Amrak was the khan nobody had wanted and everybody could accept. He was Taspar‘s son, and his father, dying in 581, had wished the throne on his nephew Töremen instead; when the assembly at Ötüken refused the wish, it was Ishbara, the lesser khan of the east, who proposed Amrak as the eldest prince and Taspar’s own son, and the delegates accepted.[1] He reigned less than a year.[1]

Election (581)

By the lateral rule of the Göktürk succession the throne should have gone, all Taspar’s brothers being dead, to the eldest man of the next generation; this work makes Amrak that man and notes that he did not press the claim himself. Another account of the same assembly has Amrak, supported by his faction, refuse to give the throne to his cousin Töremen, and Ishbara step in; the two accounts agree that Amrak held the throne first and Ishbara after him, and differ on whose hand moved.[2] The article on the crisis sets out the rule and the objection.

Abdication

Töremen rejected the election and raised his following for a revolt. Amrak, cautious, chose diplomacy: he abdicated, believing that he had thereby averted the revolt, and named Ishbara in his place.[1] The revolt came anyway, and it came against Ishbara. In the settlement that followed, Amrak, located on the Tola river, was proclaimed second khan, with Ishbara supreme at Ötüken and Töremen as Apa Khan.[3] After that the sources lose him. Nothing is recorded of his part in the civil war, of his death, or of any descendants.

Assessment

This work counts Amrak among the four princes who put the khaganate at risk and observes in the same breath that he was the one who tried to give the throne away; the name Amrak is said to be the origin of the modern Turkish name Emre. A khan who abdicated to keep the peace and did not keep it is a small figure in a large story, and the sources treated him as one.

References

  1. ^ a b c Sui Shu (Book of Sui), juan 84
  2. ^ Golden 1992
  3. ^ Sui Shu (Book of Sui), juan 84; Golden 1992

Sources

Literature

  • Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)
  • Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (1992)

Related

What links here8

Persons
Ishbara Khan · Taspar Khan · Töremen Apa
Polities
First Göktürk Khaganate
Conflicts
Civil war, 584–603
Battles & Events
Succession crisis of 581
Institutions and Titles
Töre · Toy

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Amrak.” Turkic Atlas, revised 13 September 2026. https://turkicatlas.business-5d4.workers.dev/persons/amrak/

Last revised: 13 September 2026