Abstract:

Bayburtlu Zihni is a poet and author who was born during the reign of Selim III (1789-1807), and produced his works during significant reformers namely Mahmut II (1808-1839) and Sultan Abdulmecid (1839-1861) during whose reigns great wars of Ottoman Empire broke out. The fact that he reflected the incidents of his time made Bayburtlu Zihni a different author than his colleagues both in classical Turkish literature and folk literature. It is not compulsory for art that a poet/an author should touch upon in his works historical incidents/figures, or deal with social and economic upheavals. However, it can be mentioned that this situation is common in Turkish folk poetry –especially in the type of epic. Above all, 19th century minstrels were very successful at touching upon the defective points of the state, the reasons of the lost wars and the reforms that were carried out. Bayburtlu Zihni is one of the poets who reflected the incidents of his period in his poetry. In this paper, Hart Epic about 1828-1829 Russo-Turkish War, Akkâ Epic about the reclamation of Syria from Mehmet Ali Pasha in 1840 and Sinop epic in which Maritime Disaster in Sinop in 1853 during Crimean War all of which took place in Bayburtlu Zihni’s Sergüzeştnâme will be analyzed and discussed with the evidence from history.

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