1- As for the Turks, [they] also form a great nation with numerous troops and an imposing kingdom. The domains they inhabit are found between the eastern regions of Juräsän, [on the side] of the Islamic empire, the western regions of China, northern India, and the extreme north of the inhabited world.
Their virtue is that they stand out and achieve supremacy in doing war, as well as in the elaboration of weapons; for they are the most skilful of men in horsemanship and [warfare] tactics, and the keenest of eyes for spearing, striking with the sword, and shooting arrows.
Ahmad, A.S. ibn and Salgado, M.F. (1999) Libro de las categorías de las naciones: Vislumbres desde el islam clásico sobre la filosofía y la ciencia. Tres cantos: Akal., p.43
2- Al-Jahiz, the renowned ninth century Arab prose writer, wrote an essay entitled
“The Virtues of the Turks.” In this essay al-Jahiz describes the various contingents that formed the Abbasid army and argues that the Turks were far superior to the other groups when it came to fighting, riding, discipline, and war.
3- The geographer al-Istakhri, writing in the next century, commented on the 24 preparedness of the frontier men of Shash (modern Tashkent) and Farghana" for war" This encouraged the Caliphs', he goes on,
to recruit men from Transoxania and
the Turks became their armies because of their because of their superiority of all other races [ajnas] in bravery, daring, courage and fearlessness. The nobles [dahaqin] of Transoxania were their [i.ethe Caliphs] officers [quwwäd], retinue [hawashi] and chosen servants because of their attentiveness in service their obedience and their fine appearance in uniform. So they formed the retinue of the Caliphs, their trusted attendants and the heads of their armies, like the Turks and the Faraghina who formed the palace guard [shiḥna].
4- Arabic proverb cited by the North African analytic historian Ibn Khaldun of the fourteenth century:
dawlah 'ind al-turk, din 'ind al-'arab wa adab 'ind al-furs
Power (rests) with the Turk, religion with the Arab, and culture with the Persian.
5-
If a thousand of their [Turks’] horse join battle and let off a single shower of arrows, they can mow down a thousand [Arabs’] horse. No army can withstand this kind of assault. The Kharajites and the Bedouin have no skill worth mentioning in shooting from horseback, but the Turk can shoot at beasts, birds, hoops, men, sitting quarry, dummies and birds on the wing, and do so at full gallop to fore or to rear, to left or to right, upwards or downwards, loosing ten arrows before the Kharajite can nock one ... and if they do turn their back,they are to be feared as much as deadly poison and sudden death; for their arrows hit the mark as much when they are retreating as when they are advancing.18
RICHARD M. EATON. India in the Persianate Age, 1000–1765 by Richard Eaton .
6- Articulated stereotypes of military prowess among non-Han typically took the form of statements such as Li Linfu's remark at court that "non-Han are skilled at fighting and brave" and, from a later eighth- century memorial, "Heaven gave birth to the Four Yi who are all skilled in warfare." Occasionally, different non-Han ethnic groups would be compared with one another, with the politically dominant group at the time asserted to be the most martial, such as a mid-eighth-century statement by a prominent Han frontier general that
the Turks were more martial than other non-Han. Non-Han groups were often contrasted favorably with their Han counterparts, the latter being characterized, particularly after the seventh century, as mediocre soldiers or helpless farmers.
Ethnic Identity in Tang China (Encounters with Asia) Hardcover – January 2, 2008 by Marc S. Abramson (Author) p.48