The role of women in Turkish culture and its reflections in Kyrgyz epics

Epics are one of the most important literary sources that show a nation's culture, lifestyle and approach to evenSDts \people. Epics represent a distinct jaw for all Turkish communities living in the world. Turkish epics from the archaic period, They are also unique sources in terms of understanding the life styles of Turkish people and their changes in the process until today. Our sagas with varieties in the form of archaic epics, heroic epics, historical and love epics, myths and national epics, allows a nation to be recognized. In the Krygyz Turks, epics that mostly development in the field of oral literature are valuable literary products that have survived to the present day. In the thesis study, the place of women in Turkish culture is explained in the light of five epic, which belongs to the Krygyz Turks. In the first part of the thesis, during the period from the archaic period to the present day, research was conducted on the roles of Turkish women in family, socio-economic, cultural and political life and made by linking with the Turkish epic of creation. Ak Mother and Umay Mother who have a very important place in Turkish mythology and information about good and evil goddesses. In the second part, there is information about the Turkish epic tradition and epic motifs about women. There is also information about the types in our epics. In the last part, female heroes in five Krygyz epics have been identified and its role in Turkish culture has been determined. The annexes at the end of the thesis are to understand how the goddesses and female heroes in epics are represented in mythology.