The “Workshop on the Tradition of Minstrelsy from Dede Korkut to Hicranî” was organized in collaboration with the Turkish Language Association and Bayburt University.

The “Workshop on the Tradition of Minstrelsy from Dede Korkut to Hicranî” was organized in collaboration with the Turkish Language Association and Bayburt University. The morning program of the workshop was held in two sessions with the participation of six academics. The afternoon program featured minstrels.

Bayburt University President Prof. Dr. Selçuk Coşkun, who made the opening speech of the workshop, said that Dede Korkut had a great meaning for Bayburt and drew attention to the fact that the title of the workshop was not a hypothetical title. President Coşkun reminded us of the words of Ord. Prof. Fuat Köprülü, “If you put Turkish literature on one side of the scale and Dede Korkut on the other, Dede Korkut would outweigh”, expressing Dede Korkut’s place in Turkish literature. Again, Rector Coşkun, who stated that Prof. Dr. Kaya Bilgegil said, “A man emerges from the book of Dede Korkut in Bayburt,” mentioned Aşık Hicrânî and emphasized the place and importance of Bayburt in Turkish Folk Literature.

Turkish Language Association President Prof. Dr. Mustafa S. Kaçalin said, “Love is the closeness of feeling to feeling. Love is the closeness of the soul to the soul. Love is the familiarity of the sex with the sex. Love is a state with the appearance of ivy and the sign of yellowing. Aşık is both a porter to Bukhari and a porter to this. Lovers cannot be smitten with each other, love cannot be held, the sun cannot be held. When what comes from the heart is uttered from the tongue, the lover’s hand cannot be held. The one who is captivated cannot be a lover. When the feeling does not revive, blood does not quiver. Let there be love for the one who is in love, praise be to the one who makes one fall in love.”

Deputy Chairman of Atatürk Culture, Language and History High Institution Mr. Zeki Eraslan expressed his satisfaction with the organization of such a program in his speech and stated that Bayburt is one of the geographies where the tradition of minstrelsy and folk literature culture is kept alive and that the tradition of minstrelsy has always been kept alive in Bayburt. Again, Eraslan touched on the rapid change in Bayburt in recent years and said that the university also made a great contribution to this and thanked Rector Prof. Dr. Selçuk Coşkun for this reason.

Bayburt Governor İsmail Ustaoğlu mentioned the ancientness of Bayburt city and expressed that it raised very important figures such as Dede Korkut, Zihnî, Celâlî, Hicrânî, Ağlar Baba. He also stated that universities have always been the pioneers of social and cultural change in the geography they belong to and that Bayburt University contributed to this change with this program.

Atatürk University faculty members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nesrin Feyzioğlu, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gülhan Atnur, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Özgür Güvenç, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bahadır Gücüyeter and Bayburt University faculty members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hamdi Güleç and Asst. Prof. Dr. Turgay Kabak participated as panelists in the Minstrel Tradition Workshop from Dede Korkut to Hicrânî. Our minstrels who have made important contributions to the survival of folk literature, Âşık Kazanoğlu, Âşık Eminoğlu, Âşık Süphani, Âşık Baki and Âşık Piroğlu, also participated in the afternoon program.