The Eurasia Studies Society Journal Vol.2. No.3. April 2013 © The Eurasia Studies Society, 2013. All Rights Reserved. 1 The Eurasia Studies Society Journal, Vol.2. No.3. April 2013. Khazar Studies locked between scarcity of Research Sources and Contemporary Policy Concerns. Farda Asadov (Visiting Research Scholar, Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University, USA) The Khazar Turks established an early medieval era state-the Khazar Khaganate 1 -and is generally discussed as one of the longest surviving ‘empires’ in the history of Eurasian nomadic peoples. 2 The majority of scholars consider the Khazar Khaganate as a continuation of the Western Turkic Khaganate tradition after its disintegration and final collapse circa 631-658 AD. In the available primary sources the linking event between two state chronologies is the rule of the offspring of the Ashina (Ansa) dynasty of the Western Turkic Khaganate in Khazaria. 3 We should, however, notice that Vladimir Monorsky, the translator of the original Persian text into English, later confessed to having a hesitation due to the confusion about the term Khazar ruler (shad) and the origin of the Ashina dynasty. 4 Nevertheless, besides the textual analysis, the scholars of Khazar studies collected a number of historical comparisons of khagan institutions 1 ‘Khazar king or rulОr’ is translated as khagan. 2 A map showing the territory of the Khazar realm, Kharazia, circa 850 AD is available here: Bibliotecapleyades.net. http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/imagenes_sociopol/khazar03_01.jpg accessed 21 March 2013. 3 Hudud Al-Alam. The Regions of the World : A Persian Geography 372 A.H.-982 A.D, trans. V.Minorsky ([London]1937)., p. 162. 4 V. Minorsky, "Addenda to the ḤuНūН Al-'ĀlКm," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 17, no. 2 (1955)., p. 260.