Lev Nikolayevich Gumilev and His Ideas on Traditional Turkish Religion

Abstract

This study deals with tyhe ideas of Lev Nikolayevich Gumilev about the traditional Turkish religion. The Turks had a semi-sedentray life for many years, which caused us to gather insufficient information about their lifestyle and religion. Only the information collected from the neigboring civilization provided knowledge about the traditional Turkish religion. In this context, the information given by the Russian researchers is important. As the Russians were dominant in Central Asia especially in the 17th century, their cohabitation with the Turks there made them advantageous in reaching the information about the Turks, their customs, taraditions and beliefs. However, the information of the Russian researchers has never been adequately evaluated in Turkey. This study tries to contribute to the religious history of the Turks with regard the works of L. N. Gumilev. For this, we will use and follow his findings and methodology. However, as we do not have the sufficient knowledge of Russian language, we used L. N. Gumilev's work translated into Turkish in recent years. The introduction of study provides information on the Turkish religion, and then on writer's life and works. The study then examines the traditional Turkish religion and Lev Nikolayevich Gumilev's approach to Turkish religion.