The Turkish Empire: Bilge's Contributions

Long ago, we had many great empires from all over the world, from the Americas to Asia. One such empire was the Turkish Empire, who had a ruler named Bilge Qaghan. At the time, the Turks weren’t a unified people. That is to say, the empire wasn’t really in existence yet. However, under his authority, the Orkhon inscription were created in Bilge’s own words. This inscription was his attempt to unite the Turkish people under a unified empire and maintain that empire afterwards.
One claim that points to Bilge attempting to do this is with his relationship with the Chinese. He obviously does not care much about the Chinese at all, calling them deceitful and saying they kill the Turkish people in large amounts. He does say the Chinese were great trade partners though, giving them many things. In the inscription he even says, “ They give us gold, silver, and silk in abundance” (Orkhon 3). What this shows is trading with an empire can be seen, as well as an attempt to unite and mobilize people against a common enemy. Trade and army building are both traits of an empire.
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After the great rulers he says came young and unwise rulers who gave up their Turkish titles in favor of the Chinese ones. Eventually people got upset because of this and wondered why it should be they abandoned their Turkish ancestry and their state to essentially fall under complete Chinese control and influence. The Turkish people wanted to be an independent state rather than be dominated by the Chinese. This want for independence is called national self-determination, basically if you want independence then you should get it. The Turkish people felt they should be their own independent state. This is another example of empire building, independence. Every empire is a self-governing entity that doesn’t rely on another state’s authority to dictate all political decisions of that empire, rather that empire’s government does it