Tonyukuk

Tonyukuk (Bilge Tonyukuk) was the vizier and commander of three khagans: Ilterish, Kapgan and Bilge. In 682 he and Ilterish launched the struggle for independence, and he played a decisive role in founding the Second Göktürk Khaganate.

His inscription, carved on two stones at Bain Tsokto near Ulaanbaatar, was written in the 720s during his own lifetime and is considered the oldest of the Orkhon texts. In it Tonyukuk tells, in the first person, of his campaigns and of how the state was reborn.

Its best-known piece of wisdom explains the strength of unity: "what is thin is easy to break, what is thick is hard". Tonyukuk is remembered in Turkic political thought as the model of a far-sighted statesman.