Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The Dede Korkut Tales are among the fundamental texts that should be regarded not only as literary heritage but also as historical, sociocultural, and ideological memory sites. With their multi-layered structure, these narratives provide significant insights into the value system, cultural codes, and identity construction processes of Turkish society. This study analyzes the figure of the Georgian in Dede Korkut tales from historical, cultural, and narratological perspectives, with particular attention to the contributions of the Turkmen Sahra Manuscript. The analysis focuses on three core tales — The Sacking of the House, Uruz’s Captivity, and Rescue — to demonstrate how the Georgian figure is represented and transformed. Constructed not merely as an enemy, the Georgian is portrayed as a negotiable other who reshapes cultural boundaries. Methodologically, the article combines postcolonial theory, intertextual analysis, and cultural narrative analysis to examine the role of the Georgian figure in the formation of Oghuz identity. Characters such as Şökli Melik and Başı-Açuk are interpreted not only as opponents in battle but also as agents of narrative transformation and cultural hybridization. The new variants in the Turkmen Sahra Manuscript reveal that this narrative universe is not static but continually expanding and open to transformation. The study concludes that the enemy figure in Dede Korkut Tales is not fixed but dynamically reconstructed according to historical, religious, and cultural contexts. Thus, the tales function not only as epic traditions but also as dynamic and multi-layered texts where identity, otherness, and cultural boundaries are negotiated. By analyzing the Georgian figure, the article highlights two interrelated dimensions: the projection of Turkish-Georgian relations in cultural memory and the contribution of these narratives to contemporary identity debates. The thirteenth tale is examined alongside the twelve canonical tales, demonstrating that Georgian figures and other border characters appear across the entire Dede Korkut corpus.
Author: Gül Mükerrem Öztürk
Institution: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4417306537