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{{Infobox monarch
| name = Kül-chor
| title = [[Khagan]] of the [[Turgesh]]
| image =
| caption =
| reign = 739–744
| birth_name =
| native_lang1 =
| native_lang1_name1 = Baga Tarkhan
| birth_date =
| birth_place =
| death_date = 744
| death_place =
| predecessor = [[Kut-chor]]
| successor =
| religion =
}}
'''Kül-chor''', known in Arabic sources as '''Kūrṣūl''' (كورصول) and identified with the '''Baga Tarkhan''' of the Chinese records, was one of the main [[Turgesh]] leaders under the ''[[khagan]]'' [[Suluk (Turgesh khagan)|Suluk]]. His is chiefly known for his role in the Turgesh wars against the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] in [[Transoxiana]], and for being responsible for the murder of Suluk in 738, precipitating the collapse of Turgesh power. After eliminating his rivals, he rose to become ''khagan'' himself, but soon fell out with his [[Tang Dynasty|Chinese]] backers and was defeated and executed in 744. Some Arabic sources, however, record that he was killed by the Arabs in 739.

==Origin==
Along with the ''khagan'' himself—[[Suluk (Turgesh khagan)|Suluk Chabish-chor]] or Su-Lu of the Chinese sources—Kül-chor, or "Kūrṣūl al-Turqashī" in Arabic, is one of only two Turgesh leaders to be mentioned by name in the Arab sources of the period.{{sfn|Sinor|Klyashtorny|1996|p=346}}{{sfn|Kennedy|2007|p=277}} Kül-chor, usually identified with the ''Baga [[Tarkhan]]'' ([[pinyin]]: ''Mohe dagan quelü chuo'') of Chinese sources, was the leader of a small Turkic tribe, known in the Chinese sources as Chu Muguen, living south of [[Lake Balkash]] between Turgesh and [[Karluks|Qarluq]] lands.{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=115}}{{sfn|Gibb|1923|p=91}}{{sfn|Skaff|2012|pp=180, 386}}

==Wars against the Arabs==
{{further|Muslim conquest of Transoxiana}}
Kül-chor first appears in spring 721, when, following the calls for aid of the [[Soghdia]]n princes of [[Transoxiana]] against the expansion of the [[Umayyad Caliphate]], he was sent to lead the first Turgesh attack on the Umayyad Arabs. Despite a [[Relief of Qasr al-Bahili|setback at the fortress of Qasr al-Bahili]], Kül-chor proceeded to raid deep into Transoxiana, mostly with the aid of the local population and their princes. [[Samarkand]], which was too strong to be assaulted, was bypassed, but when at long last the unwarlike Umayyad governor, Sa'id al-Khudhayna, marched to meet him, Kül-chor inflicted a heavy defeat on the Arabs, and forced Sa'id to confine himself in the neighbourhood of Samarkand. Despite their success, however, the whole operation seems to have been, in the words of [[H.A.R. Gibb]], "little more than a [[reconnaissance in force]] combined with a raiding expedition", and the Turgesh withdrew soon after, allowing the new Arab governor, [[Sa'id ibn Amr al-Harashi]], to brutally suppress the local rebels and re-impose Arab authority on most of the region.{{sfn|Blankinship|1994|pp=125–126}}{{sfn|Gibb|1923|pp=61–62}}{{sfn|Kennedy|2007|p=278}} Kül-chor appears again in the [[Siege of Kamarja]] in 729, when he was one of the high-ranking Turgesh hostages given to the Arab garrison of Kamarja as guarantee of safe passage.{{sfn|Kennedy|2007|p=284}}{{sfn|Blankinship|1989|pp=60ff.}}

In December 737, Suluk suffered a personal defeat in the [[Battle of Kharistan]], which greatly diminished his prestige. Kül-chor had him assassinated, probably with backing from the [[Tang Dynasty|Chinese]], who had a history of troubled relations with Suluk.{{sfn|Gibb|1923|p=85}}{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=115}} As a result, the Turgesh khaganate broke up into two warring factions, the "Yellow" and "Black", which struggled for power over the next two decades.{{sfn|Sinor|Klyashtorny|1996|p=346}} The ensuing collapse of Turgesh power meant the disappearance of "the last great Turkish confederation in Western Asia for more than two centuries to come" (Gibb), leaving the path open for the Arabs to impose their rule on Transoxiana.{{sfn|Gibb|1923|p=85}}

