The earliest written Turkish is found in the form
of inscriptions on stone monuments in Mongolia
dating from the eighth century c.e. Artistic produc-
tion in the language, however, was predominantly
in oral form, including epics such as that of Dede
Korkut, which were later written down. A com-
parative dictionary of Turkic dialects was prepared
in the 11th century by Kashgarli Mahmud. Written
literature began to proliferate in the Islamic era,
and many early works were of a religious nature,
such as the mystical poetry of yUnUs emre, Ashik
Pasha, and Kaygusuz Abdal, along with religious
and mystical prose works. During the Ottoman
period (14th–18th centuries), poets such as Pir
Sultan Abdal, Karacaoglan, and Erzurumlu Emrah
continued to compose works in vernacular Turk-
ish, while in Ottoman court circles a sophisticated
literature developed, heavily influenced by classical
Persian poetry, and represented by such poets as
Baki, Fuzuli, Nedim, Nefi and Shaykh Galib. Dur-
ing the tanzimat reform period of the 19th century,
European literature began to exert an influence
on the form and subject matter of Ottoman lit-
erature, and it was in this period that the Turkish
novel began to develop as a genre. Inspired by the
French Revolution, Ottoman writers developed
an Ottoman patriotism, best exemplified by the
works of Namik Kemal (1840–88). After the 1908
revolution, this sentiment developed into a Turk-
ish nationalist movement, which was reflected in
the literature of the period, especially in the short
stories of Omer Seyfettin (1884–1920).
Literature after the foundation of the Republic
of Turkey in 1923 dealt with themes relevant to
the period: progress, the promotion of Turkish
culture, the recent war of independence, and
the gap between Ottoman intellectuals and rural
Turks. Notable writers from this period included
the novelists Halide Edip Adivar (1884–1964) and
Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoglu (1889–1974). The
poet Nazim Hikmet (1902–63) broke from metri-
cal conventions while dealing with social themes,
and he is credited with modernizing Turkish
poetry. Writing about everyday life in a simple
style, Orhan Veli Kanik (1914–50) is one of the
many popular poets of modern Turkish literature.
Many Turkish novelists have had their works
translated into English, most notably Aziz Nesin
(1915–95), Yashar Kemal (1922– ). In 2006 the
novelist Orhan Pamuk (b. 1952) was awarded the
Nobel Prize in literature.
See also arabic langUage and literatUre; otto-
man dynasty; persian langUage and literatUre.
Mark SoileauFurther reading: Walter G. Andrews, et al., eds., Otto-
man Lyric Poetry: An Anthology (Austin: University of
Texas Press, 1997); Geoffrey Lewis, The Turkish Lan-
guage Reform: A Catastrophic Success (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1999); Kemal Silay, ed., An Anthology
of Turkish Literature (Bloomington: Indiana University
Turkish Studies, 1996); Talal Sait Halman, ed., Contem-
porary Turkish Literature: Fiction and Poetry (Ruther-
ford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1982);
Nermin Menemencioglu and Fahir Iz, eds., The Penguin
Book of Turkish Verse (New York: Penguin, 1978).Turkmenistan See central asia and the
caucasus.Twelve-Imam Shiism (also called
Twelver Shiism, Ithnaashari Shiism, and
Imami Shiism)
shiism is the leading sectarian alternative to Sunni
Islam. The largest of the three major Shii tradi-
tions is Twelve-Imam Shiism (the other two being
ismaili shiism and zaydi shiism). Its name is based
on belief that 12 male descendants from the family
of Muhammad (d. 632), starting with ali ibn abi
talib (d. 661) and ending with the mahdi Muham-
mad al-Muntazar (entered concealment in 874),
are Imams—exemplary authorities for the commu-
nity and focal points for religious devotion.
It is estimated that the Shia as a whole con-
stitute between 12 percent and 15 percent of the
total Muslim population today (1.3 billion, 2008
estimate), or between 156 million and 195 millionK 676 Turkmenistan