Turkology

Turkology, or Turkic studies, is the interdisciplinary scholarly field devoted to the languages, histories, literatures, cultures, and societies of the Turkic-speaking world. It encompasses linguistics, philology, anthropology, archaeology, and area studies, and covers communities across a broad belt from Eastern Europe and the Caucasus through Central Asia to Siberia and parts of the Middle East. The central focus is the Turkic language family, which includes Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Uzbek, Turkmen, Kyrgyz, Tatar, Bashkir, Uyghur, and many others.

Subfields include historical and comparative linguistics (phonology, grammar, lexicon of Turkic languages), philology and manuscript studies, ethnography and folklore, literary history, and the archaeology and history of Turkic-speaking states and empires. The field also addresses contemporary issues such as language planning, education, and identity in Turkic-speaking communities.

Turkology developed in the 18th–19th centuries within European and Russian Orientalism and later became established in universities and research institutes across Eurasia. Notable early figures include Vasily Bartold, who advanced studies of Turkic history and Islam, and Nicolas Poppe, who produced influential grammars and descriptive studies of several Turkic languages. Today, major centers exist in Turkey, Russia, Central Asia, and Europe, with universities and institutes dedicated to Turkic studies, as well as national academies in Turkey and the former Soviet states.

Typical methods combine philology, manuscript criticism, and linguistic fieldwork with archaeology and ethnography, using a mix of historical sources and modern data to trace language development and cultural exchange along the Eurasian steppe.