Abstract:

Akhism, dating back to the time of the Turkey Seljuks in its origin, is a professional association organized as tariqa which was also continued by Ottomans. Futuwwas, being a kind of regulations of akhism, advice helping each other, contributing to union members and thus, becoming a role model of a human being. Such advices bear the traces of potlach alleged as a universal culture around the world before the period of monotheistic religions. Potlatch is a name given to the exchange festivals in Chinook language in the North American Indian communities. On the basis of the opuses of three Turkish futuwwa authors, Burgazi, Sheikh Sayyid Hussein and Radavi declaring the akhism norms, in this paper it will be examined whether or not the potlatch known as a gift or donation culture and the akhism resemble and differ from each other in some ways.

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