…the region known historically as Zhetysu (Kazakh: meaning "seven waters"), which corresponds to the southeastern part of modern Kazakhstan, owes its name, to the rivers that flow from the southeast into Lake Balkhash.

The Karluk tribes, after overrunning the Turgesh in Zhetysu, in 766 form a Khanate under the rule of a Yabgu, occupy Suyab, and transfer their capital there.

The bulk of the tribe has left the Altai by this time, and the supremacy in Zhetysu passes to the Karluks.

Most of Turkestan (former Onuq territory) comes under Karluk rule, except in the region west of the Aral Sea, where the Oghuz Turks will soon form a loose confederation.

The Karluks, who are hunters, nomadic herdsmen, and agriculturists, settle in the countryside and in the cities, which are centered around trading posts along the caravan roads.

The Karluks have inherited a vast multiethnic region, whose diverse population is not much different from its rulers.

Zhetysu is populated by the Turgesh, who are divided into two tribes, the Tukhshi and the Azes mentioned in the Orkhon inscriptions, the remnants of the Oghuz Turks whose main body had moved to the west, becoming the Shato Turks (i.e.

"Steppe Turks"), and interspersed with the Sogdian colonies.