Literature
Turkish literature was influenced by Iranian influence, but its origins go back to time, before the Seljuks took Anatolia, that is, the period, when they were in Central Asia. Iranian influences meant the use of Persian and Arabic. Court literature from the Seljuk times had its center in Konya, and folk literature did not yet constitute a separate trend. Sultan Veled is considered to be the precursor of Turkish literature (1226 – 1312), leader of the Mevlewite order. He began to use the Turkish language in his poems, which henceforth became more and more common. Initially, literature was exclusively of a sacred character, even scientific works. While at the beginning poets and writers belonged to the order of the Dervishes and preached ideas in accordance with the Shiite spirit, that is, equality of people and religion, seeking reconciliation with God and the pursuit of ecstasy, the poets of the Ottoman era limited themselves to court ideology. First of all, they praised the joy of life (in works called gazelles), and their creativity was based on searching for artistic forms, modeling on Arabic and Persian poetry, which led to the misuse of foreign vocabulary and the destiny of poetry only for the upper classes. It was the so-called. carpet literature (divan – "Collection of poems").
W XV w. a lot of space was devoted to the translations of the works of the Persian masters of the pen, but a few talents have grown up in Turkey as well. Mehmed II himself left a large divan with approx. 80 poems and wrote exclusively in Turkish. Mihri Hatun can also be mentioned here, called "Sappho the Ottoman", who lived and died a virgin. Her art was simple and natural, she often praised her unadulterated virtue in her poems. Court literature flourished in the 16th century. One of its most prominent representatives was a certain Baki (1526 – 1600) called "the sultan of poets". He reformed poetry, by adjusting the time signature (unit of measure in line) Persian to the needs of the Turkish language. Satirical creativity began to be born, on which the moralist fabulist Nasreddin Hoca was based. It was also based on folk art, tradition passed from mouth to mouth through successive generations.
W XIX w. prose developed in Turkey, modeled on Western literature, especially in French prose. Ataturk's time is not only a revolution in politics, but also in literature. First of all, cleaning of Arab and Persian accretions was ordered, which have so far occupied a prominent place in Turkish literature. Then a new alphabet was introduced, modeled on the Latin alphabet, in order to get even closer to Europe. This translated into literature, which has become more affordable for the majority of society, although there were voices as well, that after all, the Arabic alphabet is not necessarily more difficult to learn than its Latin counterpart. The crux of the program to eradicate widespread illiteracy, that is, establishing a network of secular schools in the provinces and cities, and the obligation to attend these houses. In the first years after independence, this topic was of paramount importance, along with something relatively new in Turkey, nationalism., what can be called national literature. The most famous Turkish poet in the world of the 20th century. was Nazim Hikmet, by the way, great-grandson of a Polish insurgent in the Ottoman service, Konstanty Borzęcki.