Bu içerik Türkçe olarak yazılmış olup yapay zeka ile otomatik olarak İngilizceye çevrilmiştir.
The figure of Vampire, who drinks blood and is active at night, is particularly known in West culture, but it is evident that this figure appears in much older and more varied forms in Turkish mythology. In Turkish mythology, vampire-like entities have been known for centuries under various names such as hortlak, obur, cadı, alkarısı, yalmovuz, yek, yek içgek, and kara koncolos like.
These entities have not only persisted in Turkish folk beliefs but have also continued to appear in historical documents, travelogues, fatwas, literary works, and artistic expressions such as cinema and theater.
Some vampire-themed productions in contemporary Turkish cinema and theater include:
1. Drakula İstanbul'da (1952)
2. Laz Vampir Tirakula (2012)
Laz Vampire Tirakula Film (2012)
3. Sacred Damacana Dracoola (2011)
The Sacred Damacana Dracoola Film (2011)
4. Dracula (2025)
Image from the theatrical performance of Dracula (2025) (AA)
5. Dracula (2025)
Poster of the play Dracula (2025)
The word “vampire” is not exclusive to Slavic languages. It has roots in Turkish and especially Turkish folk beliefs. The earliest form of the word, “upır” or “ubır”, shows similarities with Turkish words such as “obur” and “ubır”. These terms were used in Turkish mythology to denote “blood-sucking, badger, demonic entities.” This demonstrates Turkish language’s capacity to generate and transmit words that influenced European culture.【1】
The figures of “ubır” and “obur” in Turkish belief systems resemble the earliest forms of the vampire myth. Blood-sucking supernatural beings, hortlaks emerging from graves, and malevolent spirits haunting humans are interpreted in this manner.
The presence of similar forms such as “ubır,” “obur,” and “vupĭr” in various Turkish dialects including Tatar, Bashkir, and Chuvash highlights the wide geographical reach of this concept in the Turkish linguistic sphere.【2】
In Ottoman culture, the concept of witch was deeply intertwined with folk beliefs, particularly through female figures believed to possess supernatural powers. Witches were not merely individuals capable of sorcery but were perceived as those who communicated with malevolent entities and threatened the cosmic order. In this context, functional and symbolic links can be established between the concept of the witch and vampire-like creatures.
Oral culture, folk tales, and legends played a major role in shaping the Ottoman perception of witches. The witch was not only an individual threat but could also be interpreted as an externalization of societal fears and repressed subconscious anxieties. In this sense, the Ottoman understanding of the witch developed on a different foundation than Western witch trials, evolving more within the framework of folk beliefs and mythological traditions.
In Ottoman literature, the direct term “vampire” was not used; instead, terms such as “cadı,” “hortlak,” and “kara koncolos” were employed. However, by the late 19th century, the concept of “cadı” expanded under the influence of Western vampire notions. This transformation is reflected in definitions and printed sources. For example, in Redhouse’s 1890 dictionary, the word “cadı” is defined as “a superstitious belief that a person returns from the dead as a vampire.”【11】 In Ottoman society, it was believed that witches, after death, rose from their graves, their bodies remaining uncorrupted, and disturbed social peace by moving objects, throwing things, and possessing animals. Methods believed to neutralize them included driving a stake through the heart, decapitating, burning, or even throwing them into rivers.【13】
Evliya Çelebi recounts supernatural events in the Pedsi (Fedz) village of the Hatukay region, inhabited by Circassians. Here, conflicts between Abaza and Circassian witches are described. The entities referred to as “vud” are typically depicted as elderly women (kocakarı) and are noted for their ability to transform into animals. Those capable of confronting them are called “tsışhu.” Although these figures do not drink blood, they are described as hortlaks—beings that rise at night after death.【15】
Additionally, in Evliya Çelebi’s narratives, entities identified as “cadı” in folk tradition are used interchangeably with “vampire,” “karakoncolos,” and “hortlak.” According to Şemseddin Sami’s dictionary Kâmus-ı Türkî, folk beliefs describe witches as “beings that roam at night like jinn, appear in terrifying forms, and harm humans.”【18】
The vampire figure in Turkish culture does not exist merely as a Western-derived element of fear. It is a native mythological element with a far deeper and more rooted history. This figure, known for centuries under names such as “obur,” “ubır,” “yek,” “alkarısı,” “cadı,” and “hortlak,” has appeared in folk beliefs, literature, religious texts, and art, reflecting the rich and layered nature of Turkish mythology. Vampire-like entities respond not only to individual fears but also to social, political, and cultural anxieties.
