Traditional ecological knowledge in the legends of Western Anatolia

Legends are one of the oral products of Turkish Folk Literature, which depends on telling, outweighs the extraordinary, has the feature of believability, gives certain messages to those who read it. In the study titled, Tradıtıonal Ecologıcal Knowledge In The Legends Of Western Anatolıa the importance given to nature in Turkish culture and the elements for protecting nature were aimed to be revealed. In this context, humanity's actions retained disturbing the balance of nature, negative behaviors leading to the destruction of nature were identified; It is aimed to make humanity friends with nature again, to make nature love to humanity.In this study, the legends of the cities located in the Western Anatolia region were examined one by one. The Western Anatolia region is both a strong physical region and a very rich area in terms of Anatolian culture and civilization. The importance of this geography in terms of culture and civilization history has also contributed to the development of oral culture products.The study consists of introduction, three main chapters and sub-titles of these main chapters.In the introduction, information about the subject, purpose, field and method of the research is given.The first part is called "Conceptual and Theoretical Framework". In this section, the concepts of ecology, traditional knowledge and traditional ecological knowledge are discussed.The second part is titled "Tradıtıonal Ecologıcal Knowledge In The Legends Of Western Anatolıa". In this part of the thesis, the elements in the concept of protecting traditional ecological knowledge and how these elements take place in the legend texts are examined in detail.Chapter three is titled "Functions of Legends for Traditional Ecological Knowledge". In this section, the in-text and non-text functions of the legends are determined. The study ended with "Conclusion" and "Resources".