The “Dede Korkut International Symposium in Our Thought Life and Culture” has begun at Bayburt University. Bayburt University President Prof. Dr. Selçuk Coşkun said, “Dede Korkut’s breath still lives in our people. Dede Korkut is integrated into our culture and is like our blood and veins.”
The symposium, in which the Prime Ministry Atatürk Culture, Language and History High Institution Atatürk Center Presidency, the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization UNESCO Turkey National Commission were partners, was attended by Bayburt University President Prof. Dr. Selçuk Coşkun, as well as Bayburt Governor Yusuf Odabaş, Mayor Mete Memiş, Prime Ministry Atatürk Culture, Language and History High Institution Atatürk Center President Prof. Dr. Turan Karataş, Turkish Language Association President Prof. Dr. Mustafa Kaçalin, AK Party Bayburt Deputy Candidate, Former Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance Naci Ağbal, Prime Ministry Chief Advisor Vedat Bilgin, Provincial Chief Public Prosecutor Hasan Uğurlu, Provincial Justice Commission President İsmail Deniz, academics and students attended.
Speaking at the opening of the symposium held at Bayburt University New Campus Conference Hall, Prime Ministry Atatürk Culture, Language and History High Institution Atatürk Center President Prof. Dr. Turan Karataş said that the Dede Korkut Symposium was organized to commemorate the unique gift of Dede Korkut, an Oghuz sage, to our nation, culture and humanity, Kitab-ı Dedem Korkut, to get to know this classic work more closely and to open the door to new readings about it.
Dede Korkut Stories Have Left an Impact on Our People
Karataş, who stated that the first Turkish examples of the story genre in its general sense were encountered in the Dede Korkut book, said, “These texts, which have taken their place among the most beautiful heirlooms of the Turkish language, have been read for centuries and passed from mouth to mouth. Many new anecdotes, epics, and stories, the source of which is the Dede Korkut Book, have come into being in many corners of Anatolia. There will be speeches here for two days about Dede Korkut, who left these wonderful stories, which every child and Turkish citizen should definitely read, as a legacy to us, his descendants. Dede Korkut stories have left an impact on our people. I hope that this information festival, where 25 papers will be presented, will be beneficial for our country and our people. I would like to thank our valuable rector for hosting.”
Dede Korkut’s Breath Still Lives in Our People
Bayburt University Rector Prof. Dr. Selçuk Coşkun stated that the Dede Korkut Symposium was held because the Dede Korkut Festivals have been held in Bayburt for over 15 years. Rector Coşkun said, “Dede Korkut’s breath still lives in our people. Dede Korkut has integrated into our culture and is like our blood and veins. Here, we gave TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu an honorary doctorate for his contributions to the Dede Korkut book. Hisarcıklıoğlu gave us the Dresden copy of Dede Korkut as a gift. When I looked at that book, I saw things that a Hacı Dede from Bayburt told us in rhyme from time to time. I realized that what Hacı Dede told us was in the Dede Korkut book. That Hacı Dede was illiterate. That is why I say that Dede Korkut still exists and continues to exist as a breath in the culture of our people. Approximately 20-21 cities are mentioned in Dede Korkut’s stories. One of these is Bayburt. There is inevitably an acculturation event related to Dede Korkut in this area. Hopefully, the scientific roots of these will be investigated and evaluated in this symposium. I think it will be a very useful symposium,” he said.
Dede Korkut Stories Are Also Our Story of Change
Prime Ministry Chief Advisor Vedat Bilgin stated that Dede Korkut stories are called with the local names of the places where they are found in every geography of the Turkish world and said, “When we go to Azerbaijan, Dede Korkut is Azerbaijani. When we go to Turkmenistan, he is from Turkmenistan. In Bayburt, he is from Bayburt. Culture is not something we produce by working from morning to night, it is formed within a history. What makes culture alive is its change. If Dede Korkut stories and legends are alive in Bayburt, it means this culture is alive. If Dede Korkut is told as wise words in the mouth of a Hacı Dede, it means this culture is alive. Legends and oral stories have a great role among the characteristics that shape the cultures of nomadic societies and give them a cultural pattern. They shape the culture. In modern society, ideology has taken its place. In our modernization process, within the principles that determine our worldview; contemporary writers, commentators, poets, those who will reinterpret and produce this culture have a great responsibility in transferring this oral culture, legends and stories to modern society. Dede Korkut stories are also our story of change. We find pre-Islamic traditions, words, and ways of thinking. At the same time, we find the new form that Turkish culture took during the process of Islamization itself. With the declarations here, we will find the sources and clues that will enrich our literature and world of thought, extending from Dede Korkut to the future,” he said.
