From ‘Struggle’ to ‘Debate’: A Conventional Look at the Source of Debate in Turkish Literature

Abstract

The debate is a style that has been used extensively both in eastern and western literature. Hence, there are many, very different considerations about the source of this style. Westerners accept that the debate has reached them from ancient pre-Asian civilizations through Greek and Latin literatures. Notably, Fuad Köprülü, researchers such as Meserret Diriöz and Orhan Şaik Gökyay claimed that the debate style first took shape in oral literature traditions of the Turks, and was passed onto Arab and Persian literature. It has recently come up with a distinctive structure and a rich variety of subjects. However, in Turkish, Iranian, Arabic, and western literatures, the debate style closely-shares similarities and common features between the structure, performance, and performance context. Based on these similarities and common features, we examine the source of the debate in Turkish literature from a conventional point of view. Likewise, the struggle for superiority, namely the wars, which constitutes the most important part of the Turks social life, forms the basis of the debate style. On the one hand, the “right arm” and the “left arm” structure of the Turks has become effective in the development of the debate style and on the other hand, provided this style to survive till date. Therefore, the “wars” have a direct effect on the embodiment of the debate in the Turks. In this context, the study has suggested that the ability and understanding of the Turks toward wars constitute a source for debate style.