On čẄlgl (or čẄlgIl) in the Kül Tegin and Bilgä Kagan inscriptions

This paper attempts to give new explanation for the ethnonyms bẄklI and čẄlgl (or čẄlgIl) occurring in the Türk inscriptions of Kül Tegin and Bilgä Kagan. After a thorough survey of former research the author comes to the conclusion that the two names must be treated separately, both indicating a separate country. Bökli or Bökküli (bẄklI), as was correctly supposed formerly, is undoubtedly identical with Goguryeo, a Korean state of the period. čẄlgl (or čẄlgIl) must be read as Čülüg el which may be a Turkic name for the Chinese state of Northern Zhou of Tuoba origin. On the other hand, a third ethnonym of the inscriptions, Tabgač, refers to the Northern Qi state of Tuoba origin. So it is certainly inaccurate to translate Tabgač, in a simpflified manner, as ‘China’ or ‘the Chinese’ as most researchers have done until now. Čülüg el and Tabgač were two separate Chinese states of the period.