BALKAN TÜRKOLOJİ ARAŞTIRMALARI MERKEZİ, Year 2025 Issue 43

TWO MANUSCRIPTIONS ABOUT SULTAN MEHMET THE CONQUEROR FOUND IN THE BALKANS

Nimetullah HAFIZ , , — 2025-11-23

As part of my research on the compilation of Turkish folk literature
texts in the Balkans, I conducted extensive fieldwork in various cities
and villages across Kosovo, including Prizren, Mamusha, Gjakova,
Peja (Ipek), Pristina, Vushtrri (Vulcitrin), Mitrovica, Gjilan, and Dobruçan. During this period, I carried out investigations in private lib
raries as well as in the lodges of the Bektashi, Rifai, Qadiri, and Halveti
Sufi orders. Through these studies, I identified numerous original ma
nuscripts from the Ottoman period, including handwritten documents,
genealogies, cönks, miscellanies, and divans. Subsequently, I expanded
my research to the state libraries of North Macedonia, Bosnia and Her
zegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro, where I documented many previo
usly unknown works, historical records, and waqfiyyas (foundation de
eds) authored by Ottoman-era Turkish writers. During this research, I
discovered two particularly significant manuscripts related to Sultan
Mehmet the Conqueror. The first is a two-page manuscript titled “Se
venth Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror Ibn Murad Sani,” preserved in the
Blazhe Koneski State Library in Skopje. The second is a fifteen-page
manuscript titled “Derbeyan-ı Mahmud Pasha.” Both manuscripts pro
vide new historical insights into the reign of Sultan Mehmed the Conqu
eror and constitute valuable primary sources for Ottoman studies. The
refore, publishing their transcriptions and facsimiles will contribute sig
nificantly to the advancement of scholarly research in this field.

THE POEM “PROMETHEUS” AND TURKISH MODERNIZATION

Bilge Ercilasun — 2025-11-23

Tevfik Fikret, one of the leading artists of the Servet-i Fünun pe
riod, is one of the most powerful poets in Turkish poetry. Fikret’s art
has two phases: 1. During the Servet-i Fünun period, the poet exhibits
a passive and introverted structure. 2. After 1901, he turned to social
issues and wrote poems that harshly criticize his era. In these poems, he
also addressed the idea of society’s modernization.
The poem Prometheus is one of these. In this poem, Fikret told the
youth to go to civilized countries and bring civilization to their home
land. He holds up Prometheus -who stole fire from the heavens and gif
ted it to humanity- as an example for them. The civilized countries refer
to Western states. The youth will go to Europe, learn everything related
to science and knowledge there, and bring it back to their own country.
For this, they must work tirelessly.
What Fikret desires in this poem was realized by Atatürk through
a series of revolutions after the establishment of the Turkish Republic.
Starting from 1925, Turkish youth were sent to Europe for education in
every field. Thus, experts were trained in a wide variety of areas such
as law, economics, fine arts, medicine, sciences, and military affairs,
thereby fulfilling Fikret’s wish. Moreover, all of this was accomplished
in a very short time.
Atatürk expresses the need for progress and modernization menti
oned in the poet’s poem as follows: “To surpass contemporary civiliza
tion.” In other words, the goal is not just to catch up, but to overtake. It
is to become the leader of that civilization, that civilized world. In this
way, Atatürk sets a more comprehensive goal before the Turkish nation:
to become the world’s number one state, one of the world’s advanced
and civilized nations.
The Republic of Turkey achieved this in a short time. During Ata
türk’s era, the Turkish nation became one of the world’s respected and
modern states.

INTERTEXTUAL RELATIONS IN SECOND NEW POETRY: PARODY AND PASTICHE

Muhammed YAKUPİ , — 2025-11-23

The Second New poetry, which is considered a milestone in Tur
kish literature of the Republican period, began in the mid-1950s and its
influence continued until today. This poetry movement, which we en
countered for the first time in an article published by Muzaffer İlhan
Erdost, was evaluated such as a modernist movement by literary rese
archers. The poets of the Second New movement have created a distin
ctive language and image in their poems. They have enriched the mea
ning and expression possibilities with different techniques in the topics
and left a significant impact on modern Turkish poetry. This study has
been investigated the purposes and functions of intertextual methods such as parody and pastiche in the Second New poetry, with examples
from the works.

