İslamiyet Öncesi Türk Giyim-Kuşamında Kimlik, Sembolizm ve Etnografik Kodlar

Throughout history, Turks have been among the prominent civilizations of the Eurasian geography due to their rich cultural heritage and artistic production. Clothing constitutes an important part of this cultural accumulation. This study examines the clothing practices of pre-Islamic Turks within the context of identity formation, symbolism, and ethnographic codes. The conditions of steppe life, economic activities, belief systems, and social structure reveal that clothing is not merely a functional element but also an indicator of identity and belonging. Clothing and decorative elements have served as a symbolic language indicating an individual's social status, gender, age, and the tribe or community to which they belong. Archaeological findings, rock paintings, Kazakh and Russian sources, and textile remains obtained from Central Asian kurgans provide important data on the weaving techniques, motifs, and material preferences used by the Turks. The animal styles, mythological figures, color and pattern choices used in clothing are not merely aesthetic preferences; they are a reflection of cosmological conception, the shamanic belief system, and social hierarchy. Headwear, belts, jewelry, and caftan-type garments, in particular, stand out as visual codes of identity in the collective memory. The study concludes that pre-Islamic Turkish clothing served as a “memory of identity” with its powerful symbolic and ethnographic codes, traces of which can still be seen in today's Turkish culture. In this context, the article aims to make an important contribution to understanding the continuity of Turkish cultural history and evaluating the traces of the past in the construction of modern identity.