ÃÂtüken or Otuken ( or , , 'land of ÃÂtüken'; ; ) was the capital of the First Turkic Khaganate, the Second Turkic Khaganate and the Uyghur Khaganate. It has an important place in Turkic mythology and Tengrism.
ÃÂtüken is located within the borders of the Arkhangai Province and ÃÂvörkhangai Province of present-day Mongolia.
The word was used to describe the sacred mountain of the ancient Turks. It was mentioned by Bilge Khagan in the Orkhon inscriptions as "the place from where the tribes can be controlled". A force called qut was believed to emanate from this mountain, granting the local potentate the divine right to rule all the Turkic tribes.
Although never identified precisely, ÃÂtüken probably stretched "from the Khangai Range of Central Mongolia to the Sayan Mountains of Tuva, at the centre of which is the Orkhon Valley", which for centuries was regarded as the seat of imperial power on the steppes.
ÃÂtüken () in Mahmud al-Kashgari's DëwÃÂn LughÃÂt al-Turk:
The Tonyukuk inscriptions show the sacred importance of the region, as evidenced by the statement of Tonyukuk: