Ergenekon (sometimes spelled ''Ergeneqon'', mn, Эргүнэ хун, Ergüne khun) is a

founding myth An origin myth is a myth that describes the origin of some feature of the natural or social world. One type of origin myth is the creation or cosmogonic myth, a story that describes the creation of the world. However, many cultures have sto ...

of Turkic and Mongolic peoples.
āmiʿ al-tawārīkh

Abulghazi Bahadur Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur ( uz, Abulgʻozi Bahodirxon, Abulgazi, Ebulgazi, Abu-l-Ghazi, August 24, 1603 – 1663) was Khan of Khiva from 1643 to 1663. He spent ten years in Persia before becoming khan, and was very well educated, writing two historical ...

,
Genealogy of the Turk

Etymology

There are conflicting etymological theories about the origin of the word ''Ergenekon.'' According to academics such as Russian linguist Zoriktuev, who attribute the myth originally to Mongolic peoples, the name was derived from the Argun River (''Ergune'') and ''kun,'' which in the Old Mongolian language meant a high plateau with steep slopes. According to Zoriktuev it's not possible for it to be derived from Old Turkic, since the place name and the

dastan Dastan ( fa, داستان ''dâstân'', meaning "story" or "tale") is an ornate form of oral history from Central Asia, Iran, Turkey and Azerbaijan. A dastan is generally centered on one individual who protects his tribe or his people from ...

associated with it were later borrowed by the Turkic peoples. According to Kazakh philologist Nemat Kelimebov and other Turkic-origin advocates, ''Ergenekon'' is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsOld Turkic Old Turkic (also East Old Turkic, Orkhon Turkic language, Old Uyghur) is the earliest attested form of the Turkic languages, found in Göktürks, Göktürk and Uyghur Khaganate inscriptions dating from about the eighth to the 13th century. It ...

roots ''ergene'' “fording point, passage, mountain gorge” and ''kon'' “encampment, place of living” and can be translated as “encampment (of cattle breeders) in a mountain gorge”.

Variants

Mongolian version

In the Mongolian version, Ergenekon was the refuge of the progenitors of the

Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...

, Nekuz and Qiyan (according to

, nephew and son of Il-Khan respectively), as told in the 14th-century literary history '' āmiʿ_al-tawārīkh'',_written_by_Rashid-al-Din_Hamadani.html" ;"title="āmiʿ al-tawārīkh'', written by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani">āmiʿ al-tawārīkh'', written by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani.Bahaeddin Ögel, ''Türk Mitolojisi'' Vol. I, Milli Eğitim basımevi, İstanbul, 1971, ''Türk Mitolojisi I: 'Kaynakları ve Açıklamaları İle Destanlar'', Tütk Tarih Kurumu, Ankara, 1989, pp. 14–15. Dursun Yıldırım, "Ergenekon Destanı", ''Türkler'', Vol. 3, Yeni Türkiye, Ankara, 2002, , pp. 527–43. It is a common epic in Mongol mythologies. Abulghazi Bahadur, khan of the Khanate of Khiva (1643–63), told of the Ergenekon Mongolian creation myth in his work, 17th-century "Shajara-i Turk" (Genealogy of the Turks).

Turkic version

In the Turkic mythology, the myth aims to explain the foundation of the First Turkic Khaganate. The Ergenekon legend tells about a great crisis of the ancient Turks. Following a military defeat, the Turks took refuge in the legendary Ergenekon valley where they were trapped for four centuries. They were finally released when a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

created a passage by melting the

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

, allowing the gray wolf

Asena Asena is the name of a she-wolf associated with the Oghuz Turkic foundation myth. The ancestress of the Göktürks is also a she-wolf, mentioned yet unnamed in two different "Wolf Tales" recorded by Chinese chroniclers. The legend of Asena tel ...

to lead them out. The people led out of the valley founded the Turkic Khaganate, with the valley functioning as its capital. A New Year's ceremony commemorates the legendary ancestral escape from Ergenekon.

In Turkish literature

Ottoman Era

In the late Ottoman era, the Ergenekon epic enjoyed use in

Turkish literature Turkish literature ( tr, Türk edebiyatı) comprises oral compositions and written texts in Turkic languages. The Ottoman and Azerbaijani forms of Turkish, which forms the basis of much of the written corpus, were highly influenced by Persian la ...

(especially by the

Turkish nationalist Turkish nationalism ( tr, Türk milliyetçiliği) is a political ideology that promotes and glorifies the Turkish people, as either a national, ethnic, or linguistic group. The term "ultranationalism" is often used to describe Turkish nationali ...

movement), describing a mythical Turkic place of origin located in the inaccessible valleys of the

Altay Mountains The Altai Mountains (), also spelled Altay Mountains, are a mountain range in Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan converge, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob have their headwaters. The massif merges with the ...

. In 1864

Ahmed Vefik Pasha Ahmed Vefik Pasha ( ota, احمد وفیق پاشا ) (3 July 1823 2 April 1891) was an Ottoman statesman, diplomat, scholar, playwright, and translator during the Tanzimat and First Constitutional Era periods. He was commissioned with top-rank ...

translated ''Shajara-i Turk'' into the

Ottoman language Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extens ...

under the title ''Şecere-i Evşâl-i Türkiyye,'' published in '' Tasvir-i Efkâr'' newspaper.İsa Özkan, "Ergenekon Destanı Hakkında", ''Türk Yurdu'', Cilt: 29, Sayı: 265, Eylül 2009, pp. 43–47.

