Research on the Literature of the Anatolian-Balkan Turks in the Context of the First Turkological Congress

Abstract

Theodor Theodorovich Menzel’s scientific views on the literature of the Anatolian-Balkan Turks are closely connected with the historical development of the Turkic literary heritage, its source base, and the research perspectives. The literary and cultural formation of Turkic peoples clears within the broader framework of their interactions with Arab, Persian, Byzantine, Chinese, and Indian civilizations. The long-standing dominance of Arabic and Persian languages complicated the independent evaluation of national literary traditions, while genres of folk literature preserved the ancient foundations of the Turkic literary heritage. The tradition of tezkire writing, the contributions of European Turkology, particularly the studies of Radlov, Kunos, Gibb, Gordlevsky, Krymsky, and Fuad Köprülüzade, are of particular importance. The publication of manuscripts, the collection of periodical materials, and the preparation of fundamental monographs are identified as a key direction for the scientific study of the history of Turkic literature. This approach characterizes the literature of the Anatolian-Balkan Turks as an inseparable part of the common Turkic literary-cultural process and provides a solid basis for its systematic research within the broader context of world literature.