Dede Korkut Stories Are at the Top of the King’s Works of Our Oral Culture
Bayburt Mayor Mete Memiş started his speech with a prayer from the Dede Korkut Book. Memiş said, “Dede Korkut stories are at the top of the king’s works of our oral culture. It will be more meaningful for us to build our future by reading these stories. Our culture, our beautiful Turkish, which tells our culture with 12 beautiful stories, our thousand-year-old cultural history, our cultural adventure, has been given life with Dede Korkut Stories. Those stories contain the epic dynamism of our nomadic life. There is a heroic spirit, national excitement in those stories, there are traces of the transition from nomadic culture to settled life, there are traces of the transition from nomadic culture to state formation. Most importantly, there is the rich power of expression in our beautiful Turkish in those stories. I think that it will be very beneficial to read and know the Dede Korkut stories in order to build our future and to carry our national culture to future generations better and more beautifully. I would like to express my gratitude to TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu for his contributions to the Dede Korkut book. I believe that this symposium will be instrumental in understanding Dede Korkut,” he said.
Our Youth Should Research and Learn Their History and Culture Well
Bayburt Governor Yusuf Odabaş drew attention to the fact that the citizens of the Republic of Turkey, the last state of a nation with an old and rich culture and history, should research Turkish culture in the best way possible, and said, “We are a nation that has the obligation to study our culture and transfer it to future generations in the best way possible. I would like to thank the sensitivity and sensibility of the Rectorate and academic staff of Bayburt University, who have fulfilled this responsibility, on this issue. Our youth, our youth, will include future generations. Therefore, our youth should not break away from their history. It should research and learn its history and culture well. Our biggest shortcoming is that we have not researched our culture and history as much as necessary. We have not been able to study our history and convey it to our youth in the way it is necessary. How much do our youth know about Dede Korkut’s thoughts and Dede Korkut stories? Our duty will be to convey these stories to our youth in the best way possible,” he said.
Turkish Language Association President Prof. Dr. Mustafa Kaçalin made the Symposium Opening Statement presentation. Kaçalin explained how Dede Korkut stories were introduced to the Turkish public opinion, the printing process of the stories’ manuscripts, and the relationship between the stories and Islamic sources.
Ardahan University President Prof. Dr. Ramazan Korkmaz made a welcoming speech at the opening. The sessions following the first session of the symposium will be held at Bayburt University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences Prof. Dr. Gökhan Budak Conference Hall. The symposium consists of seven sessions, four of which will be on the first day.
The symposium, in which the Prime Ministry Atatürk Culture, Language and History High Institution Atatürk Center Presidency, the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization UNESCO Turkey National Commission were partners, was attended by Bayburt University President Prof. Dr. Selçuk Coşkun, as well as Bayburt Governor Yusuf Odabaş, Mayor Mete Memiş, Prime Ministry Atatürk Culture, Language and History High Institution Atatürk Center President Prof. Dr. Turan Karataş, Turkish Language Association President Prof. Dr. Mustafa Kaçalin, AK Party Bayburt Deputy Candidate, Former Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance Naci Ağbal, Prime Ministry Chief Advisor Vedat Bilgin, Provincial Chief Public Prosecutor Hasan Uğurlu, Provincial Justice Commission President İsmail Deniz, academics and students attended.
Speaking at the opening of the symposium held at Bayburt University New Campus Conference Hall, Prime Ministry Atatürk Culture, Language and History High Institution Atatürk Center President Prof. Dr. Turan Karataş said that the Dede Korkut Symposium was organized to commemorate the unique gift of Dede Korkut, an Oghuz sage, to our nation, culture and humanity, Kitab-ı Dedem Korkut, to get to know this classic work more closely and to open the door to new readings about it.
Dede Korkut Stories Have Left an Impact on Our People
Karataş, who stated that the first Turkish examples of the story genre in its general sense were encountered in the Dede Korkut book, said, “These texts, which have taken their place among the most beautiful heirlooms of the Turkish language, have been read for centuries and passed from mouth to mouth. Many new anecdotes, epics, and stories, the source of which is the Dede Korkut Book, have come into being in many corners of Anatolia. There will be speeches here for two days about Dede Korkut, who left these wonderful stories, which every child and Turkish citizen should definitely read, as a legacy to us, his descendants. Dede Korkut stories have left an impact on our people. I hope that this information festival, where 25 papers will be presented, will be beneficial for our country and our people. I would like to thank our valuable rector for hosting.”
