Volume 12 - Issue 62
/ February 2023
115
http:// www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.62.02.9
How to Cite:
Senchylo-Tatlilioglu, N., Krasnozhon, N., Sibruk, A., Lytvynska, S., & Stetsyk, K. (2023). Ukrainian-turkish literature relations
between the 16th - 20th Centuries. Amazonia Investiga, 12(62), 115-123. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.62.02.9
Ukrainian-turkish literature relations between the 16th - 20th
Centuries
Українсько-турецькі літературні зв’язки XVI-XX століття
Received: January 11, 2023 Accepted: March 5, 2023
Written by:
Nadiia Senchylo-Tatlilioglu1
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9196-7118
Neonila Krasnozhon2
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4735-0641
Anastasiia Sibruk3
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4007-2450
Svitlana Lytvynska4
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5761-5124
Khrystyna Stetsyk5
https://orcid.org/0009-0007-2527-8753
Abstract
The article highlights Ukrainian-Turkish
relationships in literature, originating from oral
folklore, ballads, and historical songs since the
16th century to the present day. It emphasizes
that literary communications between Ukraine
and Turkey are primarily due to their close
geographical proximity, intertwined geopolitics,
and historical, economic, and cultural
interrelations between both nations. Based on
literary works, the article distinguishes key
stages in Ukrainian-Turkish relationships in
Ukrainian literature from the 16th to the 20th
centuries and examines how individual and
group-based Ukrainian identities in Ukrainian
folklore of the 16th-17th centuries were formed
in interaction with Turkish identities. Starting
from the 19th century, changes in the context of
social and political processes cause
communicative vectors in literary works to
change as well. Important aspects of Ukrainian-
Turkish literary communication are discussed.
Keywords: communication, literature, Turkish
literary, Ukrainian literary, Ukrainian-Turkish
relationships.
1
Assoc. Prof. Dr., Ataturk Universıty, Faculty of Letters, Erzurum, Turkey.
2
Assoc. Prof. Dr., Hryhorii Skovoroda Univ Pereiaslav, Chair Gen Hist Legal Sci & Methods Educ, Pereiaslav Khmelnytskyi,
Ukraine.
3
Assoc. Prof. Dr., National Aviation University, Faculty of Linguistics and Social Communications, Kyiv, Ukraine.
4
Assoc. Prof. Dr., National Aviation University, Faculty of Linguistics and Social Communications, Kyiv, Ukraine.
5
Assist. Prof. Dr., National Aviation University, Faculty of Linguistics and Social Communications, Kyiv, Ukraine.
116
www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
Introduction
The Relevance of the selected topic for this
research is confirmed by the present-day
transformations in all dimensions of the
Ukrainian society which add more acuteness to
the contradictions between the existing system of
communications and the needs of modern
science, as conventional channels of
communications are losing their effectiveness
while the new channels have to be developed,
with consideration of historic background in
various areas of knowledge. Discovering
peculiarities of literary communications and
recognizing their international relations will
allow to optimize the ways of modern literary
communicative interaction.
The significance of literary communications
between Ukraine and Turkey should be specially
emphasized, and that is primarily caused by the
close geographical location of the two countries,
interlinked geopolitics as well as historical,
economic and cultural interrelations between the
two nations, which resulted in long-term
consequences for the development of their
literatures. Impact of Ukrainian-Turkish
communicative patterns can be found both in oral
folklore, ballads and historical songs beginning
from the 16th century, and in works by Ukrainian
writers of later periods.
An important role in attaining success of any
communication, interpersonal or cross-cultural,
belongs to mutual ideas that the participants of
such communication have about each other:
these include both cognizing oneself through
one’s own “I” and through being perceived by
others, and through perception of the “Other”
(Foreign). In our perception, the Other may exist
in the image of a foreigner and enemy, or a
neighbor and partner. Given the absence of
personal contacts with the Other, we perceive his
image through the national literature dated to a
certain period in history, and the image of the
Other in such sources can often be stereotypical.
Dmytro Nalyvaiko notes that the ideas and
images of Native and Foreign belong to the
oldest and archetypical concepts, and the
opposition between the two is one of the basic
elements in the structure of human consciousness
(Nalyvaiko, 2006). Studying the presence of
influences on literature or specific literary works
caused by one nation regarding the other, it is
important to distinguish the forms of interaction
(communication) which are manifested in
literature. First of all, these include such
interdependent categories as influence,
borrowing, reception etc. Although the said
notions may overlap to a large extent, their
substantial accents are still of great importance.
