Humanitarian values in pre-Islamic Turkish culture

Humans are distinguished from other species with their values which help them have virtue and a good personality. We have tried to focus on these values in our thesis. Firstly, we included the dictionary definitions of these values and then expressed which words were used to express them in old turkish sources such as Kutadgu Bilig, Divanü Lûgat-it Türk and Codex Cumanicus. Values are studied in two parts such as personal human values or social human values. Some of the personal values are: forgiving, being generous, being frank, being self-sacrificed, being benevolent, being abstinent, being merciful, being humble, being honest, being clean, being gentle, loving and smiling, These values are studied by taking the examples in the sources of pre-Islamic turks into consideration. Some of the social values are: being just, having good manner, being pacifist, being hospitable, being independent, being respective, being clean, being patriotic, being humble, being helpful, treatment for the disabled, slaves and the position of women. These values are explained by taking the applications of old Turk States and societies into consideration. Proverb: proverbs are the commonly accepted words which are in certain forms containing advice, general rule or judgment and long term experiences of our ancestors. These proverbs have very rich contents for human values. These contents have emerged as a result of the reactions of various events of the people throughout the centuries. the proverbs we have selected which are based on oral values of pre-Islamic period have been classified according to their meanings of human values. While being classified, the whole Turkish world have been under our examination to provide a full view in Turkish world with its human values. Keeping these in mind, we can conclude that the pre-Islamic states and societies had very high level of human values.