Life
Ilterish Qaghan was the founder and first khagan of the Second Turkic Khaganate reigning between 682–692. He won the Göktürk independence war and became first khagan of Second Turkic Khaganate. His real name was Kutluk but he got the name Ilterish (means supreme savior in Turkic) after a kurultai.
Göktürk Independence War
He is one of the greatest warriors in Turkic history. As it knowns, in 630 the Eastern Turkic Khaganate was defeated by the Tang due to wrong policies and a terrible famine before the time of Ilterish Qaghan. Who saved the Turks from this interregnum period that lasted until 682, would be Ilterish Qaghan and his 2 brothers and friend Tonyukuk. We know that there were some unsuccessful wars of independence against the Tang in Asia until the time of Ilterish. Ilterish, Qapaghan, Duoxifu, and Tunyukuk lived in an area in northern China called Chogay Lamb before embarking on the independence war. This independence campaign is described in Orkhon inscriptions as follows: "The Tang emperor, who thought he had so much power, said to destroy the Turkic nation. The Tengri of the Turk above raised Ilterish Qaghan from among the people and made him successful so that the Turkic nation would not perish."
Ilterish was originally a chieftain. It is known that Ilterish started the war of independence with his seventeen soldiers, it is known that the people who heard this came to him from the cities and mountains, and this war started with the support of the Turkic people. It can be seen that the power of Ilterish, which started with a very small amount at the beginning, has increased day by day. The Turkic tribes, who were scattered all around and living on their own, gathered around him as soon as they heard about his struggle and chose him as their khagan. Tunyukuk has a great share in this process. Tunyukuk describes this event as follows:
"Those who stayed here and there were gathered together and there were 700 of them. He said join. I was the one of them who joined. I thought to myself if I should make him a khagan or not. If one sees one weak bull and one strong bull, one cannot distinguish which is weak and which is strong. I myself made him a khagan."
Ilterish and General Tunyukuk raided the Chinese provinces from 681. Turkic horsemen attacked the Chinese borders starting from Ordos with lightning speed. Chinese troops suffered one defeat after another. Many captives, horses, cattle and sheep were captured as booty. Accordingly, between the years 682-687, Ilterish and Tunyukuk made 11 raids against the Tang Dynasty.
Nevertheless, in 683, Ilterish attacked Wei Prefecture and killed its prefect, Li Sijian. When Tang Xiujing's superior, Cui Zhibian the commandant at Feng Prefecture, tried to intercept the qaghan at Mount Zhaona, he was defeated and captured. In response, Emperor Gaozong considered withdrawing from Feng Prefecture and moving its residents to Ling Prefectures. Emperor Gaozong sent Wang, along with Li Chongyi, the commandant at Xia Prefecture, to defend against Göktürk attack, but he also was defeated. In 687, Empress Dowager Wu tried to defend against Göktürk attacks but she also didn't succeded.
While this war was going on, the Tang continued to struggle with Khitan and Uyghurs. But the Tang Dynasty formed an alliance with the Khitan and Uyghurs and took measures against the Göktürks. Meanwhile, an extremely powerful person, Baz Qaghan, had taken over the Uighurs (686); Ilterish learned this through his messengers. From this information, we understand that the Göktürks have an important news network.
Baz Qaghan did not sit idly by. By sending envoys to the Chinese and Khitans, he said: “The Göktürks is marching, their khagans are valiant, their viziers are wise. As long as those two exist, they will kill China and us too. Tang from the south, Khitan from the east, I'll attack from the north. Let the Göktürks never develop. Let's destroy them if possible." Thereupon, Ilterish, Qapaghan, Duoxifu and Tunyukuk were constantly making plans and thinking about how to defeat them. Tunyukuk explains this situation in his Inscriptions as follows: "Hearing this word, I did not sleep at night, I did not sit during the day. Therefore, I told my khagan, "Tang, Uighur and Khtian, if these three come together, we will perish. We seem to be besieged from the inside and the outside." He listened. He told me to lead the army to my heart's content."
After this incident, Ilterish and Tunyukuk set off towards the center of Ötüken. The Göktürk army immediately turned to Orkun Valley. The Tang and Khitans surprisingly left their allies, the Uyghurs, alone. In this war, which took place on the banks of the Togla River, 3000 soldiers of the Uighurs encountered the Göktürk army of 2000 people. The Göktürks won the war. Baz Qaghan was also killed in this war (687).
After that, Ötüken again passed into the hands of the Ashina family, namely the Göktürks. Thus, all the Turkic tribes around came from the east, west, north and south and obeyed the Göktürks again. After rescuing the country and restoring it to its former power, Ilterish Qaghan fell ill and died. In the inscriptions of his son, Bilge Qaghan, he writes about his deeds and death: "My father sent armies 47 times, fought in twenty wars. With will of the Tengri, he made countries countryless, he made the king kingless, he subdued the enemies, made everyone kneel and subdued the rebels. My khagan father gained all this land and customs and died and went to heaven.”
Ilterish is mentioned also in 10 to 12 lines of the Kul-Tigin inscription as follows:
"Then Tengri above and Turkic holy Earth and Water said as follows: In order to Turkic people would not go to ruin and in order to should be a nation again", They rose my father Ilterish Kagan and my mother Ilbilga Katun, to the top and sat them upwards on the throne. My qaghan father gathered together seventeen brave Lords. Tengri gave them power. My father's army was like wolves, their enemies were like sheep."
After Ilterish Qaghan's death, since his sons Bilge and Kül-Tigin were young, his brother Qapaghan ascended the throne in his place.