Academician Vasily Vladimirovich Bartold (1869-1930) was a major historian of the East, in fact, the creator and founder of the Russian oriental historical school. The proposed work by V.V. Bartold outlines the history of the emergence and development of the Turkic peoples on the territory of modern Kazakhstan and adjacent lands. “Twelve lectures on the history of the Turkish peoples of Central Asia” are a bibliographic rarity. They were first published in Russian in 1968 with a circulation of 4,700 copies. and were not reprinted. This edition of “Twelve Lectures...” was given the general name “Türks”. It is intended for a wide range of readers, therefore the text does not contain footnotes to the works of foreign and domestic authors, and the necessary abbreviations have been made in places that are difficult for non-specialists to understand.