but where did the turks come from?

wikipedia - Turkish_peoples

The Turkic peoples are (currently some 150 million) Central Asians whose members speak languages in the Turkic family of languages, and their descendants thoughout the world.

The first mention of the term "Turk" applied to a known Turkic group, was in reference to the Gokturks in the 6th century. A letter by the Chinese Emperor written to the Göktürk Khan named Isbara in 585 described him as "the Great Turk Khan". The Orhun inscriptions (735 AD) use the term "Turuk".

The author M. Adji in the book "'Kypçaks" presents a view typical of Turkish historians. He claims that the Turks first invented iron swords and arrows, were artful horse-riders, and were also the first to invent pants and the bridle. He further asserts that ancient Turkic (or Kypçak) people made an empire that was the biggest in the ancient world, bigger than Greek and Roman empires - from the Black sea on the west to China on the east, and from the Ural mountains on the north to India in the south.

Later Turkic peoples include the Karluks (mainly 8th century), Uyghurs, Kirghiz, Oghuz (or Ğuz) Turks, and Turkmens. As these peoples were founding states in the area between Mongolia and Transoxiana,

Turkic soldiers in the army of the Abbasid caliphs emerged as de facto rulers of most of the Muslim Middle East (except Syria and Egypt), particularly after the 10th century. Oghuz and other tribes captured and dominated various countries under the leadership of the Seljuk dynasty, and eventually captured the territories of the Abbasid dynasty and the Byzantine Empire.

In Central Asia, a Turkic warrior caste whose lifestyle was influenced by the Mongols became the aristocrats of the polyglot Turco-Persian culture. These Turco-Mongols conquered on horseback, while Arabic-schooled Persians (called "Tajiks") served as their administrators over the territories they absorbed. Timur conquered much of Central Asia, while his descendant Babur moved into India, founding the Mughal ("Mongol") dynasty.

As the Seljuks declined after the Mongol invasion, the Ottoman Empire emerged as a new important Turkic state that came to dominate not only the Middle East, but also southeastern Europe and parts of southwestern Russia and northern Africa. Meanwhile, other Turkic groups founded dynasties in northern India (the Mughal Empire).
The Ottoman Empire grew weaker in the face of repeated wars with Russia and Austria, and the emergence of nationalist movements in the Balkans, and it finally gave way after World War I to the present-day republic of Turkey.



As I noted in a previous post, more movement of people, expansion, expulsion, invasion, and emigration.