The term “influence” denotes both the process
and the result of a sender’s action towards the
recipient. Both the sender and the recipient
(receiver) can exist as various literary
phenomena, for example, a literary work, image
etc. According to the definition of
Jan B. Corstius, influence is the “substantial and
formal consequence of external and internal
relations for a literary work ... or an entire period
in literature” (1997). However, the theorist of
literature V. Zhirmunskyi (1979) commented
that influence is possible and productive only
when the recipient literature has an inner demand
for such cultural borrowing. Hence, every
literary influence is related to partial
transformation of the borrowed elements in
accordance with national traditions and
individual esthetic preferences of a specific
writer.
Theoretical Framework or Literature Review
With account of national (interethnic
understanding) and global (East-West
relationship) tendencies for dialogue growing
stronger, aspects of communication and
reception are becoming more and more
interesting for humanitaristics. Beginning with
the second half of the 20th century, literary
research works on communication with other
ethnic cultures started to come out more often
(Wang, 1988; Pageaux, 2000; Heekyoung,
2018). A thorough study of how Ukraine’s
image, history and culture are perceived abroad
was presented by Dmytro Nalyvaiko (In the Eyes
of West: Reception of Ukraine in the Western
Europe of the 11th-18th Century) (Nalyvaiko,
1998). The image of Orient in Western reception
was investigated by Said Edward in his work
“Orientalism” (1978). Oleksandr Biletskyi
studies the place of Ukrainian literature among
other literatures of the world (Biletskyi, 2009).
Yulia Tiopnenko attends to reception of
Ukrainian Literature in the English-speaking
environment in the light of postcolonial studies
(Tiopnenko, 2015), and so on. Mustafayeva
(2017) and Abdulhasanly (2020) studied
Azerbaijani-Turkish on literary connections of
the past and present.
Problems of Ukrainian-Turkish communications
and their representation in Ukrainian literature
are still largely unexplored, though the images of
Turkish ethnicity started to become quite
widespread in Ukrainian consciousness and
Senchylo-Tatlilioglu, N., Krasnozhon, N., Sibruk, A., Lytvynska, S., Stetsyk, K. / Volume 12 - Issue 62: 115-123 /
February, 2023
Volume 12 - Issue 62
/ February 2023
117
http:// www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
literature as early as in the 16th century. The
ethnic image of Turks in Ukrainian literature is a
detail used to depict the Turkish people to
Ukrainians. The term of “literary ethnic image”
denotes a literary figure that involves not only
individual features but also ethnic (national)
identity of the characters, landscapes or past
events described in a literary work, and presents
some of their features as typical for a certain
country, and inherent to the entire nation. By its
structure, a literary ethnic image is a detail used
to represent (describe) the nation in general.
Building a correlation between individual
features of the depicted people or events and a
certain type of national identity allows literary
critics to distinguish the image of one’s own
ethnic-cultural “I” (native) from the image of the
“Other” (foreign).
Absence of comprehensive knowledge of
peculiarities and regularities found in Ukrainian-
Turkish literary communications makes the
selected topic of this research even more
relevant.
Based on the problematics of the issues raised,
we can say that, in general, Ukrainian-Turkish
literary and cultural ties are divided into the
following stages:
a) The period of the XVI-XVII centuries
b) The period from the 19th to the beginning of
the 20th century
c) The period covering the between 20 – 30’s of
the 20th century
d) The period of Soviet influence 40-80’s of the
twentieth century
e) The period from the 90’s of the 20th century
to the present day.
The subject of this research is Ukrainian-Turkish
literary communications represented throughout
various genres of literature. The objective of this
research is the study of Ukrainian-Turkish
literary communications in the 16th-20th
centuries.
Methodology
The following methods have been used to solve
certain tasks in the research: descriptive,
comparative-historical, structural method (with
elements of component analyses), the method of
associations. The research methodology is based
on the general theory of cognition. The
methodological basis is the dialectical method of
scientific knowledge, the fundamental provisions
of the theory of intercultural communications,
the work of Ukrainian and foreign scientists
regarding the process of cross-cultural
communication. The theoretical basis of the
research was scientific developments related to
issues of interaction between Turkish and
Ukrainian society.
The application of imagological methodology
takes this comparative research into the field of
studying cross-cultural relationship between the
Turkish and Ukrainian nations. Similarly, we
need a discourse-based approach as well;
exploration of not only the communications
available in Ukrainian literature, but also of those
found within historical context, which will allow
us to gain a deeper understanding of the subject
being examined and discover peculiarities in
development of literary international
communicative relationships.
Organizational methods were used to obtain
facts, process them and explain the peculiarities
of intercultural communication; interpretative
methods. For our research, an important aspect is
the logic of ethnopsychology research - a set of
stable ideas about interdependent stages, forms,
levels, methods, procedures and strategies of
studying the national-psychological features of
Ukrainian-Turkish interaction.
