Edit request from Maksudfsa10 9 March 2011 Just a minor edit I ve added Azerbaijanis to the list that describes turks in the first paragraph as we are the second largest turkic ethnic group The Turks or Turkics are peoples residing in northern central and western Asia Mongolia southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family Turkic people Encyclop dia Britannica Online Academic Edition 2010 They share to varying degrees certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds The term Turkic represents a broad ethno linguistic group of people including existing societies such as the Azerbaijanis Chuvashes Kazakhs Tatars Kyrgyzs Turkish Turkmen Uyghur Uzbeks Bashkirs Qashqai Gagauzs Yakuts Crimean Karaites Krymchaks Karakalpaks Karachays Nogais and as well as past civilizations such as the Kumans Kipchaks Avars Turgeshs Seljuks Khazars Ottomans Mamluks Timurids and possibly the Xiongnu and Huns Timur The Columbia Encyclopedia Sixth Edition 2001 05 Columbia University Press Encyclopaedia Britannica article Consolidation expansion of the Indo Timurids Online Edition 2007