Turtuk

The Chorbat-Khaplu region of Baltistan, including Turtuk, was ruled by the Turkistani Yabgo dynasty for one thousand years. Their rule started when Beg Manthal came to the region from Yarkand in the 9th century and conquered Khaplu, splitting off from the Tibetan Empire.[13][14] The region was dominated by Buddhism until the arrival of Islamic scholar and poet Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani in the 13th century.

The thousand-year Yabgo rule continued until 1834, when Gulab Singh, a vassal of the Sikh Empire, conquered the region.[2][14] After losing kingship, Yabgo Abdullah Khan renamed the family Kacho (Balti for "light weight"). The Kacho family continued to be a wealthy, powerful family until they gave away most of their land during the Bhoodan movement.[13]

Turtuk remained a part of the Sikh Empire until the First Anglo-Sikh War. When the war concluded in 1946, Kashmir (including Baltistan and Ladakh) was ceded to the British East India Company,[15] then immediately purchased by Gulab Singh, who became the first maharaja of the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu.[16]

War Memorial in Turtuk

At the end of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, Turtuk came under the control of Pakistan along with most of Baltistan.[13][17]

During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, this area was the site of the Battle of Turtuk between the Indian and Pakistani armies. India's Ladakh Scouts and Nubra Guards, under the command of Brigadier Udai Singh Bhati, entered the village after Pakistani forces had retreated a day earlier.[18] Singh and his second-in-command Major Chewang Rinchen were both honoured with a Maha Vir Chakra for their gallantry and a street is named after Major Rinchen in Leh.[19]

In 1999, the two countries once again had a major conflict around this area during the Kargil War. There are a few memorials built in memory of soldiers on Main Road going towards the zero point of the India–Pakistan Line of Control.

Balti scholar Senge Sering states that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has attempted to introduce jihad into this area. The local people are unsure of their loyalties because they have lived under both Pakistani and Indian control, some of them having served in the Pakistan Army before India's take-over. Many of them also have relatives living across the Line of Control who are subject to intimidation by the ISI. During the Kargil infiltration by Pakistan, some of the local people were suspected to have assisted the infiltrators. The Indian Army took some of them into custody, but later released all of them. The local people are said to be grateful for the consideration shown by the Army and currently support the Army's initiatives such as Operation Sadbhavana.[20]

In August 2010, the village of Turtuk was impacted by floods which occurred throughout the entire region of Ladakh.