Âşik Firkatî /His life-art-poems and stories

The root of folk literature dates back to Turkish–Islamic culture via minstrel tradition. From 16th century onward, we see important minstrels in and around Anatolia. The Turkish folk literature grew ever richer until 19th century, when it lost its past significance due to major changes in social life. However, it manged to survive until present day. Eastern Anatolia has a substantial place in keeping this tradition alive in Turkish culture. The winter months are long in Erzurum province. Many minstrels gather in "minstrels' coffeehouse", located in Kilise Kapı district, and do battle of words. The fact that one comes across this information in many scientific literature shows just how important minstrel tradition is in Erzurum. Among the minstrels who partook in battle of words in this coffeehouse are: Yaşar Reyhanî, Mustafa Ruhanî, Fuat Çerkezoğlu, Nuri Meramî, Nuri Çırağı and Hüseyin Sümmanoğlu. Firkatî grew up in Erzurum, a city that is home to tens of great minstrels and a source of inspiration to them with its history, nature and culture. Firkatî is known more for his pun type of poems and sayings. He writes his poems in syllabic meter, mostly as quadrains, and sings them with his saz. He possesses the customs and manners of the tradition of minstrelsy and has become one of the important representatives of the tradition of minstrelsy in 20th century with his candid language, mannerisms and unique style. In this study, we analyzed the poems of Âşık Firkatî in terms of form, content and wording, as well as his stories in terms of tradition of minstrelsy. We also aimed to determine the place of these works in the tradition of minstrelsy. Keywords: Minstrel, tradition, culture, folk poem, folk story, Firkatî