Khalaj

The Khalaj are the only people representing a separate branch of the Turkic languages, the Arghu branch. They live in villages between Qom and Arak in Iran's Markazi province. In the Middle Ages Khalaj tribes also played an important role in the history of Afghanistan and India.

Khalaj preserves many features of Old Turkic, such as a word-initial "h" — "hadaq" (foot). In 1968 the German Turkologist Gerhard Doerfer showed that it is a separate Turkic language. Today it is endangered.