Aşıq Ümer

Aşıq Ümer (1621–1707) was a Crimean Tatar medieval poet of ashik and is one of the most famous representatives of the Turkic-speaking ashik poetry in general. Ashik poetry (Crimean Tatar: aşıq; lit. 'the person in love') is a special kind of literary oeuvre, the representatives of which – folk poets-singers – accompany their performances with playing the string-plucked musical instrument bağlama. Hence another name for this poetry – "bağlama poetry".

Ümer Abdula oğlu
Statue of Aşıq Ümer in Yevpatoria
Born	1621 Kezlev, Crimean Khanate (now Yevpatoria, Crimea)
Died	1707 Kezlev, Crimean Khanate (now Yevpatoria, Crimea)
Pen name	Aşıq Ümer, Ümer Kezlevli
Nationality	Crimean Tatar
Citizenship	Crimean Khanate
Genre	ashik poetry, bağlama poetry, ghazal, rubaʿi
Subject	mystical content, soldier's theme

He wrote mainly lyric poems (on mystical content and related to a soldier's theme) in the forms of Turkic folk poetry. Aşıq Ümer is also an author of poems that are traditional for classical oriental poetry – ghazals, rubaʿi etcetera. He greatly influenced the later poets-improvisers (ashiks).

Sources

• Ergun, Sadettin Nüzhet, Aşık Ömer. Hayatı ve şiirleri, Istanbul, 1936; Banarlı, Nihat Sami, Resimli Türk edebiyatı tarihi, Istanbul, 1949.
• Ашик Омер. Краткая литературная энциклопедия. Т. 1. — 1962
• Ашик Умер – самый известный в мире крымский певец любви — Крым.Реалии // RFEL
• Mustafa Altuğ Yayla Yüzyıl osmanlı imparatorluğunda aşık ömer ve popüler kültür — Hacettepe Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü // Ankara, 2013