Tarihî ve Sosyokültürel Bağlamda Türkiye Sahası Tarihî Türküleri

Abstract

Folk songs carry traces of people's social lives and experiences from their past. Historical folk songs record events that are not or rarely reflected in written sources with poetry and melody. Historical folk songs are oral sources of history that teach the history of the Turkish people to future generations. Historical folk songs of the realm of Turkey are folk products that were produced centuries ago, describing events that date back to centuries ago. In this thesis study, historical folk song texts that have been produced in the realm of Turkey or have been sung in this region were analyzed. This analysis was carried out by utilizing various theories regarding folklore, while considering the historical and sociocultural background of the texts. Texts of folk songs that have been identified and written down in compilations made over the years, texts of folklorizations of threnodies, poetic folk outputs that are named as “turkis” in cönks (anthologies) constitute the main focus of this analysis. Historical folk song texts that narrate historical events, the available examples of which date back about six hundred years, have been written since the times when the Ottoman Empire made conquests in Europe to the present day. Folk song texts written between the 16th century and 1923, when the Republic of Turkey was established, were included in the study and analyzed. The texts consisted mainly of anonymous folk songs. In this study, firstly the terms folk song and historical folk song were defined. Then, the folk song texts were structurally, melodically, thematically and functionally analyzed. Lastly, the historical and cultural background of the examined folk songs were explained. The aim of this study is to determine the reflections of events of national or regional scale in Turkey and its surrounding areas, and of the heroes whose names have been etched in folk songs. Historical folk songs play a pivotal role in forming a national identity and engraining individuals with a sense of belonging to a country's land. Despite the importance of historical folk songs, it has been found that only a limited number of academic studies have been conducted on this subject. This lack of research was the main motivation behind this study that examines historical folk songs, which are of great importance for our culture and history. It is hoped that this thesis will contribute to the literature on Turkish culture, Turkish history, Turkish music and Turkology.