# Terken Khatun (wife of Ala al-Din Tekish)

Terken Khatun (Persian: ترکان خاتون) was the Empress of the Khwarazmian Empire by marriage to Shah Ala al-Din Tekish, and the mother and de facto co-ruler of Muhammad II of the Khwarazmian Empire.

## Background

Terken Khatun was the Qipchaq khan's daughter. She was from either the Qangli or the Bayandur tribe of the Kimek. According to Jalal al-Din Mangburni's biographer Shihab al-Din Muhammad al-Nasawi, the majority of her son Ala al-Din Muhammad's top commanders were from Terken Khatun's tribe, and the need to attach them to his side was one reason why the Shah lent so heavily on his mother for advice.

## De facto co-ruler and reign as potential ruler

After the death of her husband, 'Ala' al-Din Tekish (1172–1200), she so dominated the court of their son, 'Ala' al-Din Muhammad II (1200–20) – one historian termed the relationship between the Shah and his mother as 'an uneasy diarchy', which often acted to Muhammad's disadvantage. She quarreled so bitterly with his heir by another wife, Jalal al-Din, that she may have contributed to the impotence of the Khwarazmian Empire in the face of the Mongol onslaught. Turkan Khatun even had the laqab: "the Ruler of the World" (Khudavand-e Jahaan), and another one for her decrees: "Protector of peace and faith, Turkan the Great, the ruler of women of both worlds." She had a separate Diwan (state apparatus) and a palace and had and managed her fiefs in a huge area as much as her son, and had her own vizier and guard commander to carry out her affairs. The orders of the Sultan were not considered effective without her signature, of course, it applied to rewards and punishments as much as possible. If two separate decrees were issued by the Turkan Khatun and the Sultan on the same issue, they would only look at the date of the last decree to implement it. The Shah ruled the heterogeneous peoples without mercy. In face of Mongol attacks, Khwarazmian empire, with a combined army of 400,000, simply collapsed. Khwarazmshah Muhammed retreated to Samarkand towards the end of his rule and had to leave the capital city of Gurgenç (Köneürgenç, present-day Turkmenistan) to her.

## Mongol invasion

In 1219, Genghis Khan invaded Khwarazm. Many large and prosperous cities: Otrar, Khujand, Bukhara, Samarkand, Merv, Nishapur and others were razed and their inhabitants killed. Muhammad died after fleeing in 1220 or a year after on a deserted island in the Caspian Sea. She fled with the harem and the children of Khwarazmshah, took the royal treasury, and drowned 26 hostages, sons of different conquered rulers. She passed through the Karakum and took refuge in the Ilal fortress, but the Mongols captured the fortress soon afterwards. She and all the people were captured. The sons of the Shah were killed, his women and daughters were distributed to the sons and associates of Genghis Khan.

## Relations with Jalal al-Din

Relationship between Turkan Hatun and her grandson, the son of Muhammad, Jalal al-Din, apparently was not good. When she was told to escape from the invading Mongols, she said:
   “Go away, tell him (Jalal al-Din) to leave! How can I become dependent on the mercy of the son of Aychichek (Turkmen wife of Muhammad and mother of Jalal al-Din) and be under his protection, when I have Uzlag-shah and Aq-shah? Even being in the captivity at the hands of Genghis Khan and my current humiliation are better for me than that!”

## Death

She died in poverty somewhere on the territory of present-day Mongolia, in 1233.