Zeki Velidi Togan's Answer to Ibrahim Kafesoglu


GÖMEÇ S. Y.

SELCUK UNIVERSITESI TURKIYAT ARASTIRMALARI DERGISI-SELCUK UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF STUDIES IN TURCOLOGY, sa.61, ss.1-22, 2024 (ESCI) identifier

Özet

As it is known, the issue of Chingiz Khan's Turkishness has occupied the agenda of many scholars both in Turkey and outside Turkey. In fact, the same issue remains current today. That's why, while thousands of studies have been carried out over the years about the origin of Chinggis and his ancestors, this sometimes causes heated debates among scientists. One of them happened seventy-one years ago between Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Kafesoglu and Prof. Dr. Zeki Velidi Togan. While Zeki Velidi Togan claimed that Chingiz Khan could have been a Turk according to his point of view, the late Ibrahim Kafesoglu tried to prove the opposite thesis, that is, that he was not a Turk, based on Togan. Accordingly, Prof. Dr. & Idot;brahim Kafeso & gbreve;lu published a critical article on Prof. Dr. Zeki Velidi Togan under the title "Mongols and Genghis Issue in Turkish History" in Volume 5, Issue 8 of the I.U. Faculty of Literature History Journal in 1953. Thereupon, Zeki Velidi Togan prepared the article titled "My Answer to Doc Ibrahim Kafesoglu", the text of which is given below, and either hand-delivered it or sent it to all the relevant people at the time