Dede Korkut’s Breath Still Lives in Our People
Bayburt University Rector Prof. Dr. Selçuk Coşkun stated that the Dede Korkut Symposium was held because the Dede Korkut Festivals have been held in Bayburt for over 15 years. Rector Coşkun said, “Dede Korkut’s breath still lives in our people. Dede Korkut has integrated into our culture and is like our blood and veins. Here, we gave TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu an honorary doctorate for his contributions to the Dede Korkut book. Hisarcıklıoğlu gave us the Dresden copy of Dede Korkut as a gift. When I looked at that book, I saw things that a Hacı Dede from Bayburt told us in rhyme from time to time. I realized that what Hacı Dede told us was in the Dede Korkut book. That Hacı Dede was illiterate. That is why I say that Dede Korkut still exists and continues to exist as a breath in the culture of our people. Approximately 20-21 cities are mentioned in Dede Korkut’s stories. One of these is Bayburt. There is inevitably an acculturation event related to Dede Korkut in this area. Hopefully, the scientific roots of these will be investigated and evaluated in this symposium. I think it will be a very useful symposium,” he said.
Dede Korkut Stories Are Also Our Story of Change
Prime Ministry Chief Advisor Vedat Bilgin stated that Dede Korkut stories are called with the local names of the places where they are found in every geography of the Turkish world and said, “When we go to Azerbaijan, Dede Korkut is Azerbaijani. When we go to Turkmenistan, he is from Turkmenistan. In Bayburt, he is from Bayburt. Culture is not something we produce by working from morning to night, it is formed within a history. What makes culture alive is its change. If Dede Korkut stories and legends are alive in Bayburt, it means this culture is alive. If Dede Korkut is told as wise words in the mouth of a Hacı Dede, it means this culture is alive. Legends and oral stories have a great role among the characteristics that shape the cultures of nomadic societies and give them a cultural pattern. They shape the culture. In modern society, ideology has taken its place. In our modernization process, within the principles that determine our worldview; contemporary writers, commentators, poets, those who will reinterpret and produce this culture have a great responsibility in transferring this oral culture, legends and stories to modern society. Dede Korkut stories are also our story of change. We find pre-Islamic traditions, words, and ways of thinking. At the same time, we find the new form that Turkish culture took during the process of Islamization itself. With the declarations here, we will find the sources and clues that will enrich our literature and world of thought, extending from Dede Korkut to the future,” he said.
Dede Korkut Stories Are at the Top of the King’s Works of Our Oral Culture
Bayburt Mayor Mete Memiş started his speech with a prayer from the Dede Korkut Book. Memiş said, “Dede Korkut stories are at the top of the king’s works of our oral culture. It will be more meaningful for us to build our future by reading these stories. Our culture, our beautiful Turkish, which tells our culture with 12 beautiful stories, our thousand-year-old cultural history, our cultural adventure, has been given life with Dede Korkut Stories. Those stories contain the epic dynamism of our nomadic life. There is a heroic spirit, national excitement in those stories, there are traces of the transition from nomadic culture to settled life, there are traces of the transition from nomadic culture to state formation. Most importantly, there is the rich power of expression in our beautiful Turkish in those stories. I think that it will be very beneficial to read and know the Dede Korkut stories in order to build our future and to carry our national culture to future generations better and more beautifully. I would like to express my gratitude to TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu for his contributions to the Dede Korkut book. I believe that this symposium will be instrumental in understanding Dede Korkut,” he said.
Our Youth Should Research and Learn Their History and Culture Well
Bayburt Governor Yusuf Odabaş drew attention to the fact that the citizens of the Republic of Turkey, the last state of a nation with an old and rich culture and history, should research Turkish culture in the best way possible, and said, “We are a nation that has the obligation to study our culture and transfer it to future generations in the best way possible. I would like to thank the sensitivity and sensibility of the Rectorate and academic staff of Bayburt University, who have fulfilled this responsibility, on this issue. Our youth, our youth, will include future generations. Therefore, our youth should not break away from their history. It should research and learn its history and culture well. Our biggest shortcoming is that we have not researched our culture and history as much as necessary. We have not been able to study our history and convey it to our youth in the way it is necessary. How much do our youth know about Dede Korkut’s thoughts and Dede Korkut stories? Our duty will be to convey these stories to our youth in the best way possible,” he said.
Turkish Language Association President Prof. Dr. Mustafa Kaçalin made the Symposium Opening Statement presentation. Kaçalin explained how Dede Korkut stories were introduced to the Turkish public opinion, the printing process of the stories’ manuscripts, and the relationship between the stories and Islamic sources.
Ardahan University President Prof. Dr. Ramazan Korkmaz made a welcoming speech at the opening. The sessions following the first session of the symposium will be held at Bayburt University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences Prof. Dr. Gökhan Budak Conference Hall. The symposium consists of seven sessions, four of which will be on the first day.
