Fictional characters
Tepegöz
A one-eyed monster from the Dede Korkut stories.
The Turkish encyclopedia
Fictional characters
Heroes, tricksters and one-eyed giants from Turkish folk tales, novels and television, each page naming the work and the storyteller it belongs to.
7 pages in this category.
Fictional characters
Abdi Ağa
The oppressive landowner in Yaşar Kemal’s İnce Memed.
Fictional characters
Kenan Birkan
A strategic adversary of Ramiz in the television drama Ezel.
Fictional characters
Cengiz
A trusted companion who betrays Ömer in Ezel.
Fictional characters
Şahika Ekinci
A scheming character in the television drama Yasak Elma.
Fictional characters
Nasreddin Hoca
The wise fool of Akşehir, riding his donkey backwards through a thousand jokes.
Fictional characters
Keloğlan
The bald, penniless boy of the folk tales who wins by wit alone.
Questions
Was Nasreddin Hoca a real person?
Probably, in part. A teacher of that name is placed in thirteenth-century Akşehir, and his tomb is there. The thousands of stories told in his name grew over centuries across a very wide region, so he is best read as a folk figure with a historical seed.
Are these characters drawn the way they look in the original works?
No. The illustrations are our own playful adaptations for a picture book, not stills or reproductions. Every page names the work and its creator so you can go and meet the original.
Where do the oldest Turkish stories come from?
Mostly from oral tradition, written down late. The Dede Korkut stories are the best known collection, carried by travelling storytellers long before anyone printed them, and shared across the Turkic-speaking world rather than owned by one modern country.