THE IMPORTANCE OF KIPCHAK TURKISH TEXTS WITH ARMENIAN LETTERS IN TURKISH HISTORY

Abstract

The Kipchaks named by Russians as “Polovets, Polovtsi Palawtz”, Byzantines and Latins “Cumanos, Kumanon, Cumanus, Komani, Cuman”, Germans “Falben, Falbe, Falones”, French “Coman, Poles, Planner”, Czechs “Plawci” other Western nations and Armenians “Khiptchakhs, Khartes, Hartes”, Georgians “Kivjak”, Hungarians “Kun, Paloch”, Chinese “K'inch'a, Kinchak”, Mongols “Kibcag”, Muslim nations “Kipchak, Kipchak, Kipchaks” have an important place among the Turkish people who came from Central Asia to the north of the Black Sea, the Balkans and Central Europe. Although they occupied a wide area in today's Ukraine, Moldova, part of Russia, Belarus and Poland, they could not emerge as a political union and could not establish a Kipchak state in the “Deşt-i Kıpçak”, also known as “Kipchak Steppe” since the beginning of the 12th century. The Kipchaks, intertwined with different nations and cultures in such a wide geography, left many written texts using the alphabets of different nations due to their inability to establish a political unity. Arabic letters were used in texts related to literature, religion, military and veterinary medicine in the Mamluk field in the 14th and 15th centuries, while Armenian letters were used in texts written on many different subjects such as history, law, religion, literature, language and chemistry in the north of the Black Sea in the 16th and 17th centuries. In this study, information was given about the texts written in Kipchak Turkish with Armenian letters in the north of the Black Sea between 1521-1699. The scanning model was used as a method and the treasure, consisting of approximately 30,000 pages, which is preserved in different libraries around the world, has been tried to be presented. Especially chronicles, historical documents and records were evaluated in terms of Turkish history. It is stated that the texts provide first-hand data opportunity for those working in fields such as General Turkish History and Ottoman History. As the texts are reliable and original, they may strengthen Turkish historical studies. The texts are both well organized and accessible, so these features may provide great convenience in historical studies. In addition, it was underlined that the fact that the chronicles, which are a first-hand source for social sciences and humanities, have different manuscripts, can make an important contribution to questioning and analyzing information. In the conclusion part, it was discussed why the texts which about history, law, religion, literature, language, chemistry; written in Kipchak Turkish by using Armenian letters have an important place in Turkish history.