On Kadyr Ali-bek’s narrative of Oghuz khan

Research objectives: The purpose of this study is to analyze the story of Oghuz Khan, situated at the beginning of Kadyr Ali-bek’s Chinggisnāma; to compare this narrative with Reşidüddin’s Oghuznāma, which is the main source of the work, and other variants of the Oghuznāma in order to reveal similarities and original features. Research materials: The sources used in this study mainly consist of Kadyr Ali-bek’s work based on the Kazan manuscript and various Oghuznama variants carrying Islamic motifs. The main sources include the translation of Reşidüddin Fazlullah’s Oghuzname into Turkish by Zeki Velidi Togan, Yazıcızāde Āli’s Tevārīh-i Āl-i Selçuk, Hasan bin Mahmud al-Bayati’s Cām-ı Cem-āyīn, Ebülgazi Bahadır Han’s Şecere-i Terâkime and Şecere-i Türk, as well as Neşrī’s short Oghuznama located at the beginning of his work, Cihānnümā. The poetic Oghuznames were not pertinent in the comparative study made here. Results and novelty of the research: Kadyr Ali-bek’s work is known as Cāmiü’t-Tevārīh in the academic sphere as it is considered a translation of Reşidüddin’s work. However, when it comes to the Oghuz narrative, it can be seen that the author actually used other sources even though he avoided naming them. Comparison with other Oghuznāma variants shows that Kadyr Ali-bek either used the same source as Yazıcızāde Āli, a 15th-century Ottoman historian who wrote Tevārīh-i Āl-i Selçuk, or directly adapted his work. This is evident because the composition of the two texts is almost identical when the omitted or removed parts from the text are set aside.