Results and Discussion
The role of historical background in
Ukrainian-Turkish literary communications
Turkish images appeared in the national
consciousness of Ukrainians back in the 16th-17th
centuries and were recorded in folklore. In
Ukrainian literature (oral folklore), the interest
for Turkish culture was growing considerably
and became quite steady from the middle of the
16th century, i.e. in the period of active
confrontation between Cossacks and Turks. In
the late 15th century, Ottoman Turks conquered
the Balkans and were inclined to raid Ukrainian
territories more and more often, but the history
remembers not only international conflicts.
There are sources to give evidence of attempts by
Ukrainian hetmans to seek understanding with
Turkey and establish peaceful diplomatic
relations. For instance, I. Chernikov summed up
the essence of diplomatic contacts between the
two countries in the Cossack era by stating that
Dmytro Bayda-Vyshnevetskyi, one of the
founders of Zaporizhian Sich, was looking for
agreement with Turkey in the middle of the 16th
century; famous Ukrainian hetman Bohdan
Khmelnytskyi (whose policy in the East was
Turcophilic beyond any doubts) considered
entering into a mutually beneficial military and
118
www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
political alliance with Turkey, at a certain time;
with the Turkish sultan’s support, Yuriy
Khmelnytskyi was proclaimed the hetman and
the prince of Sarmatia in the late 1670s, in
exchange for bringing the Ukrainian nation under
Turkey’s control; in his confrontation with
Poland, the hetman of Right-Bank Ukraine Petro
Doroshenko saw the Ottoman Empire as a
strategic ally and signed the protectorate
agreement of 1669, while the exiled hetman of
Ukraine, Pylyp Orlyk, often appealed to Istanbul
for protection of the Zaporizhian Cossacks who
emigrated from Ukraine after the Battle of
Poltava in 1709, and for providing them with
money and food supplies (Chernikov, 2003).
However, any long-term international contacts,
especially those that involved a strong negative
background, do not only remain in the memory
of their contemporaries but become projected to
the following generations with a concentrated
system of images through oral folklore and
literature. Based on cross-cultural social
relationships and artistic generalization of
existence, prose or poetic works about real
cultural and historic characters appeared by way
of covering important events or idealizing best
members of the contemporary society. The
period of struggle against the Islamic East in the
15th-17th centuries left a very deep mark in the
memory of the Ukrainian nation and influenced
the development of Ukrainian history and culture
while reviving the nation’s interest in the East.
Ukrainian-Turkish communications in folk
texts of Ukrainian ballads
Ballads (known as dumas in Ukrainian) were a
phenomenon of Ukrainian culture and existed in
Cossack and urban environments due to activities
of talented performers, kobza players. Ukrainian
folk ballads are epic and monumental, verbal and
musical works of heroic and social nature that
represent artistic patterns of the Cossack era and
the culmination point in forming the national
identity of the ethos and ideas of nationhood
(Dmytrenko, 2009). The ballads we know today
are mostly recorded from kobza players of the
19th-20th centuries. “Texts of ballads are a kind of
an artistic code of reality that represent a historic
event, figure or environment, the spirit of the
nation, establish its optimistic vision of the
world, ideals of freedom, truth, good, love,
beauty and order. With the dramatic situations,
often tragic finals in resolving the conflict of the
“native - foreign” opposition (sometimes even
“native versus native as foreign”), “truth -
injustice,” “freedom - captivity,” through the
search for glory, through real and ritual death, the
nation idealized its heroes, transformed them into
knights of spirit and moral authorities worth of
being remembered and regarded as a proper
example” (Ukrainian Folk Ballads, 2009).
Slave ballads describe Ukrainian captives made
to work on Turkish galleys or held as prisoners
of war by Turks and Tatars. The texts of ballads
reveal the perception of Turks by Ukrainian
captives which is often implemented indirectly
through the description of the captives’ suffering
and their longing for homeland. Through the folk
genre of ballad, the narrative about invaders is
realized, which indicates Ukrainian-Turkish
communication. For example, in the ballad “The
lament of slaves” some captives wishing to break
free “...From the hard Turkish slavery” appeal to
the God asking to bring a storm to the Black Sea
that will tear away all anchors, demonstrating
their attitude towards the situation they found
themselves in.
The ballad “Ivan Bohuslavets” despicts a captive
Cossack whom his Turkish wife characterizes
with the words “He turned to Turkish faith to
enjoy the wealth” (Ukrainian Folk Ballads,
2009). The ballad gives a communicative
message that Ukrainians associated the Turkish
land primarily with material wealth and well-
being that stood in contrast to national spiritual
values. The Turkish cities mentioned in
Ukrainian ballads most often are Tsargrad
(Istanbul), Trabzon and Azov. The Turkish
cultural environment is depicted in ballads as the
opposition of the native Ukrainian cultural space
to the foreign Turkish surroundings. In the
foreground, the first thing that they demonstrate
is the opposition of religious categories. For
example, a frequent example is when someone
tells enslaved Cossacks, who spent many years in
captivity, about the Easter Day. For example, it
happens in “The Ballad of Marusia Boguslavka.”
