Abstract
AN EXAMINATION ON THE UIGHUR VERSION OF GARİP AND SENEM FOLK STORY
Turkish nation has undergone several changes throughout history depending on social structure in terms of culture. Turks converted to permanent settlements from a nomadic lifestyle as a result of which they began to lose their warrior and active lives in time and shifted from saga period to story period. Folk stories in Turkish culture begin with Dede Korkut stories which reflect this cultural and literary change. These pieces consist of traces from both former Turkish life and Islamic and settled culture. Each of the stories can serve as independent stories. However, they constitute a whole in terms of theme and general structure. All stories are about events which occurred around Oguz begs. Uighurs, who are essential elements of Turkish culture, are living in Eastern Turkistan Autonomous Republic today and maintain their deep-rooted culture for centuries. One of the most important elements of this culture is written and oral literature. Folk stories told in Uyghur Turkish lands show similarities to those told in Anatolian lands. Among these stories, Garip and Senem took its place in Uyghur Turkish lands and was put into writing after being compiled from verbal sources. The story is about the love between Garip and Senem and the work is designed on the love of these two lovers. In this article an effort is paid to examine the episode structure of Garip and Senem story and motives developed depending on these episodes are addressed. The data will be collected through qualitative research method in the study and document analysis will be performed.
Keywords
Garip and Senem, Folk Story, Uighur, version, Turkish world, Âşık Garip.