Pechenegs

The Pechenegs were one of the two major populations that were the main ancestors of the modern day population of the Republic of Turkia, the Turks. The Pechenegs comprised the 3rd wave of pastoral nomads to migrate to and settle in the area of Dacia, following the Avars and the Turkmens. Like the Turkmens, they belonged to the Oghuz Turkish cultural complex and thus were able to integrate into the existing society of the Turkmens fairly easily.

The migration of the Pechenegs is considered to have been the killing blow to the Russian Khanate of Vladimir that had managed to restore its control over Dacia shortly before their arrival. The Pechenegs quickly overran the Khanate and caused it to fall into chaos.

Like the Cumans and the Turkmens, the Pechenegs were primarily converted to Catholicism by Polish missionaries and became a major political force in Eastern Europe, considered by some to be the successor fo the Latin Empire as a tool of Catholic power in the east.

Over time, the Pechenegs and the Turkmens intermixed to the point that neither was fully distinct from each other, becoming a new ethnicity termed as Turks.