Abstract:

Although there are different rumors about the birthplace of Yunus Emre, who is known as the sufi Turkish poet, according to scientific research and studies carried out in recent years, he was born in a place around the Sakarya River in Central Anatolia and he lived in the zawiyah in Emrem Sultan, close to Nallıhan, in Tapduk Emre Lodge. He is also famous as a wise symbol person who played a role in the fermentation of Anatolia. Although it is mostly and widely accepted that Yunus Emre was an illiterate, it is evaluated that Yunus Emre may have had a good education life, although it is not clear whether he received a madrasa education or not, in the evaluations made considering his works. There are rumors that he knows Persian well and that he was even educated in Konya. However, the knowledge that Yunus possesses consists of divine love and good morals that he gained through inspiration. It can only be learned from a Murshid-i Kamil. Therefore, it is more appropriate to think that Yunus may have received his education in the lodge and mystical environment in which he grew up. Yunus Emre's master is Tapduk Emre (his silsilas: Tapduk Emre, Barak Baba and Sarı Saltuk), but there is no definite information about the sect he belonged to; in fact, it is seen that there are very different opinions on this subject. While some researchers interrelate his pirs to Khorasan, they state that he was a Sufi who belonged to the Nakshi, Halveti, Mevlevi, Kalenderi, Bektashi and Yeseviyye or Kadiri sects. A complicated situation similar to the information about Yunus Emre's birth and life is also in question regarding the date of his death and the place of burial. Despite different rumors, the fact that many scientists, especially M. Fuad Köprülü, accepted the date of Yunus' death as 1320, has led it to be adopted as a more acceptable view today. There are tombs and maqam of Yunus in many parts of Anatolia and Azerbaijan. These show that Yunus Emre participated in the conversations in the places he traveled to, that he was loved and that his memory was kept alive. The places where tombs attributed to Yunus Emre are found in Anatolia are as follows: Eskişehir Sarıköy (now known as Yunusemre Village), Karaman, Kırşehir, Aksaray / Ortaköy, Bursa, Manisa / Kula Emresultan Village, Erzurum Dutçu Village, Isparta / Keçiborlu, Gönen, İzmir / Tire, Bolu, Balıkesir / Bandırma, Konya / Doğanhisar, Afyon / Sandıklı, Ankara / Nallıhan Emremsultan Village, Sivas and Ordu / Ünye. In addition to these, there is a maqam in the Kâh region of Azerbaijan. Tomb structures as a building type that we encounter in the Islamic world with different names such as Tomb, Kumbet, Makam, Mashhad, Buk'a, Darih, Kubbe, Ravza, Medfen, Merkad, and constructed in behalf of administrators and their family members, well-known religious leaders or statesmen who are loved and respected by the public are considered as a very important architectural group also with the terminology that can be used interchangeably from time to time due to the definitions reflecting the architectural character of the building in addition to the social, religious and political group that these people have with their authority and position, and finally it is observed that they are made with the same magnificence for the scholars and people of mysticism in the Turkish world in the 14th and 15th centuries. The tombs of the scholars and of the people who gained power of attorney in terms of religion gained the attribution of a hankah, a pilgrimage site with new additions, like the Hodja Ahmet Yesevi Tomb in today's Kazakhstan city of Turkestan and led to the birth of a 'saint' cult in their place becoming a destination on the routes of pilgrims over time. As the Central Asian Muslim-Turkish people transformed some cemeteries and tombs into sanctified places by creating a cult of 'saints', these tombs were longer lasting than the tombs of rulers, heroes or political leaders, and were more resistant to the corrosion through centuries. In this sense, graves and tombs belonging to Yunus Emre, which can be considered as a product of a similar understanding, draw attention as examples of the very valuable places and structures of the Turkish world, and this study aims to interpret and examine these structures belonging to different time periods within the framework of Turkish-Islamic burial traditions and customs.