Erzurum to host first Dede Korkut Festival

The Erzurum branch of the Turkish Language and Literature Association (TDED), in collaboration with the Erzurum Metropolitan Municipality, will organize the first Dede Korkut Festival. The event is set to take place at the foot of Avnik Castle in the Güzelhisar neighborhood of Köprüköy.

Murat Ertaş, President of the TDED Erzurum Branch, noted that many of the 13 known Dede Korkut stories are set in the Eastern Anatolia region, specifically in Erzurum and the Pasin Plain. He emphasized that while the cultural geography of Dede Korkut is often mistakenly associated solely with Central Asia, the stories are deeply rooted in locations such as Erzurum, Nakhchivan, Bayburt, Trabzon, and Abkhazia.

The festival aims to highlight Erzurum's central role in these epic texts, which describe the lives of Muslim Turks during the 11th and 12th centuries. Historical events mentioned in the stories, such as the capture of Avnik Castle by the Oguz Turks and the rise of Bamsi Beyrek in the Pasin Plain, are tied to the region.