The vampire image, shaped in the Ottoman period through witches and hortlaks, mediated the public’s subconscious fears and the state’s mechanisms of control. In the Republican era, Ali Rıza Seyfi’s novel Kazıklı Voyvoda reconstructed this figure through national identity, historical memory, and opposition to the West, endowing Turkish literature with a native vampire. In the modern era, through cinema, theater, and children’s literature, the figure has at times been turned into parody and at others into a friendly character, thus being reinterpreted according to different age groups and period-specific needs. In this framework, the vampire in Turkish culture has become not only an element of fear but also a historical, mythological, ideological, and pedagogical tool. The multifaceted evolution of the vampire myth serves as a reflection of Turkish society’s changing values, fears, and imagination to understand in important terms.
[1]
User, Hatice Şirin. “Vampir,” Türk Dili Araştırmaları Yıllığı - Belleten 58, no. 2 (2010): 119–130.
[2]
User, Hatice Şirin. “Vampir,” Türk Dili Araştırmaları Yıllığı - Belleten 58, no. 2 (2010): 119–130.
[3]
Selma Vural, Vampires in Turkish and German Children’s Literature: A Comparative Analysis of Angela Sommer-Bodenburg’s “The Little Vampire” and Nazlı Eray’s “Naz and the Vampire in the Koshk” (Master’s Thesis, Selçuk University Institute of Social Sciences, 2024), 76.
[4]
Selma Vural, Vampires in Turkish and German Children’s Literature: A Comparative Analysis of Angela Sommer-Bodenburg’s “The Little Vampire” and Nazlı Eray’s “Naz and the Vampire in the Mansion” (Master’s Thesis, Selçuk University Institute of Social Sciences, 2024), 76-79.
[5]
Selma Vural, Vampires in Turkish and German Children’s Literature: A Comparative Analysis of Angela Sommer-Bodenburg’s “The Little Vampire” and Nazlı Eray’s “Naz and the Vampire in the Corner House” (Master’s Thesis, Selçuk University Institute of Social Sciences, 2024), 79-80.
[6]
Selma Vural, Vampires in Turkish and German Children’s Literature: A Comparative Analysis of Angela Sommer-Bodenburg’s “The Little Vampire” and Nazlı Eray’s “Naz and the Vampire in the Koshk” (Master’s Thesis, Selçuk University Institute of Social Sciences, 2024), 80.
[7]
Selma Vural, Vampires in Turkish and German Children’s Literature: A Comparative Analysis of Angela Sommer-Bodenburg’s “The Little Vampire” and Nazlı Eray’s “Naz and the Vampire in the Koshk” (Master’s Thesis, Selçuk University Institute of Social Sciences, 2024), 80-81.
[8]
Selma Vural, Vampires in Turkish and German Children’s Literature: A Comparative Analysis of Angela Sommer-Bodenburg’s “The Little Vampire” and Nazlı Eray’s “Naz and the Vampire in the Koshk” (Master’s Thesis, Selçuk University Institute of Social Sciences, 2024), 81.
[9]
Selma Vural, Vampires in Turkish and German Children’s Literature: A Comparative Analysis of Angela Sommer-Bodenburg’s “The Little Vampire” and Nazlı Eray’s “Naz and the Vampire in the Koshk” (Master’s Thesis, Selçuk University Institute of Social Sciences, 2024), 81.
