Orta Asya’da Doğu Süryani Kilisesi’ne Mensup Türklerin Mirası: Mezar Taşları (XIII ve XIV. Yüzyıllar)

Abstract

The geography of Central Asia, where the main lines in Turkish history occurred, has historically been a site where many different peoples have coexisted and interacted. Various communities in this region have interacted with one another politically, culturally, economically, and religiously, and have transferred their cultures to each other. The East Syriac Church’s doctrines, which reached the interior of Central Asia and even China through Iran, were embraced by the Turkish communities and left a lasting legacy. The main sources for this are Nestorian inscriptions, whose ownership by the Turks has been proven and which are found within the borders of current Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and China. This study includes 871 Syriac and Turkish inscriptions written in the Syriac alphabet and translated using the transliteration method. The objective of our study is to examine the corpus of tombstones left by Turkish communities that follow the faith of the Eastern Syriac Church and analyze the philological characteristics and place of origin of these inscriptions.

Keywords
Central Asia Nestorian Christianity Syriac Turkish
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