Bertali Kul Mehmet (Monography-review-text)

Minstrel literature received great interest and continues to receive especially in Eastern Anatolia, Central Anatolia and Southeast Anatolia. Minstrels like Sümmânî, Minstrel Şenlik Huzûrî and Murat Çobanoğlu have influenced other minstrel in both their periods and during subsequent periods. In the Eastern Black Sea region, especially in the province of Artvin, the tradition of minstrel poetry did not receive expected attention initially. This is because the region has a difficult geography and the minstrels could not open to other provinces. In this difficult geography, minstrels continued their tradition in oral and written form. There are many minstrels in the center and districts of Artvin, but there are also folk poets who write minstrel-style poetry. These people have carried the tradition of minstrelsy to the present day. In this master's thesis study, the poet Kul Mehmet's 166 poem was compiled who was among the prominent representatives of the minstrel-style poetry tradition in Artvin province; his poems were examined in detail in terms of genre, shape, literary arts and language characteristics. The folk poet Kul Mehmet used the most beautiful examples of local words by writing his poems in a simple language. The poet, who had a nationalist and conservative worldview, was interested in all subjects of social life. Their poems were mainly on beautification/praise, grinding, sadness, warning/advice. However, he wrote many poems about love, affection, longing, lament, heroism, pride and religious matters. The folk poet Kul Mehmet, who we examined in all aspects of his poems, seemed to provide as a significant contribution to Artvin folk poetry and folk culture. Keywords: Minstrel, minstrel-style poetry, minstrelsy tradition, Kul Mehmet, Artvin