Yunus Emre: A Great power in Contemporary Turkish Society

Yunus Emre was Sufi dervish of Anatolia and little details were said about his life. However, the love for him and for his liberating poetry is echoed through the fact that many villages claim to be his birthplace, and many others declare to hold his tomb. In addition, different sources put him in different centuries, and many desire for a respect of association with this great poet.

Some researchers claim that Yunus likely lived from AD1240-1241 to 1320-21. He was understood to be one of the members of a family from the Karaman region who migrated from Horasan to the village of Seyh Haci Ismail. The head of Yunus' family Seyh Haci Ismail thought to be the founder of this village when they moved to Anatolia with his followers called "cemaat”.

Yunus poetry demonstrates a deep personal mysticism, humanism and love for God. He is one of the wandering hippies of 60's with torn clothing, and a person who loved to love like a true mystic. He wandered around Anatolia with turn clothing, called a dervish robe. He was a Sufi dervish of Islam, and shared an exceptional part in Turkish literature, philosophy and culture.

Many writers considered him as the most important poet in Turkish history and gave a great impact in Turkish culture. In various ways this can be seen. There were days that purifying Turkish language was a struggle. Yunus poetry becomes the prime example of the dialect of Anatolian peasants. Many authors declare that many idioms in everyday language are actually verses from his poetry.

Furthermore, Yunus life is a manifestation of a restructured personality of Rumi, who lived in the same region. Rumi wrote his compilation of stories and songs for an intellectual urban group of Sufis, who writes primarily in the literary language of Persian. On the other hand, Yunus Emre traveled and taught among the rural poor, singing his songs in the Turkish language of the common people.

His philosophy, metaphysics and humanism have been evaluated in various many symposiums and conferences on a daily basis not only in Turkey and but abroad. His poetry has been given different translations, and historians consider his method of ideas as important evidences about thirteenth-century Anatolia. Yunus life turned out to be the focus of vast study and argument among both Turkish and foreign scholars. As a result, Yunus' reputation becomes more accepted among the Anatolian people and marked him as one of the most important cultural figure in Turkey’s history.

The rest of his life - whether he is wandering or dervish or a Seyh of a tekke, including his Sufi order, his poetry, and his death are all mysteries, with various sources giving different interpretations. Well, the historical details of Yunus life would not be that important but how common people of Anatolia viewed his life. This is disclosed very well in legends and poetry; some people even propose that "Yunus" is actually a school of thought in 13th century Anatolia, not a single person. This only shows how Yunus influence the lives of contemporary Turkish society.



Few poems of Yunus Emre...

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