Özet:

It is possible to follow the knowledge on the historical background of the Karapapak (Terekeme) Turks with the data based on archive documents. These data indicate that the Karapapak / Terekeme Turks have settled around today’s Georgia and its environs since the ancient times. Converted to Islam to a large extent with the Seljuk conquest of Georgia, the Karapapak / Terekeme Turks are claimed to be formed by coalescing with the Oghuz and Kipchak Turks since the territory they dwelt was on the route of migration of the latter. In this respect, especially the Karapapak / Terekeme Turks, who live in the Borchaly region of Georgia, define themselves as Kipchak Turks. The classifications relating to Turkey Turkish dialects approach the Turkish dialect spoken by the Karapapak / Terekeme Turks of Kars and Ardahan (Turkey) as a sub-branch of the Kars dialects of the Eastern group. The Karapapak / Terekeme dialect offers interesting data owing to the sound, structure and vocabulary characteristics. This study provides background information about the Karapapak / Terekeme Turks who mostly live in Kars and Ardahan (Turkey). Furthermore, the study shortly touches on their dialectal characteristics and identifies the vowel harmonies and, together with the underlying reasons, the vowel irregularities and irregularity tendencies in the dialect of the Karapapak / Terekeme Turks who inhabit the villages of Cildir, Ardahan, Turkey. As a result of the analyzes, it has been determined that although the Cildir Karapapak / Terekeme dialect exhibits strong features for both harmony, there are occasional deterioration and unfinished vowel harmony events. The exemplary words provided in this article were obtained from the studies held by the researchers in the relevant areas.