[10]
Selma Vural, Vampires in Turkish and German Children’s Literature: A Comparative Analysis of Angela Sommer-Bodenburg’s “The Little Vampire” and Nazlı Eray’s “Naz and the Vampire in the Koshk” (Master’s Thesis, Selçuk University Institute of Social Sciences, 2024), 81.
[11]
Gökhan Demirkol, “Between Legend and Reality: Karaferye Witches in 19th-Century Ottoman Humor Press,” Akademik İncelemeler Dergisi 15, no. 1 (2020): 451.
[13]
Demirkol, “Between Legend and Reality: Karaferye Witches in 19th-Century Ottoman Humor Press,” 453. 【12】
Fatwas and Masarif Registers
Official Ottoman records contain examples related to vampirism. The Ottoman Empire actively intervened against popular beliefs concerning the dead rising from graves, issuing fatwas demanding the elimination of such entities. From the mid-16th century onward, Ottoman kadı records document cases involving supernatural beings such as jinn and hortlaks.
Ottoman fatwas include rulings permitting the exhumation of corpses that return to life after death and disturb the living. In such cases, the bodies were often staked or burned. For instance, when corpses in a village were believed to rise and terrify the populace, local kadis ruled that these individuals be identified as “vampires” and burned. Kadı records contain statements such as: “If newly deceased persons return and drink blood and commit evil, they must be killed.”
The fear generated by entities labeled as vampires was also perceived as a religious and cultural threat. Fatwas warn that such phenomena endanger religious and social order. Therefore, eliminating these entities was seen not merely as a measure to protect public health but as essential to maintaining social harmony.
The Tırnova Witches Case
In 1826, the abolition of the Janissary Corps and the ensuing social chaos created an opening for vampirism to be used as a political vehicle. The Tırnova Witches Case is one example illustrating how vampirism was perceived by both the public and the Ottoman administration. During this period, another motive behind the dissolution of the Janissary Corps was the portrayal of former Janissaries as “vampirized” corpses—violent, disruptive of the established order, and inciting rebellion.
The abolition of the Janissary Corps generated significant public and administrative backlash. To quell this reaction, former Janissaries were publicly labeled as “vampires,” portrayed as threats to Ottoman society who corrupted the populace and incited rebellion. Folk narratives that claimed these former soldiers had risen from the dead and regained power by drinking human blood served to unify the public and the administration.
In this context, the Tırnova Witches became one of the metaphors used to instill fear. The political use of vampirism aimed to maintain social order while simultaneously serving as a tool for the Ottoman government to control the populace and the military. While the abolition of the Janissary Corps generated deep public fear, a distinction was drawn between “vampirized” Janissaries and other “threatening elements” in society.
[15]
Selma Vural, *Vampires in Turkish and German Children’s Literature: A Comparative Analysis of Angela Sommer-Bodenburg’s “The Little Vampire” and Nazlı Eray’s “Naz and the Vampire in the Corner House”* (Master’s Thesis, Selçuk University Institute of Social Sciences, 2024), 89–90.【14】
In one passage from his Seyahatname, Evliya Çelebi describes the term “obur” as follows:
“In Tatar lands, they call the witch, sorcerer, and one who rises from the grave ‘obur.’”
In this definition, “obur” encompasses witch, sorcerer, and the undead rising from the grave. Thus, in Evliya Çelebi’s understanding, “obur” possesses qualities of both witch and hortlak/vampire. These entities, which do not decay in their graves, emerge at night, and afflict humans, closely correspond to the concept of the vampire.
