A little part of the scattered Oghurs, led by Kuber Khan, who took refuge among Avars living on the Middle Danube basin, soon rebelled with Slavs called Sorbs, who were Avar vassals and had come from Eastern Germany, against the Avar state; then they fled to Byzantine land and settled near Thessaloniki. These Turks and Sorbs (Serbs), who did not enjoy the environment, wanted to return but were stopped on the mid-way by Byzantine commandants and forced to settle just in the heart of today’s Serbia. Being generally in good relations with the Byzantine rule, this community developed a separate and independent political identity and the first Serb state was founded by Kuber Khan and his companions.