As formation of ballads has been completed in
the Cossack epos, and in the heroic struggle of
the Ukrainian nation against the Tatar and
Turkish threat in the years of nation-building, the
texts of ballads are connected to the spatial factor
of their emergence and development in
geopolitical conditions of the Ukrainian nation.
That is why Ukrainian folk epos contains clearly
manifested communicative oppositions, with
Ukrainians set against Turks.
Peculiarities of Ukrainian-Turkish literary
communications in Ukrainian historical
songs, ballads and legends
The theme of Turkish captivity is popular in
Ukrainian historical songs of the Cossack era.
Volume 12 - Issue 62
/ February 2023
119
http:// www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
These songs tell the story of the prolonged
confrontation between Ukrainians, Turks and
Tatars. In Ukrainian historical songs, the image
of Turks is that of terrible invaders who brought
great suffering on the Ukrainian people. Songs
represent realistic pictures of invaders: a sudden
Tatar raid during the harvest time; a village
looted and burned (“Fires aflame over the river,
Tatars sort out captives”); frightened people
fleeing; girls taken captive and their fate (“Three
daughters of a priest in Turkish slavery”), a
Cossack taken prisoner by Turks and dying after
tortures (“Song of Bayda”). Ukrainian historical
songs describe the Turkish army, the predatory
policies of Turks and Tatars in Ukrainian lands,
their use of force against local population,
capturing young women etc.
According to I. Franko and F. Kolessa, there is a
group of ballads that was added to traditional
Ukrainian folklore by traveling bards of the 15th-
16th centuries coming from Serbia, Bolgaria and
Croatia. (Kolessa, 1983; Franko, 1984). Ballad is
a genre of lyric and epic poetry, of fantastic,
heroic, historical or social nature, with a dramatic
plot. Different variants of Ukrainian ballads are
dominated by the following themes: a brother
buys a captive who turns out to be his sister; a
brother sells his sister (or a father sells his
daughter) to a Turk, and she kills herself; a boy
buys his girlfriend out of the Turkish captivity (or
vice versa); a wife cheats on her husband with a
Turk (“Ivan and Maryana”).
In legends about the Cossacks’ struggle against
Turks that have been retained to present, we can
also observe hints at the Ukrainian-Turkish
communications of the previous centuries. In
legends, Turks are depicted in a generalized way:
they are mostly presented as a non-specific image
of invaders who have to flee after losing a battle
against Cossacks in Ukrainian lands (“The battle
of Cossacks against Turks”); an image of a
Turkish merchant in Azov (“How Cossacks took
Azov”) who wants to buy goods from Cossacks,
such as furs of marten, fox and black sable; the
effects of Turkish invasions on names of
population centers in Ukraine: the village named
Godia Turka where Turks and Cossacks
allegedly made a treaty that forbade Turkish raids
against Ukraine. Characters of Turks in legends
emphasize and communicate the opposition
“Native – Foreign / Friend - Foe.”
Development of Ukrainian-Turkish
communications in the literature of the 19th-
20th centuries
Since the 19th century, Ukrainian-Turkish inter-
literary contacts (ties) become more widespread
as a form of interaction between literatures
(communication). Ukrainian-Turkish
communication in literature denotes either a
unilateral action of the sender towards the
recipient, or various forms of perceiving
phenomena from other nations in literature, or
bilateral literary interaction.
An important element for cross-cultural
communication that finds its manifestation in
literature is travel. It is travel that allows a person
to receive direct personal impressions from a
country and gain a deeper understanding of life
in general, and of literary heritage and processes
in particular. Literary works of the 19th- early 20th
centuries provide sufficient grounds to see travel
as an important form of international contacts
between Ukrainian and Turkish literatures. This
is the period that gave Ukrainian literature
numerous mentions, researches, explorations,
and fiction works that concern both specific
figures in Turkish literary process and their
creative heritage.
The need to study Eastern culture and literature
was recognized by founders of the Ukrainian
Academy of Sciences back in the early 20th
century. When laying foundations for Eastern
studies, scientists were convinced of the relevant
need to explore history of the East because the
ancient lands of Ukraine were the point of
residence for various Eastern nations, as noted by
L. Matveieva and I. Chernikov (Matveieva &
Chernikov, 2007). From “The explanatory note
by D.I. Bagaliy, A. Yu. Krymsky,
G.G. Pavlutskyi, Ye. К. Tymchenko to the
Committee for development of the draft law on
organization of the Historical and Philological
Department of the Ukrainian Academy of
Sciences,” it can be seen that scientists deemed
the study of history, languages and literatures of
the East to be very important and provided a
thorough substantiation for their concept: “Apart
from the inevitable and universally recognized
scientific need to study Eastern history as a part
of the world history, Ukraine has its own reasons
to see that East-related subjects are explored
properly and intensively at its higher scientific
institution. In the ancient times, the territory of
the present-day Ukraine was the place for
residence or continued stay of various Eastern
nations, and Ukrainian science is facing a series
of issues and tasks that need to be developed and
120
www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
resolved in a planned way. Iranian studies,
Turkish studies, and Arabic studies are the three
subjects that comprehensive and objective
Ukrainian history is impossible without”;
scientists believed that without adding them,
Ukrainian studies will have serious gaps
(Matveieva & Chernikov, 2007).
