Tork people

Torks (Cyrillic: торки, literally "Turks", also known as Torkils) were a medieval Turkic tribe of Oghuz¹ and/or Kipchak² origins. The Torks, alongsides Kipchaks (e.g. Berendei), and other tribes like Ulichi, Pechenegs, etc., formed the Chornye Klobuki ("Black Hats", Turkic Karakalpak), semi-nomadic tribes who fought as border guards for various princes of Kievan Rus.³

In 1177 a Cuman army, allied with Ryazan, sacked six cities belonging to the Berendei and Torks.

In Ukraine, many placenames trace to Torks, such as Torchesk, Torchyn, rivers Torets and Torch, Torsky way along the river Tetilha, villages Torets, Torky, Toretske and also a town near the Ukrainian border of Poland called Torki.

Sources

Pritsak O. (1975). "The Pechenegs, A Case of Social and Economic Transformation", Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 1:211 - 236, ISBN 90-316-0122-5
Akhmetova, Zhanculu et al. Kipchak Ethnonyms in the "Tale of Bygone Years" in International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Vol. 24, Issue 06, 2020. p. 1195
Akhmetova, Zhanculu et al. Kipchak Ethnonyms in the "Tale of Bygone Years" in International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Vol. 24, Issue 06, 2020

Further reading

(in Russian) Golubovsky Peter V. (1884) Pechenegs, Torks and Cumans before the invasion of the Tatars. History of the South Russian steppes 9th-13th centuries (Печенеги, Торки и Половцы до нашествия татар. История южно-русских степей IX—XIII вв.) at Runivers.ru in DjVu format

[1] Pritsak O. (1975). "The Pechenegs, A Case of Social and Economic Transformation", Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 1:211 - 236, ISBN 90-316-0122-5

[2] Akhmetova, Zhanculu et al. Kipchak Ethnonyms in the "Tale of Bygone Years" in International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Vol. 24, Issue 06, 2020. p. 1195

[3] Akhmetova, Zhanculu et al. Kipchak Ethnonyms in the "Tale of Bygone Years" in International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Vol. 24, Issue 06, 2020

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