[18]
Selma Vural, *Vampires in Turkish and German Children’s Literature: A Comparative Analysis of Angela Sommer-Bodenburg’s “The Little Vampire” and Nazlı Eray’s “Naz and the Vampire in the Koshk”* (Master’s Thesis, Selçuk University Institute of Social Sciences, 2024), 90. 【16】
Vampire (Witch) Perception in 19th-Century Ottoman Press
In 19th-century Ottoman humor press, particularly in journals such as Diyojen, Tiyatro, Hayal, and Latife, witch incidents were parodied and interpreted through the lens of social reality. Two witch cases in Karaferye (1872 and 1874) generated public fear; however, the humor press treated them ironically, exposing how implausible these events truly were. This perspective reveals how vampire-like figures were shaped in public consciousness and positioned somewhere between seriousness and absurdity.【17】
Various publications on the vampire concept in Turkish culture include:
(Karakum Publications Website)
Ali Rıza Seyfi’s Novel Kazıklı Voyvoda and the Beginning of Turkish Vampire Literature
Ali Rıza Seyfi’s novel Kazıklı Voyvoda (1928) is recognized as the first vampire novel in Turkish literature. Work is a free adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). However, this adaptation is not merely a textual translation but a cultural, ideological, and historical transformation. Seyfi fused the Transylvanian vampire figure with Ottoman and post-Republic Turkish identity to create a new “domestic vampire” archetype.
The historical figure Vlad Țepeș (Kazıklı Voyvoda) is known as the prince of Wallachia (modern-day Romania) who fought against the Ottomans. He earned his epithet due to his harsh methods of punishment. This 15th-century figure became an object of fear in Ottoman and Balkan narratives. In Seyfi’s novel, Vlad is reimagined not as the Western “other” but as the enemy thirsting for Turkish blood.
Plot and Local Elements of the Novel
Novel begins with the journey of Azmi Bey, an Ottoman officer, to Transylvania. There he discovers that Count Drakola is in fact a vampire who has invaded Istanbul. Notable examples of localization in the novel include:
Instead of Christian motifs such as the cross, garlic, and holy water used against Dracula, the novel employs the Qur’an, the En’am-ı Şerif muska, and soil from the Prophet’s grave.
At the novel’s conclusion, the weapon driven into Dracula’s heart is not the Christian cross but the Dagestani dagger, an element of Turkish heroic tradition. The vampire figure is used as a metaphor for an “external threat” to the Turkish nation. Doctor Resuhi interprets the vampire’s thirst for Turkish blood as “hostility seeping into the nation’s veins.”
Seyfi’s novel is not merely a work of horror literature but also a text reflecting early Republican Turkish nationalism. Count Dracula here is “a historical enemy” and “a plague thirsting for Turkish blood.” The heroes are idealized Turkish youth emerging from the War of Independence. The vampire’s destruction symbolically represents the defeat of the West, moral corruption, and deviance.
Kazıklı Voyvoda is not only the beginning of Turkish vampire narrative but also a local example within the global gothic tradition. As Louise Walsh notes, the vampire is a figure that circulates across cultures. Seyfi reimagined this figure by reversing Western orientalist perspectives, drawing instead from indigenous Turkish fears and historical narratives. The vampire in the novel is not merely borrowed from the West. Elements of Turkish folklore—such as the Karadeniz witches, hortlak tales, and blood-sucking entities rising from graves that Seyfi heard in childhood—are directly incorporated into the novel.
(Trailer of the Film Madmen About Kazıklı Voyvoda (2018)
Vampire in Turkish Children’s Literature
In Nazlı Eray’s work “Naz and the Vampire in the Tower,” the vampire is stripped of traditional frightening traits and presented as an aristocratic, refined, witty, and cultured figure. This illustrates how the vampire in Turkish children’s literature has been transformed from a creature of fear into a likable, endearing character.
The vampire figure appears in Turkish children’s literature as one of the fantastical elements, enriching children’s imaginative worlds through abilities such as flight, time travel, and invisibility. This demonstrates that the vampire has become an entertaining and educational element. Through the vampire character, themes such as altruism and respect are explored. In this context, the vampire is not merely a fantastical being but also a vehicle for transmitting moral values to children.
Although Turkish vampire types such as “obur” and “yek” do not appear directly in children’s literature, their cultural codes are observed to exert indirect influences in modern narratives.
Henüz Tartışma Girilmemiştir
"Vampires in Turkish Culture" maddesi için tartışma başlatın
Origin and Spread of the Word “Vampire”
Vampire Types in Turkish Mythology
Vampire Perception in the Ottoman Empire
Vampire and Hortlak Narratives in Evliya Çelebi