FROM THE FOLK POEMS AND ‘NEFES’ OF SHAH ISMAIL HATAI AND PIR SULTAN ABDAL TO ALEVI- BEKTASHI COSMOGONY AND ‘KIRKLAR MECLİSİ”

The most basic question of the humanity has been why and how the universe and human were created both in the modern world and in primitive times. The social thought, which has not yet produced scientific knowledge, has tried to perceive the universe and creation with its imagination, thinking and imaginary skills. As a result of this perception effort, myths have been built as the fictions to which sanctity was attributed in connection with cultural structure. Cosmogony myths among myths concerning so many questions about human describes the creation of the universe and human, and they have an important place within religious and mythic structures. The most important characters of the society and the sacred substance which is considered as the essence of creation take places in cosmogony myths. It is possible to say that those myths provide important clues about the culture in which they were born with their details. In this context, it is important to study creation myths in detail with regards to determining the place of the Alevi- Bektashi belief in wide range of Islamic culture. Alevi-Bektashi belief, an example of religion syncretism by the interaction of many cultures and beliefs, draws attention with also its mythic structure. Cosmogony myths and the myth of “Kırklar Meclisi” in the context of creation has an important place in terms of revealing the syncretist structure of Alevi-Bektashi belief within this mythical system in which so many myths and mythical characters take place. In this study, folk poems and “nefes” of Shah Ismail Hatai and Pir Sultan Abdal, poets who exhibits the reflection of this belief, have been analysed with the aim of revealing the syncretist structure of Alevi-Bektashi belief through the creation myths and “Kırklar Meclisi” myth. Folk poems and “nefes” has been boundary and guiding handles in the large and multi-layered structure of Alevism. To that end, archetype critisism and sociological research methods were used when analyzing words and breaths.