Mankurt; They are the unconscious slaves in Turkish, Altai and Kyrgyz legends who do whatever they are told. The person who is Mankurtated by applying some torture methods loses his/her self and becomes the puppet of the enemy. This method; “Dwarfs” called “Juan Juan” in Chinese sources, “Avar” in Arab and Byzantine sources, and “Apar” in Göktürks were seen in communities. Mankurtization is described in the famous Kyrgyz writer Cengiz Aytmatov’s novel “The Day Happens Asra Bedel” written in 1980. In the novel; It is said that the barbarian Juan-Juans tortured their captives horribly when they invaded the Central Asian steppes, and that this torture method caused people to lose their memory and become insane.
This word and idiom, which was introduced to our language and literature by Cengiz Aytmatov, as well as to all world languages and literature, is used as a socio-cultural concept today. Mankurtization; It means alienating a nation from its national identity, making enemies of its own values, alienating its own society and culture, and making it open to exploitation by making changes in the educational and cultural policies of a nation under the influence of external forces. It means reconstructing the mind of the society by creating the belief that it is helping the society, and making it the mental slave of the colonialists. In today’s modern world, there are a number of methods such as perception operations, drugs, alcohol and deculturation applied to make people Mankurt.
Who Are Juan-Juans? How is Mankurt Made?
The Dwarves or Juan-Juans, originating from Central Asia, are a nomadic tribe that existed between the 3rd and 9th centuries. The word Juan-Juan in Chinese; It means “fast growing, all-pervading insects”. At the end of the 6th century, the Juan-Juans established a great state that included lands up to today’s Mongolia and Korea. Known as a ruthless society, the Juan-Juans attacked the communities around them, burning down settlements and killing people. After looting the settlements they invaded, they took some people there as prisoners. They are known as the only people to turn their captives unconscious into robot slaves. Among the prisoners, especially the Kyrgyz and Tabgaçs were made mankurt. To live free in Dwarven lands, a man must hate Tabgacs.
While the weak ones of the captives were sold to other places, the strong and durable ones were chosen to Mankurt. First of all, the scalp of the person who is wanted to be manurized is scraped thoroughly, then a skin obtained from the neck skin of the camel is stretched and put on the head. The person with a camel skin on his head is kept in the hot desert for a few days under the sun. During this period, food and water are given so that the person does not die. With the effect of the heat, the camel creek in the head shrinks and sticks to the head. The shrunken skin now begins to integrate with the head. Since the hair of the person cannot penetrate the hard camel skin, it continues to grow into the head. The pressure of the shrinking camel skin on the head and the hair that grows in the opposite direction cause great pain to the person. The person who cannot stand the pain loses consciousness after a while, loses his memory and after a while turns into a puppet who does whatever he wants. A person who loses his memory and consciousness and becomes unable to recognize his parents becomes incapable of thinking. For this reason, after a while, it becomes obedient to whatever its owner says.
The Legend of Mother Nayman Searching for Her Mankurtated Son
Usually, the relatives of the detainees set out to search for them. But when they hear that it will be Mankurt, they stop looking. Because the Mankurtized person no longer recognizes his parents as an enemy. Mankurts, who forgot their consciousness, identity, mother, father and everything, just did what they were told, were considered more valuable than normal slaves at that time. The slaves who could endure the tortures were seen as equivalent to 10 captives. In the scorching desert heat, heavy works such as herding camels that can withstand the heat were given to the Mankurts.
There is a legend about the struggle of a woman named Nayman Ana to save her child from becoming a Mankurt. Legend has it that Mother Nayman’s son was kidnapped by the Juan-Juans. The mother, who is after her to save her son, finds him in a place where the Juan-Juans have assigned him to herd their camels. He secretly goes to his son, but he has already become Mankurt. Nayman Ana to her son; He tells that he is his mother, his father’s name and history, but it is too late for everything. Although his mother knows that he is a Mankurt, Dönenbay is your son’s father, with the thought that he can remember it. He says over and over again every day that you are Dönenbay’s son.
Suspicious of this, Juan-Juans ordered the slave to shoot and kill anyone who came in his way. When his mother came to her son and wanted to say “Your ancestor Dönenbay…”, the slave drew his arrow without hesitation and thrust it into his mother’s chest. The soul of poor Mother Nayman, who died on the spot, takes off as a bird and begins to spin above her son’s head. Even as he spins in the air, he keeps calling out to his son, “Your horse Dönenbay, your horse Dönenbay, your horse…” After this incident, they called that bird “Dönenbay Bird”.
