Milli Folklor

Abstract

Laments, which are the products of Turkish Cypriot folk literature, are mostly texts with the feature of lament-epic. Although their names are mentioned as epics, the writing of the tragic death events for mourning made it appropriate to consider them as laments. Especially in the 1930s, the dramatic events experienced by well-known people and families have been the subject of the lament epics of the folk poets. These texts, which can be considered as popular literary genres of that period, were also written by Greek folk poets and no discrimination was made between religion, language and race. It is not enough to describe laments as sad words spoken from the back of the deceased with a superficial glance. It is necessary to be able to decipher the psycho-social and cultural meanings and messages of laments and to handle them on the right ground. At this point, it is important to reveal the unique aspects and differences of the cultural environments in which laments are shaped. Lamentations are universal expressions. In different geographies and different cultures of the world, there are texts with the characteristics of lament. Although the places where they are performed and their expressions differ, the main theme is death and pain. Turkish Cypriot laments with similar characteristics are discussed in terms of "femicide" in this study. The 'women' who are the subject of Turkish Cypriot laments are generally victims. They are women who were stabbed by their lovers, their families murdered or murdered in a spiral of gossip and jealousy in the village where she worked as a teacher. In Turkish Cypriot laments, a woman is not in the position of a lament. On the contrary, it is at the center of a love adventure or a difficult life. Lamentations played an important role in the formation of the social communication network between the Turkish Cypriots, a small community. Persons and characters in laments are those that Turkish Cypriot people know, love, and are widely accepted. This communication environment established with the society paved the way for the writing of epics and laments. The style and perspective of the folk poets gave shape to these epics; In these texts classified as lament epic, it has been observed that a special effort was made to influence the readers' feelings. Parables, descriptions, praises and satires have been carefully performed; culture, life styles and environmental features also inevitably affected the attitude of the poet. As a result of this study, which focuses on the "murders of women" in Turkish Cypriot laments, it was seen that the social structure and perception in question affected the way of looking at women in lament epics. As a matter of fact, respect and compassion for women manifested themselves in Turkish Cypriot laments as in all other literary genres; However, the fact that male domination was at the forefront depending on the conditions of the period did not highlight the individual aspect of the victim and the victim. He saw his wishes and his position in social life not from the eyes of a woman, but from the perspective that the traditional approach assigns on men. Death is told; However, the reasoning of the process leading to death has not been done sufficiently. This study aims to reveal how the female figure reflected in the laments is interpreted by examining the social background of these events. In cases that resulted in tragic deaths, psychological and social difficulties faced by women were not sufficiently criticized; It has been determined that there is an emphasis on innocence, although not explicitly against the guilty party. Such stylistic and narrative features, which are the subject of the study, have been evaluated over the samples selected from the examined lament epics.