Life
Turkshad was a Göktürk prince who served as a General on the western wing of the Turkic Khaganate. His father is Istemi Yabgu. He is the brother of Tardu Qaghan. There is not so much information about his wars and detailed life, but there is detailed information about his meetings with the Byzantine envoys. We can say that Turkshad was written in history thanks to these envoy meetings.
Envoys
Byzantine envoys reached Turkshad's war headquarters for negotiations. When Valentinos arrived at Turkshad, he conveyed the greetings of the Byzantine Emperor to him. Byzantine wanted to keep on good terms with the Turkic nobility. Thus, he thought that the alliances made would continue. Since the Byzantines were at war against the Persians, Valentinos in his speech asked Turkshad to help the Byzantines and attack the Persians. Turkshad did not welcomed envoys provoking him for war. Turkshad immediately responded:
“Aren't you the Romans who knew ten languages and only one trick? You have too many languages. The tribes that swore allegiance to me with one and to me with the other. You are already making fun of them after deceiving all the people by resorting to all kinds of talks and sneaky remedies. You know very well how to benefit yourself from every job. Thus, you messengers came to me with your lies, and the one who sent you is equally a liar. Your emperor, on the other hand, will receive the punishment he deserves for claiming to be allied with our enemies while maintaining friendly relations with me. As a tribe that kneels to me, they will of course return to me whenever I want, and they will flee when they see my whip. However, if they oppose us, then they will not be killed by swords, but they will be crushed under my horses and destroyed like ants.” (Turkshad here talks about the tribes that he defeated before, who fought with himself and then fled to Byzantine lands.) Turkshad then continued:
But why did you Romans make my envoys go to Byzantium via the Caucasus and tell me there was no other way they could travel? You did this just so I wouldn't think of attacking the Byzantine Empire because the areas you showed us were tough. But I know very well which roads lead to Byzantine lands and which way our slaves escaped to Byzantine regions. I know your strength very well, for the whole earth is subject to us. You wretches have deceived the peoples of Alan and the tribes of the Unigurs; they stood before the Turkish people with all their courage and confidence in their own strength, but none of their hopes came true. Therefore, they obey us.
That's more or less how Turkshad praised himself. Because he was a man who liked to talk big. But Valentinos of course replied: “If you want to defile your own name by killing the ambassadors, then I would like to die here today by your sword. But if you don't want to kill us, speak to us more helpfully, restrain your anger, Besides, you have inherited the land and destiny from your father. And you have to take good care of what your father left you. Because when your father Istemi voluntarily offered friendship to our state, he wanted to be the friend of the Romans more than the Persians. But I am sure you will do like your father and continue this friendship."
After Valentinos spoke thus, Turkshad said:
"You Romans came and my father had just died and you reminded me of my father again while we were mourning." And he scolded the envoys. While Turkshad was completing his father's funeral, he met Valentinos many times and then sent him to other Turkish khagans and statesmen.
From this ambassador's story, we can understand that Turkshad is a very ambitious and very angry Göktürk prince. He probably fought against the tribes living in the West Asian region and was hostile to the Göktürks and defeated them many times. Our information about Turkshad is limited to these.