Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) Faculty of Arts and Science, Turkish Language and Literature Department organized a conference titled “Things We Learned from the Turkmen Carpet” at 10:30 a.m. on September 25th, 2019 at the Central Lecture Halls Building. The speaker of the conference Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yusuf Azmun focused on the title of ‘carpet’ and the concepts related to carpet and drew the audience’s attention to the relationship between carpet loom and musical instruments.
Stating that the oldest name referring to the carpet comes from qopuz, the oldest musical instrument of the Turks, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Azmun added it was also found that a piece of loom called ‘eşik’ in Turkish was also found in the qopuz and was named as ‘eşek’ (a donkey). The same word is called “harek’ (little donkey) in Persian.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Azmun said that the most important motif of the Turkmen carpet is ‘gȫl’ (lake), which describes the holiness of water, and that Turkmen tribes have accepted ‘‘gȫl’in their carpets as their national coat of arms throughout history. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Azmun added that the octagonal motif ‘gȫl’ is divided into four parts depicting a year and four seasons. He also emphasised that these ‘gȫls are regarded as reflections of stars in the sky and that the Oghuz stars have eight wings and this pattern tells about the water culture in Shamanism.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Azmun added that the plus pattern, which is frequently used Turkmen knitting and weaving art, is even seen in Quran bags. He pointed out that in Shamanism, the plus sign refers to God, and in the middle of the tambourine of the shaman performing ritual, there is a plus sign symbolizing God. Through interpreting the patterns weaved on the Turkmen carpets, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Azmun emphasized that the carpet language reflects many historical events and stated that Turkmen carpet has an important place in the Turkish culture. The conference ended after a qopuz performance.
