Advice in Turkish saz (Ashik) poetry

Turkish folk literature derives its inspiration from the society to which it belongs, including its way of life, beliefs, cultural accumulation, and dreams. With their social, psychological, and linguistic purposes on the one hand, and on the other hand, by transferring the accomplishments of previous eras into the future, these products, which represent all of the public's life experiences, have been significant language accumulations. By utilizing the impressive and growing influence of the written word and musical instrument on the human soul, minstrels, who have assumed significant roles in the creation, representation, and transmission of this literary tradition into the future, have successfully fulfilled the educational and entertaining functions of folklore products. Starting with the earliest Turkish-Islamic works with the transformative effect of Islam, works of advice that direct people to the good, the beautiful, and the right with communiqués, indoctrinations, counsels, and caveats, have been used as a common method of upbringing in Turkish culture and civilization. The aim of present study is to highlight the existence and scope of the attitude of advice expression in Turkish culture and to reveal the themes of advice in the poems of a total of 68 instrumental poets who shaped the tradition with their different characteristics and knowledge from the XVIth century to the XXIth century and who are prominent in the tradition through content analysis methodology. The four major categories of "Religious and Sufi", "Public Morality", "Individual & Social Life" and "Nature and Natural Life" were used to group the key advice topics in minstrel poetry. These themes were scrutinized by document analysis methodology and content analysis approach. It has been noted that in these sections, which are divided into 43 subheadings, minstrels—who are regarded as guiding, wise, and opinion leaders in society—contribute to the education and guidance of the populace by kneading their conclusions and solutions about a variety of personal and societal issues, including love, longing, death, bravery, nature, religion, beliefs, and traditions. The data from this study has shown that the attitude of advice expression is frequently used in poems directly or indirectly in teaching a subject or warning the public about a case as a crucial means of education and upbringing.