Epic of Ergenekon

Lore & Background

The Epic of Ergenekon exists in both Turkic and Mongolic versions. In the Turkic version, the myth explains the foundation of the First Turkic Khaganate. Following a military defeat, the ancient Turks took refuge in the legendary Ergenekon valley, where they were trapped for four centuries. They were finally released when a blacksmith created a passage by melting the mountain, allowing the gray wolf Asena to lead them out. The people then founded the Turkic Khaganate, with the valley as its capital. A New Year's ceremony commemorates this legendary escape.

In the Mongolic version, as told in the 14th-century literary history Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, Ergenekon was the refuge of the progenitors of the Mongols, Nekuz and Qiyan. Abulghazi Bahadur, khan of the Khanate of Khiva, also recounted this version in his 17th-century work 'Shajara-i Turk'.

Etymology of the name is disputed. According to Kazakh philologist Nemat Kelimebov and other Turkic-origin advocates, Ergenekon derives from Old Turkic roots meaning 'encampment in a mountain gorge'. According to academics like Russian linguist Zoriktuev, who attribute the myth to Mongolic peoples, the name derives from the Argun River and a word meaning 'high plateau with steep slopes'.

Reader's Guide

The Epic of Ergenekon has been a significant cultural and political symbol, especially in Turkish nationalism. In the late Ottoman era, it was used in Turkish literature by nationalist movements, describing a mythical Turkic place of origin in the Altay Mountains. Ahmed Vefik Pasha translated Shajara-i Turk into Ottoman in 1864. Ziya Gökalp and Ömer Seyfettin published poems on the epic in 1913-1914. Rıza Nur translated Shajara-i Turk into modern Turkish in 1925.

After the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923, Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu first connected the myth to the Republic's founding. The myth became a story of Turkic survival with the help of the totem wolf (bozkurt), which remains a symbol of Turkish nationalism. During the early republican era, especially in the 1930s, the tale was promoted with Pan-Turkism and included in history textbooks. Şevket Süreyya Aydemir consubstantiated the epic with the Turkish revolution in 1933. The wolf motif was added in a new Turkish version by the Ministry of National Education. According to Ergün Candan, the she-wolf Asena may symbolize the dog star Sirius.

Did You Know?

• The name Ergenekon may derive from Old Turkic words meaning 'encampment in a mountain gorge' or from the Argun River and a Mongolian word for 'high plateau with steep slopes'.
• In the Turkic version, the Turks were trapped in Ergenekon for four centuries before a blacksmith melted a mountain to free them.
• The gray wolf Asena led the Turks out of Ergenekon in the Turkic version.
• The epic was used in Turkish nationalist literature in the late Ottoman era and promoted in Turkish history textbooks during the 1930s.