Towards the end of the 11th century, in Divânü Lügat'it-Türk (Compendium of the Turkic Dialects), Mahmud Kashgari uses "Türkmen" synonymously with "Oguz". He describes Oghuz as a Turkic tribe and says that Oghuz and Karluks were both known as Turkmens.

The origins of the Turkic peoples has been a topic of much discussion, but evidence points either to a homeland in South Central Siberia,