Kutadgu Bilig’in Türk Maliye Tarihi Açısından Önemi

Abstract

Yusuf Has Hâcip’s work named Kutadgu Bilig is an important source of Turkish history. It has garnered attention from many scientists from different disciplines due to the rich information it contains. However, economics and finance scientists do not show the same interest in Kutadgu Bilig. This indifference has caused a serious lack of knowledge in how Turks understand and apply financial structure and relations in state and social life. Therefore, this study aims to determine the information about the financial structure of the state, its officials, and how the relations should ABSTRACT Rich texts that hide the accumulations of past periods are in works written by statesmen. In Turkish history, including Arab and Iranian history, the personalities who assumed important roles in the life of society and the state, especially with the acceptance of Islam, wrote works called nasihatname/poli-tics. One of the most important works is Yusuf Has Hâcip’s “Kutadgu Bilig/Information Giving Hap-piness”. Yusuf Has Hâcip commentates with an educative/didactic turn of phrase over characters (Kün-Togdı/Kagan, Ay-Toldı/Vizier, Ogdilmis/Vizier’s Son, Odgurmıs/Vizier’s Relative) which com municated how relations should be taught and that state officials should have virtue. financial relations and determination of the qualifications of financial officials. it was a simpler financial orga-nization compared to today since nowadays the services from the state are incomparably limited. However, similarities in quality draw Especially in how balancing the treasury, taxes, income, and expenses for the continuation of the state and social life were emphasized. Making expenditures according to revenues and finding a source immediately when there is a new expense reminds us of the meticulousness of Classical Economists for budget balancing. The taxes used in fi-nancing the security service show that taxes are used in terms of their financial function. It is also quite meaningful that a ruler is expected to be meticulous about maintaining the value of silver as the medi-um of exchange. be/should not be in Kutadgu Bilig. Screening-classification-analysis-criticism-composition method, which is widely used in historical studies, was chosen. The main conclusions reached by this method are: the emphasis on justice is in the foreground of the work. The army is very important for the survival of the state. However, a strong army owes its existence financially to a powerful treasury. For a powerful treasure there must be rich citizens. The condition for people to be rich is also through right and fair laws. However, financial managers must be moral and knowledgeable. These results show that the information in Kutadgu Bilig is still relevant, despite being about 1000 years old. Simultaneously, these results document that Kutadgu Bilig is a very important work of Turkish financial history.