Ötüken should not be confused with Otyken.
Ötüken or Otuken (otk|:|Ötüken yïš|lit=Ötüken forest[1] or :, Ötüken jer, 'land of Ötüken'; Old Uyghur: :|Ötüken yïš;[2]) 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.
Ötüken is located within the borders of the Arkhangai Province and Övörkhangai Province of present-day Mongolia.[3]
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.[4]
Although never identified precisely, Ötüken probably stretched "from the Khangai Range of Central Mongolia to the Sayan Mountains of Tuva, at the centre of which is the Orkhon Valley",[5] which for centuries was regarded as the seat of the imperial power of the steppes.
Ötüken (اتوكان)[6] in Mahmud al-Kashgari's Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk:[7]
The Tonyukuk inscriptions clearly show the sacred importance of the region, as evidenced by the statement of Tonyukuk:[8]