Ziya Gökalp Mehmet Ziya Gökalp (23 March 1876 – 25 October 1924) was a Turkish sociologist, writer, poet, and politician. After the 1908 Young Turk Revolution that reinstated constitutionalism in the Ottoman Empire, he adopted the pen name Gökalp ("ce ...

's poem put the Ergenekon epic in the context of Turkic history ( ''Turkish text''), published as "Türk An'anesi: Ergenekon" in ''Türk Duygusu'' magazine from May 8 to June 5, 1913, ''Altın Armağan'' in September 1913, and under the title of "Ergenekon" in ''Kızılelma,'' 1914.

Ömer Seyfettin Ömer Seyfettin (11 March 1884, Gönen – 6 March 1920, Istanbul), was a Turkish writer from the late-19th to early-20th-century, considered to be one of the greatest modern Turkish authors. His work is much praised for simplifying the Turkish ...

's poem on the topic was published in ''Halka Doğru'' magazine, April 9, 1914.

Rıza Nur Rıza Nur (30 August 1879 in Sinop – 8 September 1942 in Istanbul) was a Turkish surgeon, politician and writer. He was prominent in the years immediately after the First World War, where he served as a cabinet minister but was subsequently ma ...

translated ''Shajara-i turk'' into modern Turkish in 1925, and mentioned Ergenekon in ''Oğuznâme,'' published in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

, 1928.

Foundation of the Turkish Republic

The first author to connect the mythology of Ergenekon to the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923 was

Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu (also rendered Yakub Kadri; ; 27 March 1889 – 13 December 1974) was a Turkish novelist, journalist, diplomat, and member of parliament.Edebiyatogretmeni.net ''Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu'' Google translated' Biograp ...

. Karaosmanoğlu was the author of several essays about the

Turkish War of Independence The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...

. His interpretation of the myth bolstered its place in the founding mythology of the modern Turkish nation-state. The myth itself was a story about the survival of the Turkic people who, faced with extinction, were able to escape with the help of their

totem A totem (from oj, ᑑᑌᒼ, italics=no or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system. While ''the wo ...

god, the bozkurt ( Gray Wolf). The Gray Wolf remains a potent symbol of Turkish nationalism into the present day. Even the renowned Turkish dissident poet

Nazim Hikmet Subahdar, also known as Nazim or in English as a "Subah", was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, Mughal era ( of India who was ...

lauded

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, or Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 Surname Law (Turkey), until 1934 ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish Mareşal (Turkey), field marshal, Turkish National Movement, re ...

as a "blonde wolf" in the poem titled

Kuva-yi Milliye The Kuva-yi Milliye ( ota, قواى مليه; 'National Forces' or 'Nationalist Forces') were irregular Turkish militia forces active in the early period of the Turkish War of Independence. These irregular forces emerged after the occupation of ...

. While the original Ergenekon myth was about the survival of the ancient Turkic people, in its Republican form it carried the symbolism of Turkey's national

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...

. During the early republican era of Turkey (especially in the 1930s, when

ethnic nationalism Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethnonationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation and nationality are defined in terms of ethnicity, with emphasis on an ethnocentric (and in some cases an ethnocratic) approach to various politi ...

held its sway in Turkey), the tale of the Bozkurt,

and Ergenekon were promoted along with Turkish

ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism in social science and anthropology—as well as in colloquial English discourse—means to apply one's own culture or ethnicity as a frame of reference to judge other cultures, practices, behaviors, beliefs, and people, instead of ...

, and included in history textbooks as the Göktürk creation myth. In 1933,

Şevket Süreyya Aydemir Şevket Süreyya Aydemir (1897–25 March 1976) was a Turkish writer, intellectual, economist, historian, and one of the founders, publisher and a key theorist of ''Kadro'' ("Cadre"). ''Kadro'' was an influential left-wing political journal publi ...

, a Turkish intellectual and a founder and key theorist of the

Kadro ''Kadro'' was an influential leftist magazine published in Turkey between January 1932 and December 1934. The title of ''Kadro'' translates from Turkish as "cadre" (referring to the "cadre" of intellectuals who were to be the vanguard of the perm ...

movement, consubstantiated the Ergenekon epic with the Turkish revolution. In the new Turkish version of the ''Egenekon Legend'', the motif of the gray wolf (Turkish: ''bozkurt'') was added ('' Turkish text'', version of Ministry of National Education of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Comparisons

According to Ergun Candan, there are some similarities between the mythologies of other cultures in their symbolism. The she-wolf

showed the Turks the way through the

labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by t ...

of valleys and mountain passes. According to Ergun Candan, the she-wolf may be seen as a symbol of the "dog star"

Sirius Sirius is the list of brightest stars, brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Ancient Greek language, Greek word , or , meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Latinisation ...

.Candan, Ergun. (2002). ''Türklerin Kültür Kökenleri'', Sınır Ötesi Yayınları, Istanbul, pp. ?113–14,

References

External sources

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Ergenekon Ergenekon (sometimes spelled ''Ergeneqon'', mn, Эргүнэ хун, Ergüne khun) is a founding myth of Turkic and Mongolic peoples.

'' at WikiSource (Turkish) (the version of the Ministry of National Education of

) {{Turco-Mongol Turkish nationalism Turkic mythology Turkic literature History of the Turkic peoples Göktürks Mongol mythology Mongolian literature Mongol Empire Fictional valleys National mysticism Origin myths