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The Gokturks, who originated from the Ashina tribe who were natives of today's Xiang Uygur , were the first Turkic tribe to use the name "Turk" as a political name.

The state's most famous personalities other than its founder Bumin are princes Kul Tigin and Bilge and the vizier Tonyukuk, whose life stories were carved on the famous Orkhon inscriptions.

With the collapse of Hunnish power in Asia, leadership of the Turks was taken over by the Gokturks, who inherited their traditions and administrative experience. From 552 to 745, Gokturkish leadership bound together the nomadic Turkish tribes into an empire, which finally fell to internal conflicts and to defeats by China. The kingdom received missionaries from the Buddhists, Manicheans, and Nestorian Christians, but remained primarily shamanistic.

The great difference between the Gokturkish empire and its Hunnish predecessor was that the Gokturks' temporary Khans (lords) were subordinate to a sovereignSovereignty is the exclusive right to exercise supreme authority over a geographic region or group of people, such as a nation or a tribe. Sovereignty is generally vested in a government or other political agency, though there are cases where it is held b authority that was left in the hands of a dynastyA dynasty is a family or extended family which retains political power across generations, or more generally, any organization which extends dominance in its field even as its particular members change. See also: family dictatorship. China was ruled by a of tribal chiefs.

The Gokturks wrote their language in a runic script. See Gokturk Runes.

In 552, Tuman defeated the last Rouran Khan, A-na-kuei . Tuman's brother Istämi († 576) collaborated with the PersiaPersia is the historical name for the state of Iran. The name was used in the West due to the ancient Greek name for Iran, Persis''. Persia is used to describe the nation of Iran, its people, or its ancient empire. The name Persia comes from a province inn Sassanids to defeat and destroy the White Huns, which drove the Avars into Europe. Both rival state in north China paid large tributes to the Gokturks from 581.

This first Gokturkish empire split in two after the death of the last of Tuman's sons (circa 584). These were successfully played off against each other by Sui and Tang Dynasty China. The Eastern Khanate became formally subordinate to the Chinese Emperor; the Western Khan of that time was Istämi's son Tardu, who almost succeeded in reuniting the Gokturkish empire around 600. However, Chinese diplomacy incited a revolt of his vassals, and Tardu's life and reign were cut short in 603.

New attacks on China by the Turks of the Eastern Khanate failed, and its Khan Hsien was brought down by a revolt of his vassals ( 626- 630), instigated by Emperor Tanng Taizong, who took him prisoner. The Western Khan Tung Sche-hu was murdered in 630 despite strong support by the Byzantines against the Persians. By 659 the Tang Emperor of China could claim to rule the entire Silk Road as far as Po-sse (Persia). The Turks now carried Chinese titles and fought by their side in their wars.

Nonetheless, Ilteriş Şad (Idat) and his brother Bäkçor Qapagan Khan (Mo-ch'o) managed to found a new realm of "wild" Turks, which in a series of wars from 681 onward gained control of the steppes beyond the Great Wall of China, extending by 705 to threaten Arab control of Transoxiana. Their power centered at the Changai Mountains (then: Ötükän). The son of Ilteriş, Bilge, was also a strong leader, but at his death in 734, the empire declined. They ultimately fell to a series of internal crises and renewed Chinese campaigns. After Kutluk (Ko-lo) Khan 's military victory in 744, the successors to the Gokturks became their more China-friendly junior partners, known as the Uighurs.