The Oghuz Turks were a western Turkic people who spoke the Oghuz branch of the Turkic language family. In the 8th century, they formed a tribal confederation conventionally named the Oghuz Yabgu State in Central Asia. Today the Turkmen, Azerbaijanis and Turks are descendants of Oghuz Turks. The term Oghuz was gradually supplanted by the terms Turkmen and Turcoman by the 13th century.