It is difficult to imagine the existence of the political independence and the freedom of labour in the communities that considered the state as the unit composed of only the ruler and his dynasty. The state of affairs is much different in the political organisations that bare the governor-people cooperation in respect of the state government and concept of country. It has been understood that the human being was equipped with the personal rights in the ancient Turkish communities and the people were within an order of life where they were not considered as slaves in respect of economy. This fact can be possibly evidenced with the historical documents. First of all, there was private property in the families. The private property upon the lands was effective and in force in the Steppe Turkish state (among the Asian Hun people, Gok-Turk State, Uighur people, etc.). The private property is the guarantee of the personal rights and freedoms. In the 10th century, the Bulgarians had the right not to give anything even to the ruler from the harvest that they yielded from their personal lands. The Khazar ruler and governors could not seize the properties of the subjects. In Oguz tribes, "beys" would resist against the excessive movements and attitudes of the khan. In the European Hun people, a Byzantine in the capital city of Attila had stated that he led a free and fearless life in the Hun country against the pressure of the Byzantine over the people and the non-execution of the laws properly. The slaves in China would flee to the Asian Hun lands that were considered as a country of freedom.There was such a great atmosphere of freedom in the Steppe Turkish society that even the smallest family could be considered separately as a "province" in itself. This situation was sometimes observed in the higher levels of the social structure. Among Pecenek people, "the tribes were so independent that there was not a central government although the tribes lived together, fought together, in other words, they constituted a full union together." The same situation was observed in the Kipchak people in the 12th century.

This characteristic situation of the Turkish tribes provided the opportunity for the easy disintegration of the tribes that constituted the political union in the ancient Turkish States- due to various reasons- and to form the reunification of the tribes in order to establish a new State in another region or another place (this is evidenced by the various figures that indicated the number of the tribes in the ancient Turkish political organisation). Only the meadows and the pastures were under the public property within the tribe. Since these types of lands belonged to the State, taxes with the specific amounts were collected from the owners of real estates, horses, and sheep and cattle herds that benefited from these public lands.

Therefore, the civil and military requirements of the State were covered from these taxes. In the course of the migrations, the families or the tribes could take their herds and movable goods with them and they would have the right of possession over them. This situation invigorated the feeling of freedom and the inclination towards the freedom of movement among these people. This state of affairs naturally prevented the slavery and the "privileges" for some sections within the ancient Turkish States. Furthermore, the economical characteristics of the Steppe culture enabled the development of the principles of justice, equality and the respect for people.

Slave Subject

In the ancient prehistoric eras, the people would benefit from the manual labour of the individuals that were much weaker and incapable among the community in order to provide the "labour force, and the manpower for transportation and pulling works" that were required for living. There was not any other opportunity in the "sponger" culture and the "villager" (settled) culture. However, in the Steppe culture that was based on "stockbreeding" in respect of economy, the people met this need with the animal power and particularly with the horses that had the greatest muscular strength (muscle). The groups that established dominion over the forest tribes and the settled communities had resorted to various precautions for centuries in order to maintain the existence of the slave groups under the press of classes, castes, etc. through depriving them from any properties and political rights within the society (various types of slaves among the Mongolian people, the widespread slave trade among the Slav peoples, the slaves that work under the yoke on their back of the neck in China, the people that were described as "domestic animals" and "live tools" by Aristotle and that were considered directly as "properties" among the ancient Greek people, and the slave groups in Egypt, India and Roma). However, the Steppe culture did not necessitate any manpower (muscular strength) of people. The social traditions that developed on the basis of private property and freedom of labour in the Steppe culture attained definite characteristics in the form of the provisions of laws in due course of time.

The term of "kul" (captive) in the ancient Turkish language was generally considered as the equivalent counterpart of the word of "köle" (slave). However, this must not have been true since a slave is the person that does not possess any "property" and any "rights" within the society. Within this concept, the institution of slavery was present and established in every regions including the Greek-Roman civilisation. However, the private property and the conception of freedom seemed to have prevented this institution among the Turks. The term of "kul" (captive) was cited for 14 times within the documents written in the Gok-Turk language. However, this term does not imply the "slavery" that was institutionalised as a section of people that were deprived of "properties" and "rights". With its actual concept, this term is related with the deprivation of some political rights and the prohibition of the execution of some "civil" rights. Therefore, this term generally implied the meaning of "captivity".

to be continued