The Second Turkic Khaganate (682-744)

After fifty years of Tang rule, in 682 Qutlugh of the Ashina line rose up with a small band of warriors and took the throne as Ilterish Khagan. His closest adviser was the wise Tonyukuk. Together they reunited the Turkic tribes and won back Ötüken.

Ilterish's brother Qapaghan Khagan (691-716) greatly enlarged the state, and Turkic armies reached the Iron Gate in the west. Under Bilge Khagan (716-734) and his brother, the commander Kül Tigin, the khaganate reached its height. Bilge Khagan chose peace with China, yet warned his people against moving to Chinese cities and forgetting their homeland.

Kül Tigin died in 731 and Bilge Khagan was poisoned in 734. The stones raised in their memory and the inscription of Tonyukuk are the first great written texts in a Turkic language. After Bilge Khagan the throne was fought over, and in 744 an alliance of Uyghurs, Basmyls and Karluks killed the last khagan; Ötüken passed to the Uyghurs.