Impression of Turkish convent mysticism on Bosnian folk culture

This thesis will analyze the influence of Turkish Sufism on the Balkanian folk culture. ?Bosnians?, a Balkanian society, ruled by the Ottoman Empire for 455 years and converted into Islam as a result of the Ottoman conquest. The Bosnian tradition of Sufism will be analyzed according to the practices, beliefs, ceremonies, and lodges, and the influence of Turkish culture on these components.The main purpose of this work is to reveal the influence of Turkish Dervish lodge and Sufism tradition on Bosnain folk culture. In addition, it is also aimed to illustrate the relationship, similarities and differences between the ceremonies, practices, and applications and the tradition of Turkish Dervish lodge; to explicate the Sufistic movements that have existed in Bosnia and Herzegovina throughout history, the Dervish lodges of these movements, and the reflections of the presently active movements on folk culture; to study the relationship between the legendary characters of Turkish Sufism created by Bosnian folk culture and the practices took place in their time; to focus on the folk literature created under the influence of Bosnian Sufism, and the similarity between their poems and Turkish Dervish literature and poetry.This work includes field work (choosing and gathering) as well as the analysis of written sources. The functional method of Folklore has been used, and the obtained data has been dealt with according to this method. One of the principal sources of the work is the documents of the Ottoman archieve. In the light of these documents, the sufistic movements and their activities under the Ottoman rule have been studied.The geographical component of the thesis is the Bosnians within the borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the tradition of Sufism in this region. The development of the Dervish lodge and Sufism throughout history has been analyzed. Besides the historical development of the movement, presently existing Bosnian Dervish lodges have been analyzed in terms of hymns, ceremonies and practices.In this work, it has been observed that the tradition of Dervish lodge and Sufism has an important influence on Bosnian folk culture both in the past and today. The main figures and the ceremonies of Bosnian Folk culture are the same as the characters and ceremonies of Turkish Sufism.Even though Bektaşî, Helvetî and Hamzavî sects do not have active lodges today, the traces of Bektaşî and Halvetî movements on Bosnian Dervish lodges are still evident. In this work, it has also been observed that Turkish society has made outstanding contribution to Bosnian Islamic teachings and everyday life practices.Key words: Bosnian, tradition, Dervish-lodge, Sufism, Turkish Culture