Legendary Oghuz poet who gave
his name to the famous masterpiece “Dede Korkud”. There are various myths from
various resources about this famous poet. According to legend, he was the son
of an intelligent and mystic man, Kara Hoca who was from the Balat or Kayı
tribe of the Oghuz peoples and lived around the Jaxartes River, at
the time of the Prophet Muhammed. He was the Vizier of İnal Sir Yavkuv Khan and
Oghuz khan, and counselor to Kayı İnal Khan. He was well respected for his
prophecies and skill in rhetoric. Dede Korkud, whose fame spread from Middle
Asia to Anatolia and who was mentioned as a poet, sage, holy person, counselor
and a vizier in history books, the tale of King Oghuz, legends and folklore,
was believed to have been living for two hundred and ninety five or one hundred
years at the time of Prophet. It is said that he even met the Prophet, and over
time his life became an historical epic
According to some legends and
according to the poet himself, he was sent with his father, Kazan Khan and
Dündar Bey to the Kabe in Mecca by Bayındır, an Oghuz Khan, as an ambassador to
the Prophet and there he became a Muslim. He returned with Selman-i Farisi and
taught Islam to the Oghuz peoples throughout his life. In legends, it is said
that Dede Korkud was concerned with all the problems of the Oghuz and became
their valued advisor.
There is an introduction about the legendary personality of Dede Korkud in the “Dede Korkud Book”, which includes twelve stories. In the stories Tepegöz (Cyclops) and Deli Dumrul (Mad Dumrul) the war with supernatural beings is told. The wars of the Oghuz are told in the stories Bamsı Beyrek (Bamsı Beyrek) and Kanturalı Oğlu Boğaç (Boğaç, the Son of Kanturalı) and İç Oğuz-Taş Oğuz (Drink Oghuz, Overflow Oghuz). In the other six stories the wars with the infidels are narrated. It is thought that the events in the stories took place over a wide area from North-East Anatolia to Azerbaijan and the Caucasus and the warring neighbors were Georgians and the Greeks of Trabzon.
The stories of Dede Korkud, some of the finest examples of Turkish folk literature, are written in a style somewhere between story and epic taken from old legends. The stories, which consist of semi-prose and semi-verse, are considered to have been written in the 16th century by a poet who was skilled in storytelling with respect to language and orthography. The first known manuscript of the “Dede Korkud Book” is the copy at Dresden Royal Library that was found in 1815. The Dresden manuscript was first published by Rıfat Bilge of Kilis in 1916 and Orhan Şaik Gökyay in 1938. The second manuscript is a copy that consists of only six stories and was found at the Vatican Library in 1950. The Vatican manuscript was first published by Ettore Rosi in 1952. Comparative copies of each manuscript were published: Dr. Muharrem Ergin / Dede Korkud Kitabı (The Dede Korkud Book, 2 volumes, Ankara 1958), Orhan Şaik Gökyay / Dedem Korkud'un Kitabı (The Dedem Korkud Book, Prime Ministry Undersecretary of Culture Publications, İstanbul 1973).
REFERENCE:
Cevdet Kudret / Bugünkü Türkçemizde Dede Korkut Hikâyeleri (1970), Orhan Şaik
Gökyay / Dede Korkutun Kitabı (1973), Firuzan Toprak / Boğaç Han (1973), Evliya
Çelebi / Seyahatname (c. 2), Mustafa Miyasoğlu / Dede Korkut Kitabı (1984),
Müjdat Karayerli / Dede Korkut Masalları ve Ömer Seyfettin Hikâyeleri (1985),
Muharrem Ergin / Dede Korkut Kitabı (1986), Mahir Ünlü / Dede Korkut Öyküleri
(1995), Birsen Pekçolak- Zeki Büyüktanır / Homeros’tan Günümüze Anadolu
Destanları (2002), İhsan Işık / - Resimli ve Metin
Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (2006, gen. 2.
bas. 2007) – Ünlü Fikir ve Kültür Adamları (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C.
3, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013).
