A kurultai (Mongolian: Хуралдай, Khuraldai; Turkish: Kurultay) was a political and military council of ancient Mongol chiefs and khans which was later borrowed by Turkic peoples. The root of the word is "Kur/Khur" (assemble/discuss) and that helps form "Kurul/Khural" meaning political "meeting" or "assembly" in Mongolian languages. Kurultay, Khuraldai, khuruldai, or khuraldaan means "a gathering", or more literally, "intergatheration". This root is the same in the Mongolian word khurim, which means "feast" and "wedding" and originally referred to large festive gatherings on the steppe, but is used mainly in the sense of wedding in modern times.
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Mongol Empire
This term appeared for the first time in the last 282nd paragraph of the Secret History of the Mongols in form "Yeke Qurilta" (Modern Mongolian: Ikh Khuraldai; literally: great khuraldai). Mongolian Families voted by showing up for the event; families that did not show up were considered a vote against the reason for holding the Kurultai. After the new khan has been elected, an elaborate enthronement procedure followed. Johann Schiltberger, a 15th-century German traveler, described the installation of a new Golden Horde khan as follows ( quoted in ):
Russian princes and boyars, who often had to wait in Sarai for the kurultai to elect a new khan, who would then re-issue their yarlyks (patents), would no doubt often witness this khan kutermiak rituals, which became increasingly more frequent and futile during the mid-14th century time of troubles in the Horde, giving rise to the Russian word "кутерьма" (kuter'ma), meaning "running around pointlessly".
Kurultai were imperial and tribal assemblies convened to determine, strategize and analyze military campaigns and assign individuals to leadership positions and titles. One such example is Genghis Khan was declared Khan in the 1206 kurultai. Most of the major military campaigns were first planned out at assemblies such as this and there were minor and less significant kurultais under the Mongol Empire under political subordinate leaders and generals.
The kurultai, however, required the presence of the senior members of the tribes participating, who were also in charge militarily. Thus, the deaths of Ögedei and Möngke in 1241 and 1259, respectively, necessitated the withdrawal of Mongol leaders (and troops) from the outskirts of Vienna (in 1241) and from Syria (in 1259), hamstringing military operations against the Austrians and Mamluks that might otherwise have continued.
Modern usage
Various modern Mongolian and Turkic peoples use it in the political or administrative sense, as a synonym for parliament, congress, conference, council, assembly, convention, gathering. Examples are: World Qoroltai of the Bashkirs, World Uyghur Congress, Fourth Qurultay of Crimean Tatars, National Kurultai of Kyrgyzstan, the State Great Khural of Mongolia, People's Khural of Buryatian and Kurultai held today in Hungary, there written Kurultáj.
In Mongolian, the following forms of the word are still in use today: khuraldai, khuraldaan and khural. "Ulsin Deed Shuukhiin Khuraldaan" means "session of the National Supreme Court".
Also spelled as: kurultay, qurultay, qurıltai, qorıltay, and qoroltay.
The word has several modern usages in the modern Turkish language as well: "Yüksek Öğretim Kurulu" (Higher Education Council), "genel kurul toplantısı" (general board meeting). "Kurultay" is also a highly used word in modern Turkish meaning general assembly, such as that of organisations, committees etc.