In particular, a tremendous contribution into
getting Ukraine acquainted with Turkish
literature was made by Ukrainian orientalist
Ahatanhel Krymsky (1871-1942) who spoke
Turkish as well as other languages. А. Krymsky
undertook a long travel (1896-1898) to the
Middle East in order to study the culture of
Eastern nations; while traveling he completed a
monograph “Islam and Its Future” (1899, first
published in 1904). During his stay in the East,
the scholar collected scientific and folklore
materials, and established direct cultural
communications. It is known that an important
role in the working process of A. Krymsky at that
time belonged to letters. Solomiya Pavlychko
draws our attention to the fact that A. Krymsky
wrote very often to his family, friends and
colleagues who lived in Ukraine and Russia. In
his letters, he described in great detail everything
he saw, therefore these letters are classified as
exotic travel narratives (Pavlychko, 2001).
Hence, direct communication with the Eastern
culture was shaped and implemented through
epistolary communication.
The scientific heritage of A. Krymsky gives
evidence of direct literary relationships
established through works by Turkish writers,
which became possible due to his knowledge of
Arabic and Turkish. In the future, this travel
served as an impulse for further efforts in the
field of Eastern studies. The largest of his
Turcologic works are “The History of Turkey”
(1924), “The History of Turkey and Its
Literature” (1927), “Turks, Their Languages and
Literatures” (1930). In addition to research
works, the travel to the East enriched the creative
heritage of A. Krymsky with a collection of
poems characterized by Eastern motives and
images. The new works demonstrate a more
complicated form of literary contacts that
manifests itself in reception of Eastern ideas,
motives, images and their representation against
the national literary background. In 1901, the
first part of A. Krymsky’s collection “Palm
Branches. Exotic Poems” was published. The
author extends the boundaries of Ukrainian
landscape lyrics, reproduces the peculiarities of
Eastern scenery in a delicate and accurate way.
Eastern landscapes are represented thanks to the
use of rich metaphors and comparisons as the
author tries to impress the reader through
visualization, sound and taste perception, which
was a novelty for Ukrainian poetry of his day.
Adoption, rethinking and creative transformation
of Eastern motives, themes and images in
Ukrainian national and cultural environment by
A. Krymsky demonstrates the reception which is
a category of “literary influence” and, by
definition of V. Budny, it belongs to a higher
form of literary communications – internal –
which affects the structure of recipient text by
performing the form-shaping and substance-
forming role (Budnyi, 2008).
At the beginning of the 20th century, Ukraine’s
interest in Turkey continued to grow. Research
trips and expeditions were important forms for
Ukrainian orientalists to explore the East
practically. As noted by Nadiya Senchylo,
Ukrainian scholars and writers began to discover
the Turkey previously unknown to them, which
is suggested by a number of articles in “Vsesvit”
magazine (“Museums of Istanbul” by V.
Zummer published in Issue 12, 1929, “Several
Hours in Istanbul” by M. Trublayini – 29, 1929
etc.) and “Chervonyi Shliakh” magazine (“From
Dawn Till Dusk” by V. Stambulov, “The Sun
Behind Minarets” by Kost Kotko) (Senchylo,
2017).
Following their impressions of traveling to
Turkey, writers create fiction works in Ukrainian
about this country, its nation and culture, and
such writings represent the contemporary
perception and understanding of Turkey as a
neighboring country still little known to
Ukrainians. A famous poet Pavlo Tychyna
(1891-1967) visited Turkey and learned the
Turkish language which influences his creative
work. For example, some of his poems are
dedicated to the Turkish theme - “Where there is
a wonderful land of Turkey...,” “Bosporus. A
dream,” as well as translations: “With Birds” -
from Tevfik Fikret, “The Night Guard” – from
Galit Fagri etc, and also his letters and diary
notes.
It is known that from 2 November 1928 to 7
January 1929, P. Tychyna made a trip to Turkey
as a member of the delegation consisting of
Ukrainian scholars and writers, such as
V. Zummer, O. Gladstern, O. Sukhov,
L. Pervomayskyi to get acquainted with literary
and cultural life of the country and establish
relationships with their prominent scientific and
cultural figures (Senchylo, 2017). Pavlo Tychyna
was interested in materials on Turkish literature
which he needed in order to complete
Volume 12 - Issue 62
/ February 2023
121
http:// www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
preparations for publishing an anthology of
poems. Also “Tychyna wanted to see
Nazim Hikmet whose poems he translated and
published in “Chervonyi Shliakh” magazine, but
at that time Nazim was already in prison...”
