Erzurum in the Turkmen Version of Koroglu Legend

Abstract

In the Turkmen version of Koroglu Legend, there exist lots of country, city and place names belonging to the Turkish world and neighboring folks. The places in the legend are not only composed of Turkmen lands and neighbors, but there are other extraordinary places like Kaf Mountain as well. The hero of the legend, Koroglu, has connections with neighboring places because of various reasons. In the most of the sections, Koroglu organizes wars against the neighboring countries and cities. He imposes a tax on some of those countries and cities. Arzılum (Erzurum) is also one of the cities in which Koroglu is interested. Although it’s far from Turkmen geography, Erzurum takes place in the Turkmen version of the legend. The city is described in details. In the most sections of the legend, the name and the characteristics of the city, particularly “Erhasan and Tellihan” take place. In this study, the materials related to Erzurum, which is located in twenty one sections of the Turkmen version of Koroglu Legend, have been analyzed. The information given about the city has been evaluated, particularly by moving from the section of “Erhasan and Tellihan”.