TY  - JOUR
TI  - GYPSIES IN TURKISH LITERATURE
AB  - Gypsies' homeland is India. They are given names like Roma, Çigan,Çingen, Kıpti, Karaçı, Poşa in Turkey. When Gypsies first come to Europe,they arouse curiosity and do not face any discrimination. However, theyare soon accused of being cheating, bad and useless. One of the threeroutes they spread to the world is the route they crossed to Europe viaAnatolia. According to the official records of the 16th century, they havesettled in many regions of Anatolia. One of the first works to mentionthem is Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname (Travel Book). In this work, EvliyaÇelebi describes Balat Gypsies as thieves and famous waylayers. It isseen that prejudices about Gypsies have not changed in Turkishliterature since Çelebi. Gypsies are not accepted as they are in manyworks, such as Ahmet Midhat Efendi's Gypsy, one of the first worksdealing with Gypsies. The most important condition for them to get rid ofbeing the other is to comply with the society in which they live. Forexample, in some works, being a Muslim is emphasized as a basiccondition. In some works, it is stated that they should work in regularjobs or they should dress like everyone else as well. In this context,writers who deal with Gypsies and seem to approach them from a positiveperspective use them to impose their view of life. The aim is not to defendthe way Gypsies live. As a result, in Turkish literature, some writers tryto understand them and try to look at the Gypsies from the inside, as wellas those who evaluate them with hundreds of years of myths and whatthey see from the outside. However, it is understood that the Gypsiescannot be fully understood due to the thick defense walls they buildaround them.
AU  - Oymak, Alparslan
DO  - 10.29228/TurkishStudies.23463
PY  - 2019
JO  - Turkish Studies - Language and Literature
VL  - 14
IS  - 3
SN  - 2667-5641
SP  - 1417
EP  - 1435
DB  - TRDizin
UR  - http://search/yayin/detay/367065
ER  -