Iran, said: 'There are three other empires like mine: the Chinese empire, the Roman (Byzantine) empire, and the Khazar empire.' Relations with the Byzantines became so good that in the year 732 a Khazar princess named Chichek married Constantine, the son of the emperor Leo, and took the name Irene, which means 'Peace'. The son they had came to the throne of the Byzantine empire under the name Leo IV, or 'Leo the Khazar', whom we see in the mosaic above the imperial door of Santa Sophia in Constantinople (Istanbul). This intimate relationship meant that the Khazars and the Byzantines fought together against the Arabs so that they would not approach this city.

The Khazars managed to be the strongest and most powerful state of eastern Europe until the 11th century, and then began to decline. The reasons for the decline were that the economy and the internal unity of the country broke down, the attacks of the Russians became more frequent and damaging, the capacity of the Turks to be 'a military nation' weakened, and when the Byzantines saw that the Khazars no longer had the same strength and power, the friendship they had for them turned into friendship with the Russians, and from friends they became enemies. The Khazars left no literature, and we have no idea of the language they spoke. Today academics think it must have been a language mixed from Hungarian, Bulgarian and Turkish. Correspondence was generally in Greek, in Arabic and sometimes in Hebrew. Unlike the authentic Turkic tribes, which were military, they were more interested in commerce, in handwork, in agriculture. Having Turkic roots, they did not entirely abandon the characteristic of the peoples of Central Asia of being nomadic (göçebe). The great majority lived in cities in winter and went, when spring came, to the high pastures to spend the summer in tents (çadır) of felt (keçe). One word in Khazar that is pronounced 'hukurim' means 'okurum': 'I read'. It is said that the Karaites of Crimea and Poland spoke Khazar.

The head of state was called 'Kagan'. The title of Kagan passed from father to son and had to belong to the dynasty of Asena, the mythological name of the mother wolf who began this dynasty. It was believed that the Kagan had divine power. But if a drought came or a war was lost, the Kagan was responsible, and he could often be executed by decision of the council of elders. The Kagan's wife was almost his equal and was called 'Hatun'. As they were good soldiers, there were many Khazars in the palaces of the Byzantines, the Abbasids and the Sassanids as loyal guards. Like the other Turkic tribes, the Khazars too gave a divine character to the day, the night, the sun, the earth, the sky — to almost everything. The rulers and those around them adopted the religion of Moses our Teacher, but among the people some adopted the Orthodox Christian religion and others the Muslim religion. So the religion of the state was Judaism, but they left full freedom to those who practised the other monotheistic religions.

It is said there were two groups of Khazars: one very handsome, with blue eyes and fair hair, and the other made up of dark people with black hair. It seems the handsome ones were the rulers, those on top, and the dark ones those below, the people. According to the famous historian and traveller al-Masudi, who lived in Iraq in the 10th century, there were 7 judges in Itil, the Khazar capital: one judged those who believed in the Sky God, two judged the cases of the Christians, two more those of the Jews, and the other two judged the cases of the Muslims. Judaism developed among them mainly under the Kagans Bulan and Ovadya. The economy was commerce. They exported furs, honey, wheat flour, slaves and something much prized, the swords they made. As they were on the Silk Road, they collected taxes from the caravans that passed through their lands and from the ships that passed through their waters. They also collected a fixed tax from the peoples they protected. Being of nomadic roots, they were experts at tending livestock — sheep, goats, cows and camels. On the silver coins they minted, called 'yarmak', they wrote in Arabic on one side 'Arz al-Khazar', 'Land of the Khazars', and on the other 'Musa Rasul Allah', 'Moses, messenger of God'.

A discussion still not settled is the theory that the Ashkenazim are the descendants of the Khazars, and that Yiddish arose in Crimea — a debate with many controversies. Some say yes, others say no. Another theory says that the word Ashkenazi was first found in the east of Turkey. We believe that one day science will give us the right answer. Source: Wikipedia