Erdoğan ALTINKAYNAK

Dede Korkut Stories is a work that can be a source of the quotation in almost any discipline in the field of Turkish social sciences. Therefore, like scripture, it must be emphasized, protected, and preserved. Anyone without qualification should not write about these stories, or what is written should be filtered by an expert committee.

There have been many publications about Dede Korkut Stories, and even many criticisms of these publications in the scientific community. In the scientific circle, these writings have been pursued with interest, and these discussions have been an important benchmark in the formation of convictions about the work.

Using a word that Fuad Köprülü, known as the founder of Turkology, may have said, as if heard it from his own mouth or taken from an article he wrote, giving the main discourse without citing or referring to it, constitute a populist approach and at the same time information pollution. This pollution becomes then a rule and accepted. A word or a sentence that there is not or is incorrectly used is later legitimized.

There are several explanations for the editions of Dede Korkut Stories. We can split them into scientific or commercial publications. Another third publication type is for prestige purposes. In scientific publications, the control mechanism is also used comfortably, as the original of the stories is given. Commercially purposed publications are often published after being simplified and translated into modern Turkish. The only prestige publication is the one produced by TOBB. Simplifications made by non-experts in this prestige publication for the purpose of simplifying the stories in the publication cannot be found appropriate in terms of Turkology and simplification.

Keywords: Dede Korkut, Fuad Köprülü, TOBB, simplification, information pollution