SKOPJE IN THE POEMS OF FETTAH RAUF

Zeki GÜREL — 2025-11-23

While the artist bears witness to his era, his works reflect the culture
and geography into which he was born and in which he lived. Many
poets and writers have included in their works the geography in which they lived, their homeland, the city where they resided, and the places
within that city. One of these poets is Abdül Fettah Rauf from Skopje.
Abdül Fettah Rauf was born in Skopje in 1910. He was educated in his
hometown and later taught at the Meddah Madrasa where he had stu
died. In Yugoslavia, of which he was a citizen, he was accused of com
mitting crimes against the regime and was imprisoned. He endured
many hardships. When he passed away in 1963, he was buried in Butel
Cemetery in Skopje. In his poems, Fettah Rauf expressed his love for
his homeland as a requirement of his faith, while also portraying Skopje -the city where he was born and lived-together with its natural and cul
tural heritage. In these poems, he confided in the Vardar River, strolled
through Skopje’s Islahhane Park, grieved before the tomb of Kadı Baba,
and recalled history. As he gazed at the water wheels on the Vardar
River, he felt the oppression of his own time and shed silent tears, while
imagining the glorious days and beauties his nation and the ummah of
Muhammad had once experienced. He remembered and reminded ot
hers of Paşa Yiğit, the Conqueror of Skopje. As a poet who shared in
the troubles of his nation and the ummah, he never conveyed despair in
these poems; rather, amid the sorrow of ruin, he wrote with the deter
mination of revival and instilled hope.
In this paper, while commenting on Fettah Rauf’s depiction of
Skopje and his perspective on the city, we will highlight how his poems
bring Skopje into focus as a bridge between the past and the present.

POET ZEYNEL BEKSAÇ AND HİS LITERARY CREATIVITY

Taner GÜÇLÜTÜRK — 2025-11-23

Zeynel Beksaç, a multifaceted artist born in Prizren, Kosovo, stands
as one of the significant representatives of Turkish literature and culture
in the Balkans. Distinguished by his prolific output in poetry, journa
lism, painting, and music, Beksaç emerges as a pivotal figure in the
identity struggle, linguistic resistance, and cultural continuity of the
Turkish community in Kosovo. His works are broadly categorized into
two groups: those for children and those for adults. In his children’s
poetry, he adopts a didactic and lyrical style, exploring themes of love,
peace, friendship, and innocence. His adult-oriented poetry, on the ot
her hand, foregrounds virtues of humanity, the preservation of the Tur
kish language, Rumelian identity, and social critique. Synthesizing free
verse, syllabic meter, and the folk poetry tradition, Beksaç enriches his
texts with literary devices such as imagery, simile, and irony. Works
like “Gurur Duy Sen XX. Yüzyıl” (“Take Pride, 20th Century”), “Çet
refil Sevda” (“Complex Love”), and “Vurmazsam Namerdim (“If I
Don’t Strike, I Am Dishonorable”) exemplify originality in both form
and content within Kosovo’s Turkish literary landscape. His internati
onally acclaimed oeuvre embodies a resilient defense of the Turkish
language’s presence in the Balkans through art. Additionally, his efforts
in the “DOĞRU YOL” Turkish Culture and Arts Association and
“TÜRKÇEM” Magazine underscore his active role in transmitting cul
tural heritage. Beksaç’s literature blends individual and collective me
mory, reimagining universal human values through a local lens. In this
article, employing literary analysis is methodology, we aim to scrutinize
Beksaç’s literary creativity and meticulously identify the nuances of his
artistic qualities.

THE 1951 DECISION ON THE ESTABILISHMENT OF TURKISH LANGUAGE SCHOOLS IN KOSOVO

Altay Suroy RECEPOĞLU — 2025-11-23

The decision taken in 1951 to establish Turkish-language schools
in the Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija was not merely an
educational reform but a historic milestone in the construction of iden
tity, culture, and the consciousness of equal citizenship. This decision stands as one of the most concrete reflections of Yugoslavia’s socialist
era policy of a multiethnic society, granting the Turkish community in
Kosovo the right to be educated in their mother tongue and thereby la
ying the groundwork for the preservation of their cultural existence.
This study examines in detail the background of that decision, the
political and social climate of the period, the parliamentary discussions,
and the process of implementation, drawing upon archival documents,
eyewitness accounts, and contemporary press sources. The article app
roaches historical facts free from ideological bias, demonstrating that
Turkish-language education is not only a pedagogical right but also a
guarantee of social belonging, cultural continuity, and the preservation
of a multicultural social structure.
This work serves as a memorial document in the educational his
tory of the Turks of Kosovo. It bears academic value and aims to offer
a new perspective on minority rights, language policies, and cultural
identity debates within the Balkans.

