Bolgar-speaking Volga Bulgarians (later Kazan Tatars), Astrakhan Tatars, Balkars, Karachays, Kumyks, Cumans (later Crimean Tatars), Bashkirs and Mongolian aristocracy adopted the Kipchak language in the days of the Golden Horde.
Aliyev believes that the Kumyks are descended from the medieval Khazars and cites the Khazar Khaganate and the later Shamkhalate of Tarki as inspiring his vision of a Kumyk-dominated, independent Dagestan.