Petercsák Tivadar - Berecz Mátyás (szerk.): Magyarország védelme - Európa védelme - Studia Agriensia 24. (Eger, 2006)
AZ EGRI VÁR DIADALA - 1552 - SUDÁR BALÁZS: Török énekmondók Egerben
Balázs Sudár TURKISH LYRIC POETS IN EGER Lyric poets were just as likely to travel to Turkish castles as they were to the Hungarian borderlands. Nevertheless, while it was epic poems, and particularly those songs describing contemporary events, that were most beloved in the Hungarian castles, the Turks preferred heroic and love poetry. The verse of the Turkish lyric poets, the ashiks, for the most part avoids the concrete, and it is for this reason extremely difficult, if not impossible, to tie these poems to particular times and places. In relation to Eger one definitely needs to make mention of the local Bektashi monastery that lay on a hillside in front of the Hatvan Gate. Song and dance always formed a part of the liturgy of the Bektashi dervishes, for which there were special musicians and ashiks. It is for this reason that one would expect Turkish lyric poets to have been present in Eger. There are also two poems connected with the town. The first is but a fragment, recorded for us in Ibrahim Pecsebi’s chronicle. Of the warriors of the castle, that was still in Hungarian hands, the Turks wrote: “You do not have our concord, people of Eger, crafty people of Eger”. Originally the poem could well have been an eleven syllable (6+5) ashik lyric. The other survival is the work of one of the greatest 17th century Turkish lyric poets, Gevheri, in which he mourns the loss of a prominent resident of Eger, Ahmed aga, who had died in battle. Although neither the names aga or Eger appear in the poem, and all reference to Hungarian borderlands is lacking, we do have a chronicle written by Ahmed’s grandson, the historical writer Temesvárli Naimeddin, that includes the poem written on the occasion of his grandfather’s death, thus making the poem’s Eger credentials unquestionable. 211