NASREDDIN HODJA JOKES AND STORIES UNDER THE PILLOW TOLD IN PRIZREN

Ayser LESKOVCİ — 2025-11-23

In this study, among the oral narratives told in Prizren, a wide va
riety of fairy tales, stories, funny tales, religious tales have been compi
led and brought together. From an early age I had an interest in child
ren’s tales and stories. Before I started writing my own stories, I decided
to draw my path with the fairy tales my grandmother and my mother
told me. In March 2020, taking advantage of the pandemic-era curfew,
I first started compiling the fairy tales my grandmother told me and my
siblings. While starting this work so that the fairy tales would not be
forgotten, I also compiled and added the fairy tales that my mother, sis
ter and brother remembered. I gradually expanded this circle and started
to continue my research in a comprehensive manner. I conducted a
large-scale research by reaching out to spouses, friends, relatives, ne
ighbours and acquaintances. As a result of this five-year study, which
lasted from March 2020 to March 2025, I was able to reach a total of
146 narratives. Compared to past periods, this number can be said to be
small; however, it is very difficult to reach such a variety of narratives
today. Unfortunately, since the Turkish people of Prizren no longer tell
many tales, this cultural heritage is in danger of being forgotten, and
this is an undeniable fact.
I published the narratives I compiled for five years in the BAL
TAM Journal of Turkishness (S.36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42). First, twenty
five tales were written in standard Turkish and published in the 36th
and 37th issues of the BAL-TAM Journal of Turkishness. I not only
compiled fairy tales and stories, but also made comprehensive studies
on these compilations and completed my master’s thesis titled ‘An In
vestigation on Old Turkish Tales Compiled in Prizren’ in 2024. The
results I obtained in this study were also evaluated in my thesis study
and I am still continuing my research.

THE TRADITION OF MINSTRELSY (AŞIKLIK) IN KOSOVO AND THE BALKANS AND A PORTRAIT OF A KOSOVAR MINSTREL: AŞIK FERKI AND ALUŞ NUŞ

Taner GÜÇLÜTÜRK — 2025-11-23

This paper examines the historical roots of the Turkish folk and
minstrel (âşık) literature tradition in Kosovo and the Balkan region, its
connection to cultural identity, and its role in preserving oral heritage.
Originating from Central Asia and Anatolia and introduced to the regi
on with the spread of Ottoman-Turkish civilization, this tradition has
acquired a distinctive character in the Balkans. The study is supported
by fieldwork, compilations from cönk (folk poetry notebooks) and ant
hologies, as well as archival research within the framework of literary
history and folklore methodologies.
Kosovar Turkish folk literature has been enriched by genres such
as dastans (epic tales), koşmas (lyrical poems), muammas (riddles), and
semâis (rhythmic poems). However, a significant portion of these works
has been lost due to political changes following the Ottoman era and
unintentional cultural erosion.
A key focus of the study is the critical role of oral culture in susta
ining Turkish identity and cultural memory. Minstrels have served as
carriers of collective memory, performing both inherited works from
Anatolia and original compositions inspired by local themes. In this
context, Aşık Ferki of Prizren (1807–1908) stands out as one of the last
traditional representatives of the minstrel tradition in Kosovo. An ana
lysis of Ferki’s 21 dastans, taşlamas (satirical poems), and semâis reve
als elements of social critique, religious advice, and aesthetic ref-lecti
ons of everyday life. His works, marked by the Prizren dialect, blend
traditional forms with universal Turkish literature and local culture.
The minstrel tradition in Kosovo functioned as a cultural bridge,
preserving identity and collective memory through oral expression. Ho
wever, the tradition, in its classical form, came to an end with migration
and the new administrative structures that followed. The last represen
tative of this tradition in its modern-contemporary form is Aluş Nuş, who, using the tambur instead of the traditional saz, can be considered
one of the last living bearers of this tradition through his satirical and
critical poems performed in cultural and artistic settings. He is conside
red one of the last living heirs of this legacy. Modern dynamics such as
digitalization in the Balkans have further contributed to the decline of
this tradition.
Using the examples of Aşık Ferki and Aluş Nuş, this paper propo
ses that the remaining works from this heritage be documented, compi
led, published, and supported for intergenerational transmission thro
ugh academic research. This endeavor is of vital importance not only
for the Turkish community of Kosovo but also for the preservation of
the cultural pluralism of the Balkans.

Altay MISIRLI — 2025-11-23

Altay Suroy RECEPOĞLU — 2025-11-23

Taner GÜÇLÜTÜRK — 2025-11-23

BAL-TAM — 2025-11-23

Taner GÜÇLÜTÜRK — 2025-11-23

Şerafettin ÖMER — 2025-11-23