TURKISH HUMANİSM AND THE POETRY OF YUNUS EMRE

Abstract

Humanism has been an abiding tradition in Turkish culture from the earliest times until the present day. Before settling in Anatolia and conversion to islam , Turks had already acquired humanistic attitudes as a result of the vicissitudes they experienced in long periods of exodus and brief sojourns - -changes of locale, shifting cultural orientation, new religious affiliations, warfare against many nations and communities, struggle for survival in the face of natural disasters -ali of which created a sense of life's impermaneney as well as the eoneept of the human element withstanding the ravages of a hostile world. Contact with diverse peoples gave the Turks a faculty for easy intercourse based on latitudinarian views. Cataclysmic social and cultural changes instilled in them a sense of confidence in the human value rather than reliance on institutions.