Sagays They live in the area on the South West edge of Minusinsk State Basin that extend from Askıs River towards the higher watercourse of Abakan. According to this position, all Turkish tribes that live in Abakan Steppes of today can be considered as the pure people of Abakan in origin. They have formed a common dialect derived from the accents of Beltir people and some Turkish tribes and clans who emigrated from Altays.
Sagay people are divided into more than ten tribes that indicate their origins and geographical environments in which they live. The most interesting one among these tribes is the Khirghiz ethnos that points out that Sagay people were rooted from the Khirghiz lineage. Their number is 27.000.
The means of subsistence of Sagay people were hunting and fishing. However, Khirghiz people were interested much in the state administration and trade.
Beltir People
Beltir people that constituted a union with Sagays in respect of dialect live more or less mixed with Sagay people. Beltir people lived on fir animal hunting and fishing.
Some of the ethnographers considered these people directly as a branch of Sagays and they admitted that they dwelled between the rivers of Abakan and Taştıp. Prof. Katanov, one of the scholars of Sagay Turks considered them as Minusinsk Tatars while the others used this ethnical name for all Abakan Turks.
They are divided into various lines of descent. There are some groups that consider themselves as having roots of Altay Turks. They are settled in centres of population. Their number is above 12.000.
Kaç People (Kaçins, Haaş, Haos)
They dwell in Abakan Valley. They constitute a group together with the tribes that dwell near Çat and Çolim. Since they once had dwelled on the banks of Kas River, a branch of Yenisey, they called themselves as Kaas tribe. As a matter of fact, some Turkish tribes in the Irtish Basin were trapped and exiled towards the Yenisey River on the North of Tomsk City upon the Russian pressures who tried to settle in these regions towards the end of the century XVII. Therefore, most of these people were obliged to settle on the banks of Kaç River, far away from Krasnoyarsk. When Khirghiz people withdrew from Abakan Valley, these Turkish tribes advanced towards the south from the Upper Yenisey. However, the principal Turkish group stayed in the place between Abakan and Yüs on the north of Askıs. Those that were the descendants of these Turkish tribes have called themselves as Kaas.
Kaç people had once lived in the basin of the river that had the same name. But then, they combined with Ara Turks who played an important role in their structure. There are Khirghiz and Tuba people among their lineages. Since Matur people living in the Chinese lands called them as a Tuba tribe, it is supposed that Tuba people who were assimilated with Kaç people were a group of these people. Nevertheless, Kaç people are considered as pure Turks. Before the revolution in 1917, Kaçin people were composed of a half-nomadic community that bred cattle, sheep and horse. Kaç dialectg is close to that of Sagays. Their number is above 20.000.
Koybals (Haybals)
They have called themselves as Tuba. The areas they dwelled in are located on the banks of Ute River and the right banks of Abakan. Karagas and Koybal Turkish tribes were divided into 13 lines of descent. Considering the nature of the names that they own and their structures, Yenisey-Ostvak people and Samoyeds have been mixed and assimilated with them. Their dialect was derived from the mixture of Sagay and Kaçin accents. As a matter of fact, they also were assimilated among Kaçin and Sagay people. Kaybol people were lost among Kaçin groups and only Bey İli had preserved its own dialect in Koybal Village. Nevertheless, they have preserved their population of nearly 2.000.
Kizil People (Khirghiz)
This small Turkish tribe dwells on the banks of white and Black Face Forests in the Yüs Steppes. Kizil people who dwell in settled villages were interested in both stockbreeding and agriculture.
They are the neighbours of Kaç Turks. It was alleged that they were derived from the mixture of Khirghiz, Teleut and even Yenisey-Ostyak people. Their number is nearly 20 thousands. The accent that they speak was the fourth branch of Hakas Turkish and it was diferent from that of Sagays. Their dialect was similar to that of Kaç people.
Kamasin People
Having carried out some investigations among Karagas people in 1863, W. Radloff had learnt that Karagas people immigrated to the outlet basin of Biryuza upon the casualties of Reindeers that they bred in the region of Kan River and he advanced towards this area thereof. However in this case, he met Kamasin Villages there, in other words in the upper banks of man and Kan Riverfs of Krasnoyarsk State (Kızıyar). Upon this incident, Radloff had determined that these were the Forest-Kamasin people and they called themselves as "Kangbaşı" or "Kanmajı". The Kamasin dialect that was not considered within the boundaries of Hakas Republic does not have any significance due to the lack of population. Their dialect is much similar to that of Kaç people.
Çolım and Çat Turks
They have taken this name since they dwelled on the coasts of Çolım and Çat Rivers, the right branches of Obi River. The region in which they dwelled and expanded is the Northwest section of Yüs Steppes. They were called as "Meletskie Tatarı" (Meletsk Tatars) by the Russians. Some of the researchers consider them as a tribe composed of the mixture of both Irtish and BarabaTurkish tribes and Teleut and even Ostyak people and Samoyed people.
Although they are included in the Uighur-Oguz dialect group in respect of their accent, they are different from the other Turkish tribes in respect of the phonetic and grammar characteristics.
Hakas Turks that live within the boundaries of Hakasia Republic of today are divided into five groups. Kaçin people (Haaş, Haos), Sagays, Kizil people (Hızıl) and Koybal people (Haybal), and Beletir. These groups speak their own dialects. Some of Hakas people that live inhe valley of Matur and High Taştıp pastures of Tayga Forest speak with the dialect of Şor Turks. Although they call themselves as Sagay, the other Sagay people call this group as "Çıstanas" (Taysaasları). In the epics that are supposed to pertain to the late periods of the Middle Ages, the Hakas people were described as the people with white skins, black-slanting eyes and round skulls.