Editing Music of Turkey (section)

=== Folk literature ===
{{further|Turkish folk literature}}
[[File:Selda Bagcan (cropped).jpg|thumb|A mural of [[Selda Bağcan]], who fuses folk elements with [[Groove (music)|groove]] and [[protest music]]]]
A large body of folk songs are derived from minstrels or bard-poets called ''ozan'' in Turkish. They have been developing Turkish folk literature since the beginning of 11th century. The musical instrument used by these bard-poets is the [[bağlama|saz]] or [[bağlama]]. They are often taught by other senior minstrels, learning expert idioms, procedures, and methods in the performance of the art.<ref name="minstrellit">{{cite web|url=http://www.discoverturkey.com/english/kultursanat/ozan.html|title=Minstrel Literature|work=Turkish Ministry of Culture|access-date=March 28, 2005|url-status=dead|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20020914041359/http://www.discoverturkey.com/english/kultursanat/ozan.html|archive-date=September 14, 2002}}</ref> These lessons often take place at minstrel meetings and the [[coffeehouse]]s they frequent. Those bard-poets who become experts or ''alaylı'' then take apprentices for themselves and continue the tradition.<ref name="minstrellit"/>

A minstrel's creative output usually takes two major forms. One, in musical rhyming contests with other bards, where the competition ends with the defeat of the minstrel who cannot find an appropriate quatrain to the rhyme and two, storytelling.<ref name="minstrels"/> These folk stories are extracted from real life, folklore, dreams and legends.<ref name="minstrellit"/> One of the most well-known followings are those bards that put the title ''aşık'' in front of their names.