==Usurpation and death==
Kül-chor and his faction allied with the Chinese general [[Gai Jiayun]] against Suluk's son and successor, Kut-chor, or Tuhuoxian in Chinese sources. Aided by his Transoxianian allies from [[Ishkand]], [[Tashkent|Shash]] and [[Ferghana Valley|Ferghana]], in 739 Kül-chor defeated and captured his rival at [[Suyab]]. Soon after, Kül-chor was acclaimed as ''khagan'' and Kut-chor was put to death.{{sfn|Sinor|Klyashtorny|1996|p=346}}{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=115}}{{sfn|Barthold|1956|p=85}} Already from the beginning of his reign, Kül-chor's relation with his Chinese overlords was strained, as the Chinese court supported a candidate of its own, [[Ashina]] Xin, for the khaganate. In the event, Kül-chor drove off Ashina Xin and assumed the khaganate, forcing the Chinese to recognize the ''[[fait accompli]]''.{{sfn|Skaff|2012|p=180}} Soon however Kül-chor broke with the Chinese altogether, and in 742 he had Ashina Xin assassinated. As a result, in 744 the Chinese general [[Fumeng Lingcha]] campaigned against Kül-chor, defeated and executed him.{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=115}}{{sfn|Gibb|1923|p=91}} After this, Turgesh power continued to decline amid internecine warfare, until, in 766, the Qarluqs killed the last Turgesh ''khagans'' and supplanted them as masters of the region of [[Semirechye]].{{sfn|Sinor|Klyashtorny|1996|p=346}}

Later Arab sources on the other hand attribute Kül-chor's capture and execution to the last Umayyad governor of [[Khurasan]], [[Nasr ibn Sayyar]], in 739. Gibb, however, argues that if he is to be identified with Baga Tarkhan, this cannot possibly be true, and that this tale is probably an exaggerated re-telling of the actual capture and execution of another, lesser Turkish leader by Nasr.{{sfn|Gibb|1923|p=91}}{{sfn|Hillenbrand|1989|pp=23, 25–27}}{{sfn|Blankinship|1994|pp=183–184}}

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== Sources ==
* {{cite book|last=Barthold|first=V. V.|authorlink=Vasily Bartold|title=Four Studies on the History of Central Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=McYUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA11 |year=1956 |publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|oclc=6132625| ref=harv}}
* {{cite book | title=The History of Al-Tabari, Vol. XXV, The End of Expansion: The Caliphate of Hisham A.D. 724–738/A.H. 105–120 | editor-last=Blankinship| editor-first=Khalid Yahya | editor-link= Khalid Yahya Blankinship | year = 1989 | publisher = State University of New York Press | location = Albany, NY | isbn = 0-88706-569-4 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Mzz3raVuGg0C | ref=harv}}
* {{cite book | title=The End of the Jihâd State: The Reign of Hishām ibn ʻAbd al-Malik and the Collapse of the Umayyads | first = Khalid Yahya | last = Blankinship | authorlink=Khalid Yahya Blankinship | publisher = State University of New York Press | location = Albany, NY | year = 1994 | isbn = 978-0-7914-1827-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jz0Yy053WS4C| ref=harv}}
* {{cite book | title = The Arab Conquests in Central Asia | first = H. A. R. | last = Gibb | authorlink = H.A.R. Gibb | publisher = The Royal Asiatic Society | location = London | year= 1923 | url=https://archive.org/details/arabconquestsinc00gibbuoft|oclc=499987512| ref=harv}}
* {{cite book | title = The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia | first = René | last = Grousset | authorlink = René Grousset| publisher = Rutgers University Press | location = New Brunswick, NJ | year = 1970 | isbn = 0-8135-1304-9 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CHzGvqRbV_IC| ref=harv}}
* {{cite book | title=The History of Al-Tabari, Vol. XXVI. The Waning of the Umayyad Caliphate: Prelude to Revolution, A.D. 738–744 / A.H. 121–126 | editor-first=Carole | editor-last = Hillenbrand | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MxTWmfKEloAC | year = 1989 | publisher = State University of New York Press | location = Albany, NY | isbn = 0-88706-810-3 | ref=harv}}
* {{cite book | title = The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In | last = Kennedy | first = Hugh N. | authorlink = Hugh N. Kennedy | location = Philadelphia, PA | publisher = Da Capo Press | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-0-306-81740-3 | ref=harv}}
* {{cite book | chapter = The Türk Empire | first1 = D. | last1 = Sinor | first2 = S. G. | last2 = Klyashtorny | pages = 327–348 | editor-first = B. A. | editor-last = Litvinsky | title = History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume III: The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750 | location = Paris | publisher = UNESCO Publishing | year = 1996 | isbn = 92-3-103211-9 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=883OZBe2sMYC&pg=PA327#v=onepage&q&f=false| ref=harv}}
* {{cite book | title = Sui-Tang China and Its Turko-Mongol Neighbors: Culture, Power, and Connections, 580–800 | first = Jonathan Karam | last = Skaff | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2012 | isbn = 0199734135 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qTm6Yka5GigC| ref=harv}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kul-chor}}
[[Category:744 deaths]]
[[Category:Turgesh]]
[[Category:8th-century rulers in Asia]]
[[Category:Turkic rulers]]
[[Category:Muslim conquest of Transoxiana]]
[[Category:People executed by the Tang dynasty by decapitation]]
[[Category:History of Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:8th-century Turkic people]]

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