(Tychyna, 1990). It is evident the poet was
looking for direct communication with his
colleague, but it was impossible. It was then that
Tychyna wrote the poetic lines full of deep
sorrow: “I got stuck on your mosques, In the
crowd, in the crowd – Nazım Hikmet is in prison”
(Tychyna, 1990). Tychyna turns to new and yet
unknown Eastern images, which were outside the
conventional framework for Eastern themes,
plots, historical or legendary facts from the past
of Ukrainian-Eastern communications. Personal
acquaintances and contacts of P. Tychyna with
Turkish writers facilitated his plans of compiling
an anthology of Turkish poetry, although it was
never completed because World War Two soon
broke out.
Ukrainian-Turkish communications in the 20th
century were not unilateral. A Turkish poet and
playwright Nazım Hikmet visited Ukraine twice,
in 1928 and 1951. The writer was interested in
Ukrainian culture and literature, learned
Ukrainian, and maintained friendly relationships
with Ukrainian writers: Andriy Malyshko, Platon
Voronko, Oleksandr Dovzhenko, Oleksandr
Korniychuk and others. Theorist of literature
V. Kukhalashvili wrote that Nazım Hikmet read
Vitaliy Korotich’s poems in Ukrainian which he
enjoyed greatly. To his mind, among other Slavic
languages it sounded just like Italian sounds
among other European languages …
(Kukhalashvili, 1976). The Turkish man of
letters published articles written in Ukrainian in
a specialized literary newspaper. In his poem
“Kyiv Siiri,” Nazim Hikmet uses a poetical form
to express his love for Ukraine, city of Kyiv and
works by Taras Shevchenko. Taras
Shevchenko’s writings made a great impression
on Nazim Hikmet, and he described them in the
note he made in the guest book at Shevchenko
Museum. Hikmet pointed out that he was always
interested in and impressed by Shevchenko, not
only as a brilliant poet and extremely talented
painter, but also as a fighter whose life and
creative work were always in parallel
(Kukhalashvili, 1976).
Ukrainian authors Mykola Bazhan,
Liubomyr Dmytrenko, Yury Kyrychenko,
Andriy Malyshko, Maksym Rylsky,
Volodymyr Sosiura, Pavlo Tychyna,
Hrygory Halymonenko (Kukhalashvili, 1976;
Halymonenko, 1981) and others translated works
about Nazim Hikmet and wrote articles about
him. Hence, travels facilitate expansion of
communicative boundaries.
Knowledge of language as an important factor
in Ukrainian-Turkish and Turkish-Ukrainian
external literary relationships
Knowledge of a foreign language facilitates
wider cross-cultural dialogue and close literary
communications, not only by enhancing
understanding and absorbing texts of the sender’s
literature, but also by spreading them through
translation, that is, by expanding the
communicative boundaries of literature.
Translation of a literary work into a foreign
language becomes a form of communication
capable of both information exchange and
literary influence.
Activities of Vasyl Dubrovskyi in the 1930s were
hallmark for establishment of Ukrainian-Turkish
communications in the translation-related aspect.
In 1931, Dubrovskyi translated “Yatyk Emine” a
story by Refik Halit, from Turkish into
Ukrainian; in 1932 he translated short stories by
Оmer Seyfettin and “Nur Baba” a novel by
Yakup Kadri. Under the editorship of Prof.
V. Dubrovskyi, a book by
Heinz Griesbach-Tugan, “Modern Turkish Fine
Literature” was translated from German and
published. In the editor’s note, V. Dubrovskyi
emphasized that “importance of knowing the
culture and spiritual development of our closest
neighbor, the Turkish nation, is beyond doubt.
Even within specialized literary circles, the
Ukrainian society hardly has any good idea of
Turkish literature, especially modern writings,”
and this statement proves the importance of
translation for improving Turkish-Ukrainian
literary contacts. (Griesbach-Tugan, 1948). In
1927, a translation of the novel “A Shirt of Fire”
written by Halide Edib Adivar was published.
This work was translated from German by
V. Sofronov.
N. Senchylo-Tatlilioglu (2020) notes that an
important role in development of Ukrainian-
Turkish literary communications in the 20th
century was played by magazines “Skhidnyi
Svit” (The Eastern World) and “Vsesvit” (The
Universe). “Vsesvit” publishes translations of
shorter works – stories by Reshat Nuri Guntekin,
Aziz Nesin, Halit Refik Karai, and longer
writings: novels by the Nobel laureate Orhan
Pamuk translated by Oles Kulchytskyi – “Snow”
(2006, 2011), “My Name Is Red” (2007, 2012),
“The White Castle” (2008, 2011) and more.
