Pir Sultan Abdal

(pen name of Haydar). Years of birth and death unknown. Turkish 16th-century poet; representative of ashik (ashug) poetry.

Pir Sultan Abdal was from the village of Banaz in the vilayet of Sivas. He was the leader of the antifeudal uprising of the Kizilbash, which flared up at that time in various regions of Anatolia. He was seized, jailed, and hanged in Sivas. With sword and song, Pir Sultan Abdal had opposed social oppression and tyranny and had striven for equality and justice. His poetry is a chronicle of the national movement and peasant revolts. He became a symbol of the struggle for the people’s freedom and independence, and his name is associated with many legends and songs of lament. A play about Pir Sultan Abdal by E. Toy is performed on the Turkish stage.