TURKISH LITERATURE

writings of all the Turkish peoples, in several languages and over a period of some 12 centuries. Turkish literature can be divided into three main periods: the purely Turkish period before the conversion of the Turks to Islam, covering approximately the 8th to the 11th century AD; the period of Islamic culture, from the 11th to the mid-19th century, when Arabic and Persian influences were strong; and the modern period, from the accession of Sultan Abdlmecid I in 1839, when the influence of Western thought and literature became predominant.