Editing Khazars (section)

=== Tribal origins and early history ===
The tribes{{efn|group=note|"The word ''tribe'' is as troublesome as the term ''clan''. It is commonly held to denote a group, like the clan, claiming descent from a common (in some culture zones eponymous) ancestor, possessing a common territory, economy, language, culture, religion, and sense of identity. In reality, tribes were often highly fluid sociopolitical structures, arising as 'ad hoc responses to ephemeral situations of competition,' as Morton H. Fried has noted." {{harv|Golden|2001b|p=78}}}} that were to comprise the Khazar empire were not an ethnic union, but a congeries of steppe nomads and peoples who came to be subordinated, and subscribed to a core Turkic leadership.{{sfn|Whittow|1996|pp=220–223}} Many Turkic groups, such as the [[Oghur languages|Oğuric peoples]], including [[Saragurs|Šarağurs]], Oğurs, [[Onogurs|Onoğurs]], and [[Bulgars|Bulğars]] who earlier formed part of the [[Tiele people|Tiele (Tiělè) confederation]], are attested quite early, having been driven West by the [[Sabir people|Sabirs]], who in turn fled the [[Pannonian Avars|Asian Avars]], and began to flow into the [[Volga Region|Volga]]–[[Caspian Depression|Caspian]]–[[Pontus (region)|Pontic]] zone from as early as the 4th century CE and are recorded by [[Priscus]] to reside in the Western Eurasian steppe lands as early as 463.{{sfn|Golden|2007a|p=14}}{{sfn|Szádeczky-Kardoss|1994|p=206}} They appear to stem from Mongolia and South Siberia in the aftermath of the fall of the [[Huns|Hunnic]]/[[Xiongnu|Xiōngnú]] nomadic polities. A variegated tribal federation led by these Turks, probably comprising a complex assortment of [[Indo-Iranians|Iranian]],{{efn|group=note|Dieter Ludwig, in his doctoral thesis {{lang|de|Struktur und Gesellschaft des Chazaren-Reiches im Licht der schriftlichen Quellen}}, (Münster, 1982) suggested that the Khazars were Turkic members of the [[Hephthalite Empire]], where the lingua franca was a variety of Iranian ({{harvnb|Golden|2007a|pp=40–41}}; {{harvnb|Brook|2010|p=4}}).}} [[Mongols|proto-Mongolic]], [[Uralic languages|Uralic]], and [[Paleosiberian languages|Palaeo-Siberian]] clans, vanquished the [[Rouran Khaganate]] of the hegemonic central Asian Avars in 552 and swept westwards, taking in their train other steppe nomads and peoples from [[Sogdiana]].{{sfn|Golden|2006|p=86}}

The ruling family of this confederation may have hailed from the [[Ashina tribe|Āshǐnà clan]] of the [[Western Turkic Khaganate]],{{sfn|Pritsak|1978|p=261}}{{sfn|Golden|2007a|p=53}}{{sfn|Golden|2007c|p=165}} although [[Constantine Zuckerman]] regards Ashina and their pivotal role in the formation of the Khazars with scepticism.{{efn|group=note|"The reader should be warned that the A-shih-na link of the Khazar dynasty, an old phantom of ... Khazarology, will ... lose its last claim to reality" {{harv|Zuckerman|2007|p=404}}.}} Golden notes that Chinese and Arabic reports are almost identical, making the connection a strong one, and conjectures that their leader may have been [[Irbis Seguy|Yǐpíshèkuì]], who lost power or was killed around 651.{{sfn|Golden|2006|p=89}} Moving west, the confederation reached the land of the [[Akatziroi]],{{efn|group=note|In this view, the name Khazar would derive from a hypothetical *Aq Qasar {{harv|Golden|2006|pp=89–90}}: e.g. Pritsak (1978) links ''Ak-Katzirs'' (< {{lang|grc|Άκατζίροι}}) to the name [[Khazar]], though he explains that the polity was named Khazar because the Ashina-ruled [[Western Turkic Khaganate|Western Turks]], after [[Conquest of the Western Turks|losing their territories to Tang Chinese]], took over the territory formerly occupied by the Akatziri ({{harvnb|Pritsak|1978|p=261}}). However, the hypothesized link between the Akatizoi and the Khazars was not solid, being based on mere phonetic resemblance ({{harvnb|Golden|2011b|p=136}}, {{harvnb|Brook|2006|p=10}}).}} who had been important allies of Byzantium in fighting off [[Attila]]'s army.