Family in Kazakh and Kyrgyz epics

Epics are literary works embodying all the material and spiritual values of the nation to which they belong, and they present the history, culture, and important events that the nations experienced. Epics have been a means for nations to preserve the events that have left their mark on their memory for centuries. In this regard, epics include important historical and cultural information about that nation. The family structure of that nation and the importance of the family from the perspective of the nation are also among the topics frequently discussed in epics. In our study titled Family in Kazakh and Kyrgyz epics, it was aimed to investigate what kind of space the family occupies in Kazakh and Kyrgyz epics and how the family structure is addressed. Accordingly, the series consisting of twenty-seven books and eighty-one epic texts published by Turkish Language Association Publications was used. In the introduction part of the study, information about the purpose, scope, and method of the research was provided; in the second part, the concepts of epic and epic teller were addressed, and information about Turkish epic tradition and Turkish epics were presented; and in the third part, the concept of family and the place and importance of the family in Turkish culture were discussed. In the fourth, fifth and sixth chapters, a text-based study was carried out, and eighty-one epics included in the twenty-seven books were examined in order to determine how the family was addressed in these epics.