All that is known of Turab Ali is that his name appears in a list of âşıks. The list rests on the book on Gümüşhacıköy by Ahmet Ankaralı, Sedat Cin and Galip Tuncay and counts the âşıks raised in the part of Amasya known as Gaziler Ovacığı; Şerife Özer and Mustafa Topal reproduced it in 2021, Fatih Çelebi in 2026. No record of him beyond his name in this list has turned up.
His Name in the Sources
In their article on Âşık Özlemî, Özer and Topal present the âşıks of Gaziler Ovacığı as men trained in keeping with the essence of the tradition, who became the voices of the people through the works of their masters and their own. Counting the most famous âşıks of Amasya, they give the name "Turab Ali" between Derviş Edna and Caferî. Fatih Çelebi repeats the list in the same order in his study on Kul Fakir, and the Amasya05 article The minstrel tradition in Amasya includes it as well. When Turab Ali lived, which village he came from and to which master he was attached, the sources do not say.
The State of the Sources
Looking for some further trace, we went through the published studies on the âşıks of Gaziler Ovacığı. Caner Işık's article on Kul Hüseyin, Ali Onar and Işık's on Derviş Edna, Necdet Kurt's paper on the zakirs of Amasya, Fedai Şahin's thesis on the zakir tradition of Merzifon and Gümüşhacıköy and the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü do not mention the name. Since we could not see the book of Ankaralı, Cin and Tuncay on which the list rests, we do not know whether it holds more about him. No poems of his have been found. The name itself makes identification harder: "Turab" is a word in Alevi-Bektashi poetry expressing becoming dust, humility, and similar pen names such as "Turabî" are common. Similar names found in other sources can be matched with this âşık only if a firm connection is established.
Bibliography
Academic studies
- Şerife Özer, Mustafa Topal, "Âşıklık Geleneği ve Geleneğin Çerağlarından Amasyalı Âşık Özlemî", Motif Akademi Halkbilimi Dergisi, 14(34), 2021, pp. 652-665 (list of âşıks p. 655). https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/mahder/issue/62512/869864
Books
- Fatih Çelebi, "Âşıklık Geleneğinin Temsilcilerinden Kul Fakir'in Eserlerinde 'Dost' Kavramı", Evrim Çağlayan (ed.), Kültür ve Güzel Sanatlar, Karabük: Karabük University Press, 2026, pp. 4-5. https://kutuphane.karabuk.edu.tr/yuklenen/dosyalar/1263062026150047.pdf
- Ahmet Ankaralı, Sedat Cin, Galip Tuncay, Dünden Bugüne Gümüşhacıköy, Gümüşhacıköy (as reported by Özer and Topal and by Çelebi; not seen).
Online sources