Individually, translations of novels by
Orhan Pamuk are published: “The Museum of
122
www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
Innocence” (translated by O. Kulchytskyi and
H. Rog (2009), “The Black Book” (translated by
O. Kulchytskyi (2013), “Silent House”
(translated by T. Filonenko (2015), and others.
As to promotion of Turkish-Ukrainian literary
contacts by spreading works of Ukrainian writers
in Turkish, we have information to prove that the
first Ukrainian author to be translated into
Turkish was Mykola Gogol (1809-1852).
However, it is known that Gogol’s works are
written in Russian. Birsen Karadja noted that
archive findings allow to date translations of
Gogol’s works into Turkish (in Latin letters)
back to 1946, such translation being made by
Servet Lunel. The first big novel translated from
Ukrainian into Turkish was “Roksolana” by
Pavlo Zagrebelnyi (translated by Omer
Dermengi (2005)), which by itself is a reflection
on life in the 16th-century Turkey told from the
Ukrainian point of view. In 2009, Fedora Arnaut
translated into Turkish 40 poems from “Kobzar”
by Taras Shevcheko, including such large ones as
“Kateryna” and “Kavkaz” (Caucasus). Also,
О. Dermengi translated into Turkish a novel
“Kliasa” (Class) by Pavlo Volvach (2011)
(Senchylo, 2017). These translations are the
evidence of literary communications based on
the knowledge of Ukrainian and Turkish
languages.
Conclusions
The Therefore, in the course of our research we
have reached the conclusion that Ukrainian-
Turkish communications have been present in
the Ukrainian literature since the 16th century.
They are distinguished by considerable length
but tend to change over time. Folklore
demonstrates a whole layer of lyric and epic
works: historical songs, ballads, legends where
Ukrainian-Turkish communicative interactions
can be tracked. Ukrainian folklore tends to
describe Turks from the point of hostility and
open confrontation. It proves the assumption that
international conflicts caused by historic events
tend to become a nationwide trauma, which also
finds its reflection in literary works. In Ukrainian
folk texts of lyric and epic nature that represent
Ukrainian-Turkish communications, perception
of reality is based on the principle of polarization.
With such basis, binary categories are matched
against each other: good and evil, native and
foreign etc. In Ukrainian folk literature, the idea
of Ukrainian-Turkish communications is mostly
reduced to ideological and cultural problems.
However, there is no denying the fact that
individual and group-based Ukrainian identities
in Ukrainian folklore of the 16th-17th centuries
(historic ballads and songs) are formed in the
course of interaction with Turkish identities.
Beginning with the 19th century, changes in the
background of social and political processes
cause the communicative vectors in literary
works to change as well. Travels,
correspondence, knowledge of language, and
later literary research works, literary criticism,
dictionaries, anthologies, and magazines that
present foreign writings to national readers soon
became important elements for implementation
of literary Ukrainian-Turkish communications.
Literary and cultural communications are one of
the essential factors in the development of the
modern world, influence on public life, on
expanding the entire spectrum of human
thinking, enriching a person's worldview, his
artistic views. The influence of writers T. Fikret,
N. Hikmet and others on the Ukrainian literary
environment, the connection of literary critics
and writers. A. Krymsky, V. Dubrovsky,
P. Tychyna, and others with the Turkish literary
environment ensured the mutual convergence of
the literatures of the Ukrainian and Turkish
peoples.
Nowadays, the focal points for research and
development of the so-called “dialogue of
Ukrainian and Turkish literatures” are university
departments as well as cultural and academic
centers. Universities and academic institutions
organize symposia, conferences, round tables
where Ukrainian and Turkish scholars who work
on Ukrainian and Turkish studies find the
opportunity to exchange ideas and publications,
prepare joint projects and much more, which has
a positive effect on development of
communications between the two literatures.
Not only do reconstructed forms of literary
interaction prove the existence of traditions in
external Ukrainian-Turkish and Turkish-
Ukrainian connections, but they also give
sufficient evidence to discuss prospects in
studying both literatures in terms of creative
perception and internal contacts, with the
examples of thematic, plot-based and image-
related analysis of writings by certain authors.
Bibliographic references
Abdulhasanly, T. (2020). Azerbaijani-Turkish
Literary Relations Present and Past. Journal of
Xidian University, 14(6), 294-301. doi:
https://doi.org/10.37896/jxu14.6/033
Biletskyi, O. (2009). Ukrainian Literature Among
Other Literatures of the World. Modern Literary
Comparative Studies: Strategies and Methods.
