The Az or As were a Turkic people from the Eastern and Southern Altai and are associated with the Türkic periodNikita Konstantinov, Vasilii Soenov, Synaru Trifanova, Svetlana Svyatko, "History and culture of the early Türkic period: A review of archaeological monuments in the Russian Altai from the 4th–6th century AD", Archaeological Research in Asia, Volume 16, 2018, Pages 103-115, , . (PDF)Ciro Lo Muzio, "Archaeological Traces of Early Turks in Transoxiana: An Overview", 2010, in: Coins, Art and Chronology II. The First Millennium CE in the Indo-Iranian Borderlands, edited by M. Alram, D. Klimburg-Salter, M. Inaba, M. Pfisterer, Vienna, pp. 429-442. Kudyrge cultureGleb V. Kubarev, "A Runic Inscription at Kalbak-Tash II, Central Altai, with Reference to the Location of the Az Tribe*", Novosibirsk State University. In: Archaeology Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 44(4):92-101. 2016. (PDF) in the Altai. According to L.P. Potapov, the names of the Telengit seoks (Tёrtas – “four As”, Djeti-as – “seven As”, Baylangas – “numerous As”) suggest that the As tribe was a part of the Turkic Tiele, and is certainly connected with the modern-day Altai population. The As left the runic Kalbak-Tash II inscription which was written in Turkic language.
Their existence is confirmed by the Tannu-Ola mountains inscriptions of Mugur-Sargol and Bayan-Kol and certain verses of the Göktürks, while describing the battles between the Göktürks and the Kyrgyz. According to the Bayan-Kol inscriptions, the As were divided to many clans living in the region of Mugur west of the Tannu-Ola mountains. There are also writings from the 8th century (around 714 AD) in Uyghur sources about the uprising of the As against the Göktürks.
Name Research has also been done by Russian linguist experts who trace them as close ethnically to Ket people of Yenisei basin in Siberia due to similarities in name between Old Turkic 𐰔𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣 As budun and the Assans, an extinct Yeniseic Kott dialect, but without solid proof.BARTHOLD Wilhelm, 12 Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der Türken Mittelasiens, Berlin, Arthur Collignon, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Islamkunde, 1935, p37 The primary information on their language was collected by Matthias Castrén in 1845, with further research and information added later by the anthropologist Dmitry Anuchin.
Meanwhile, within Vasily Abaev's Alans framework, the As were also hypothesized by pro-Iranist scholars to be Turkicized descendants of alleged Iranian-speakers, particularly Asiani-Wusun,Golden, P.B. (1992) "An Introduction to the History of the Turkic peoples" Turcologica 9. p. 53Kubrev, G.V. "A Runic Inscription at Kalbak-Tash II, Central Altai, with Reference to the Location of the Az Tribe" in Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 44/4 (2016). p. 97-98 of 92–101 of which the Wusun evidently had a Turkic-Altaic language.Penglin Wang, Central Asiatic Journal Vol. 39, No. 2 (Harrassowitz 1995), p.176 In order to connect the As with non-Turkic tribes, supporters of the Iranian theory claim that the As only used Turkic language for writing, not for speaking.
The name As has been suggested to live on in the names of several other peoples of southern Siberia: the Kamas ("Mountain As"), the Karagas ("Black As" or "Plains As"), and the Khakas ("White As").Simoncsics, Péter. 1998. "Kamassian". The Uralic Languages, ed. Daniel Abondolo, pp. 580–601. Similar names of genealogical nature are ascertainable among modern and historical Turkic tribes: Old Bulgars, Nogais, Altaians, Turkmens, Uzbeks, Kazan Tatars and Kazakhs.Ismail Miziulu, Adilhan Appa, "Tarih Halkin Zenginliğidir", bilig-7/Güz 1998, p.27
A wide toponymic distribution of the name As, Az and Ash is found in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Central Asia and Altai region.Hajiyeva Galiba, "Toponimys with ancient Turk origins in the Balkans", Nakhchivan State University, IBAC 2012 vol.2, pp.270-272
Mentions The Az peopls's existence is confirmed by the Tannu-Ola mountains inscriptions of Mugur-Sargol and Bayan-Kol and certain verses of the Göktürks, while describing the battles between the Göktürks and the Kyrgyz. According to the Bayan-Kol inscriptions, the Az were divided to many clans living in the region of Mugur west of the Tannu-Ola mountains. There are also writings from the 8th century (around 714 AD) in Uyghur sources about the uprising of the Az against the Göktürks.
Origins The origin of the Az is disputed; but most researchers agree that they are without much doubt a people of non-Turkic origin who were influenced by neighboring Turkic people and became Turkophones.
Most research has been done by Russian linguist experts who trace them as close ethnically to Ket people of Yenisei basin in Siberia due to similarities in name between and the Assans, who spoke an extinct Yeniseic Kott dialect.BARTHOLD Wilhelm, 12 Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der Türken Mittelasiens, Berlin, Arthur Collignon, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Islamkunde, 1935, p37 The primary information on their language was collected by Matthias Castrén in 1845, with further research and information added later by the anthropologist Dmitry Anuchin. Meanwhile, Az were also hypothesized to be Turkicized descendants of the Iranian-speakers, particularly Asiani-Wusun.Golden, P.B. (1992) "An Introduction to the History of the Turkic peoples" Turcologica 9. p. 53Kubrev, G.V. "A Runic Inscription at Kalbak-Tash II, Central Altai, with Reference to the Location of the Az Tribe" in Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 44/4 (2016). p. 97-98 of 92–101
Legacy The name Az has been suggested to live on in the names of several other peoples of southern Siberia: the Kamas ("Mountain Az"), the Karagas ("Black Az" or "Plains Az"), and the Khakas ("White Az").Simoncsics, Péter. 1998. "Kamassian". The Uralic Languages, ed. Daniel Abondolo, pp. 580–601. However, Khakas is in fact an exonym constructed by the Soviets for Yenisei Kyrgyz' descendants, based on , which actually transcribes the ancient endonym Kyrgyz.
References
Sources Saadettin Gömeç: İslâm Öncesi Türk Tarihinin Kaynakları Üzerine. In: AÜ Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Tarih Bölümü Tarih Araştırmaları Dergisi, Bd. 20, Nr. 31, 2000, S. 51–92 (72f.)