Anthology (рр 433-474). Kyiv:
Volume 12 - Issue 62
/ February 2023
123
http:// www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Publishing House. (In
Ukranian)
Budnyi, V. (2008). Comparative Literature. Kyiv:
Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Publishing House.
Chernikov, I. (2003). From the History of
Formation and Development of Turcology in
Ukraine by the Mid-1930s. Eastern World, 4,
5-25. (In Ukranian)
Corstius, J. (1997). Literature as context. An
anthology of foreign comparative literary
studies. Warsaw: The Book Institute
Linguistics, Study of Literature.
Dmytrenko, М. (2009). Ukrainian Folk Ballads as a
Phenomenon of Traditional Culture. Ukrainian
folk ballads. Ballads of the early Cossack era
Kyiv: Institute of Art Studies, Folklore and
Ethnology at the National Academy of Sciences
of Ukraine, 1, 6-32
Dmytrenko, М., & Dovzheniuk, G. (2009). Ballads
of the early Cossack era. Ukrainian Folk
Ballads. Kyiv: Institute of Art Studies, Folklore
and Ethnology at the National Academy of
Sciences of Ukraine. (In Ukranian)
Franko, I. (1984). Folkloristic Works. Kyiv:
Scientific Opinion Publishers, 42.
Griesbach-Tugan, H. (1948). Modern Turkish Fine
Literature. Dubrovskyi: V (Edit.). Ukrainian
Maritime Institute.
Halymonenko, H. (1981). Poet of the revolutionary
renewal of the world. Hikmet Nazim. Lyrics.
Kyiv: Dnipro Publishing House. (In Ukranian)
Heekyoung, C. (2018). Rethinking World
Literature through the Relations between
Russian and East Asian Literatures. Cross-
Currents: East Asian History and Culture
Review (e-journal), 28, 7–26. https://cross-
currents.berkeley.edu/e-journal/issue-28/cho
Kolessa, F. (1983). Ukrainian folk poetry, the
Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies,
Edmonton: University of Alberta.
Kukhalashvili, В. (1976). Nazim hikmet. Life and
works. Kyiv: Dnipro Publishing House.
Matveieva, L., & Chernikov, I. (2007). On
Turcologist Heritage of Academician Ahatanhel
Krymsky. Selected oriental works in five
volumes, 2, Kyiv: Stylos. (In Ukranian).
Mustafayeva, N. (2017). Azerbaijani-Turkish
literary ties of the beginning of the XX century.
Bulletin of the Dagestan State University.
Humanities, 32(4), 60-66. doi:
https://doi.org/10.21779/2542-0313-2017-32-
4-60-66
Nalyvaiko, D. (1998). In the eyes of west:
Reception of Ukraine in the Western Europe of
the 11th-18th century. Kyiv: Osnovy Publishing
House. (In Ukranian)
Nalyvaiko, D. (2006). Literary imagology: Subject
and strategies. Theory of literature and
comparative literature: articles and researches
(рр 91-103). Kyiv: Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
Publishing House. (In Ukranian)
Pageaux, DH. (2000). Portuguese literature and
Spanish literature: Influences and relations.
RLC-Revue de Litterature Comparee, 74(2),
213-227.
Pavlychko, S. (2001). Nationalism, Sexuality,
Orientalism: The Complicated World of
Ahatanhel Krymsky. Kyiv: Osnovy Publishing
House.
Said, E. (2007). Empire, Geography, Culture.
Culture and Imperialism. Kyiv: Krytyka
Pubishing House. (In Ukranian)
Senchylo, N. (2017). Ukrainian and Turkish
Literatures: Contacts and Mutual Influences.
IV. International Symposium Study of the
Turkish World. Nigde, 2(1), 591-598.
https://er.nau.edu.ua/handle/NAU/29975 (In
Turkish)
Senchylo-Tatlilioglu, N. (2020). The Role of
Cultural and Literary Translation in the
Relationship Between Turkey and Ukraine. 2nd
International Symposium on Turkology
Studies. Van: Van Yuzuncu Yil University,
543-550.
http://webportal.yyu.edu.tr/images/content/162
2802775_5f9dd0_af6739b8c4804f0b811b8ee0
819cdfd5.pdf (In Turkish)
Tiopnenko, Yu. (2015). Reception of Ukrainian
literature in the English-speaking environment
in the light of postcolonial discourse. Scientific
bulletin of the International Humanitarian
University. [File PDF] (In Ukranian)
Tychyna, P. (1990). Collected works in twelve
volumes. 12(1), Kyiv: Scientific Thought (In
Ukranian)
Wang, Y. (1988). The Relation Between Modern
Chinese Literature and Foreign Literature.
Chinese Literature. 149-160.
Zhirmunskyi, V. (1979). Problems of Comparative
Historical Study literature. Comparative
literature. East and West. Leningrad: Science
Publishing House. (In Russian)